Together we con
Gov
blasted for listing addresses on Web site
By Casey
Ross
Boston Herald Reporter
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
In yet another embarrassing misstep, Gov. Deval Patrick is under fire
for launching a web site that includes a vast repository of sensitive
information about private citizens, including home addresses that could
be used to find people vulnerable to crime.
Patrick supporters who created the web site, DevalPatrick.com, agreed
to limit address information available on the site yesterday after concerns
were raised bySecretary of State William F. Galvin.
The site provides access to personal information through voter lists that
include home addresses and other details.
“It has a lot of information that is not publicly available,”
Galvin said yesterday. “There were addresses available for people
in domestic violence protection situations. We asked them to think about
some of the implications of this.”
A spokesman for Patrick’s political committee, Steve Crawford, said
all house and apartment numbers were removed from the site yesterday after
Galvin contacted the committee. “We have taken that extra step to
ensure peoples’ privacy,” spokesman Steve Crawford said. “We
go further than any city or town to protect this information, which is
in the public record.”
However, Galvin said it took several phone calls from his office to prompt
action from Patrick’s supporters. “Initially they didn’t
seem to see the problem with it,” he said. “But we were able
to point out some of the concerns about domestic violence victims and
elderly people.”
Crawford denied that there was any such delay, saying, “As soon
as these issues were raised, we made the change.”
The site was launched by Patrick’s supporters last weekend to trumpet
the governor’s policy goals and encourage public input, but concerns
about the potential for misuse of the site arose almost immediately.
Before changes were made yesterday, anyone could have used it to find
a voter’s exact address or apartment number — information
that Galvin said his office goes to great lengths to protect.
The information was accessible through a registration feature that relies
on voter records. The feature works by matching a name a user types in
with an address included in the voter records. Galvin said Patrick supporters
did not get the voter list from him, and instead obtained it from a vendor
called Sage Systems.
While such information is available in town halls, Galvin said the putting
it online makes it too easy to retrieve and misuse for ill intent. He
said his office requires groups who seek to obtain voter lists to sign
a release to certifying that it won’t be used for “commercial
exploitation.”
“There were also police officers home addresses on there, which
is also protected information,” Galvin said. “We’re
concerned this can have an impact on peoples’ willingness to register
to vote.”
Gov’s wife suffers exhaustion
By Casey Ross and Dave Wedge
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Gov. Deval Patrick announced suddenly late
yesterday that his wife is being treated for exhaustion and depression,
ailments that will cause him to work more flexible hours in coming weeks
to spend more time tending to his family.
The severity of Diane Patrick’s maladies are unknown, but a source
said she had to be hospitalized as her depression and exhaustion intensified
in recent days. The news of her troubles comes after a string of harsh
criticisms of Patrick and the first lady herself, who has been scrutinized
for having a full-time taxpayer-funded chief of staff in the governor’s
office.
Aides to Patrick were tight-lipped last night. Diane Patrick, 55, has
been trying to balance her official duties with a busy schedule as a top
partner in the prestigious law firm Ropes & Gray. She also has two
daughters, one in college and another, Katherine, in her final year of
high school.
The governor’s office released a brief statement last night in which
Patrick asked for the public’s prayers and understanding as he attends
to his wife.
“First Lady Diane Patrick is being treated for exhaustion and depression,”
the statement said. “The governor will work a flexible schedule
for the next few weeks in order to spend more time with her and his family.
The family asks for the prayers and understanding of the public.”
The governor’s press secretary, Kyle Sullivan, declined to elaborate
or discuss the seriousness of the first lady’s medical troubles.
Boston City Councilor Steve Murphy, a close ally of Patrick’s during
the gubernatorial campaign, said he saw the first lady at a fund-raiser
this week and described her as being “bubbly and happy.”
“You think all this stuff we’re doing is important, but what’s
really important is taking care of your spouse,” he said.
House Speaker Sal DiMasi spoke with Patrick last night to offer his support,
a spokesman said. “The speaker wishes Mrs. Patrick a speedy recovery,”
DiMasi spokesman Dave Guarino said.
Patrick has battled through a slew of harsh criticisms that have tested
his fledgling administration in the last few weeks. The latest flap came
this week when the governor was accused of improperly intervening in a
financial deal involving his former employer, Ameriquest Mortgage. Patrick
called his intervention an error in judgment and apologized, but Republican
activists have persisted with calls for an ethics probe.
The governor has also faced scutiny for leasing a Cadillac for his official
tranportation and spending heavily on furniture for his office. He was
further criticized for hiring a full-time staffer to handle his wife’s
schedule.
A Patrick aide last night said the scheduler, Amy Gorin, will continue
in her current $72,000-a-year capacity planning the first lady’s
schedule and events.
By Howie Carr/ Online Exclusive
Boston Herald Columnist
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Drapes? Now Gov.
Deval Patrick gets caught spending $10,000 in taxpayer money on new drapes
for the Corner Office?
Drapes? Do you realize this is the first drapes scandal in Massachusetts
politics since 1975? I kid you not. That was the year Suffolk County Sheriff
Tom Eisenstadt (remember him?) got caught by the Boston Finance Commission
squandering $2,000 on jailhouse drapes bought at Jordan Marsh. (Remember
them?)
The only conclusion to draw from Coupe Deval’s latest back-to-the-future
misadventure is that he’s planning on reliving every political disaster
of the past, no matter how obscure.
But what’s the rush, Deval? You’ve got four years to screw
everything up. You’re like a new homeowner. You just bought the
house, so why are you suddenly obsessed with stepping in every single
pile the previous owners’ pets left behind on the front lawn?
Deval’s in a hurry though. He’s making a list of past screw-ups,
apparently, and he’s checking it twice. Forget naughty-and-nice,
though, he just wants to be naughty.
The State Police helicopter - paging Jane Swift. The broken campaign promise
on tax relief - paging Mike Dukakis. Bribing the legislature with payraises
- paging Bill Weld.
Hey, governor, have you ever thought about taking up gambling on the ponies?
How about a dip in the Charles - in a business suit? Do they need a commencement
speaker at Brandeis? How about an amber-colored beverage, or 10? Any gay
stepsons out there we don’t know about? Send out for lobster for
the State Police, and charge it - no one will ever think to go through
those expense accounts.
Who knew, though, that Deval wouldn’t settle for just following
in his gubernatorial predecessors’ missteps? He’s apparently
determined to make every mistake ever made by every shoddy, sticky-fingered
hack who ever came down the Pike, speaking of which, do you remember Gov.
Furcolo’s father’s ancient land speculations along the proposed
route of I-90? I’ll bet Deval does.
Hey, whatever else you say about Deval after this rather unfortunate first
six weeks, he’s obviously a student of history, or at least of historical
footnotes. How else could he ever come up with the drapes grift? The only
problem is those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
And now, at least for a day, Deval is Tommy Eisenstadt.
What’s next? If he’s looking for State House political embarrassments,
high-test and regular, his choices are almost endless.
Governor Patrick, I’d like you to meet some of the boyos from Local
25 over in Charlestown. Ignore those pinky rings, these are guys who can
straighten a thing out. They’d be perfect for the Massport board,
plus they can get you bit parts in crappy movies.
Ever thought about grabbing a low-digit license plate? Those are always
a popular item in the hackerama. Just ask your pal Billy Bulger. The Corrupt
Midget scored one, but then it turned out the relative of the previous
owner wanted it back, so they gave him an even lower three-digit beauty.
With all the pictures of the Cadillac under the Dome, I’m thinking
a good parking-space spat might be in the works. It’d be a good
way to get some more headlines for Diane, just like Kitty Dukakis got
when she dueled over the one John Kerry left behind after he won the Senate
seat. Kitty squared off with a 460-pound House committee chairman who
would soon be convicted of child pornography.
You obviously like sheriffs, Deval. Follow in the little teeny footsteps
of another one of your dear friends, Mike Dukakis. He appointed two sheriffs
who ended up in the federal pen.
So many potential scandals, and only a little over three years and 11
months left in Deval’s term. Leave a satchel of cash under a barstool.
Don’t pay your income taxes. Lie under oath in open court about
something really stupid. Put a lot of pols in as presidents of state colleges,
where they can start stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.
What an amazing beginning. And just think, he hasn’t appointed a
single judge yet, nor commuted the sentence of a single rapist.
Keep stepping in it, Deval. Together we con.
Rapist kin put on notice:
Brother-in-law told to register in Mass.
By Dave Wedge
Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Friday, October 13, 2006
Deval Patrick’s brother-in-law is
a convicted rapist who has been notified by officials that he is in violation
of laws that require sex offenders to register with the state, the Herald
has learned.
Bernard Sigh was convicted in 1993 in San Diego of raping his wife, Rhonda,
who is Patrick’s...
Patrick says he will resign
post tied to Ameriquest
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | May 16, 2006
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick said yesterday that he will resign from the board of the firm that runs Ameriquest Mortgage Co., one of the nation's largest lenders, which has been accused of predatory lending practices.
Patrick benefited from
fund-raiser by Big Dig lobbyist
Event raised about $20,000
By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | October 12, 2006
Democrat Deval L. Patrick, who regularly decries what he calls a ``Big Dig culture" on Beacon Hill, collected thousands of dollars in campaign money at a fund-raiser this month hosted by O'Neill and Associates, a firm that lobbies for the Big Dig's project manager.
The breakfast, which raised more than $20,000,
took place Oct. 3, hours before Patrick complained at a debate in Springfield
about the state's ``inward-looking political establishment" and referred
to special interests as ``people who get to play, no matter who the governor
is."
