I guess this is where he becomes nothing more than a puppet of the real, unseen forces pulling his strings and running the state:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/16/patrick_moves_to_shore_up_his_staff/
Patrick moves to shore up his staff
2 State House veterans tapped to add stability
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | March 16, 2007
After two months of escalating political setbacks, Governor Deval Patrick brought in two State House veterans yesterday to help stabilize his new administration and announced the resignation of his wife's $72,000 chief of staff, whose position will be abolished.
Patrick turned to one of Senate President Robert E. Travaglini's top aides, David Morales, to become his senior adviser on policy and strategic planning.
He also moved Joseph Landolfi, a veteran press officer who has led the communications operations at several high-profile state agencies, from Administration and Finance into the governor's inner office to take over day-to-day media operations.
Aides hope that the departure of Diane Patrick's chief of staff, Amy Gorin, will stem some of the heavy criticism the governor has taken for creating the position. She resigned less than a week after Patrick announced that his wife was suffering from exhaustion and depression.
Patrick's advisers, who have spent the last several days working on plans to shore up Patrick's staff, said the governor expects to make other additions in the near future as he seeks to bolster his staff with aides who have more political and media savvy.
"This is a good first step," said one senior aide. "Landolfi has a good knowledge of the press, and Morales knows the politics both inside the State House and outside, and he is someone the governor can lean on."
The shake-up follows several weeks of missteps that have weakened Patrick politically and stirred increasing concern among his supporters that his governorship is foundering in its infancy. A WBZ-TV poll showed a 20-point decline in his favorable rating over the last month.
Patrick's decision will also help calm fears among his supporters that his well-publicized blunders and self-inflicted political wounds will diminish his clout with political powerbrokers on Beacon Hill as he tries to advance his agenda.
"It is about time," said Dan Payne, who briefly advised Patrick during his campaign. "Considering what has happened over the last nine weeks, this is a smart move. This is a critical time for him, and people are forming their opinions, and all they are hearing is bad news."
Patrick's lease of a Cadillac and purchase of $27,000 worth of furniture for the governor's office put him on the defensive within weeks of his inauguration and prompted even his closest supporters to question why he did not anticipate the backlash it would create.
The governor smoothed over some of the controversy by personally paying for the office trappings and a portion of the car lease. Patrick, however, defended hiring an aide for his wife, who is a partner at a Boston law firm, arguing that past administrations have had staff members who help the governor's spouse with scheduling, if not a specially designated chief of staff.
But Patrick's decision late last month to call a top official at a major financial company to vouch for a controversial mortgage company stirred even sharper criticism and a Republican call for an investigation by the State Ethics Commission.
On Feb. 20, Patrick called former US treasury secretary Robert E. Rubin, now a top executive at Citigroup, as the financial giant was considering whether to extend credit and pump cash into ACC Capital Holding, the parent company of Ameriquest Mortgage. Patrick resigned from the ACC board last year after serving two years as a $360,000-a-year director.
In the past week, the young administration became mired in a series of contradictory messages. Communications director Nancy Fernandez Mills, a political newcomer, told a Globe columnist this week that Patrick was unaware of an immigration raid in New Bedford until it was going on, directly contradicting other members of the administration and Patrick himself.
On Wednesday, Patrick seemed to contradict his public safety secretary and social services commissioner, saying that the federal government had given the state assurances that social workers would have access to the illegal immigrants at the New Bedford factory the day of the raid to determine if they had children who needed to be cared for.
Landolfi's move into the governor's circle will diminish Mills's role. She will retain her title and $102,000 salary but focus on so-called new media -- Patrick's podcasts and the governor's website -- and her duties overseeing the external affairs office. Landolfi will take on the title of senior communications adviser to the governor and will oversee press secretary Kyle Sullivan and the press office staff.
Landolfi, 55, who has worked at the highest levels in both Democratic and Republican administrations during the last 30 years, will keep his $107,000 salary, which will continue to be paid by Administration and Finance.
Morales, 32, an activist in the state's Latino community, will get a boost in salary, from about $80,000 in his Senate post to $100,000 a year. Gorin's salary will be shifted to help pay Morales's salary. Morales had negotiated to join Patrick's senior staff during the transition but then backed off.
In a statement, Patrick said that Landolfi and Morales will help him deliver "on the people's expectations for change, including a government that is more responsive to their needs."
Morales is the third Travaglini aide to leave since the beginning of the year, fueling speculation that the Senate president is preparing to step down.
The Globe reported yesterday that a community hospital association is considering a proposal today to offer him a $300,000-a-year position as its president. He has said he is not aware of the potential offer.
Gorin's departure appears aimed at defusing the attacks Patrick has endured for hiring a full-time aide for his wife, which no governor has done since the Dukakis administration.
But his office took pains to make her departure appear voluntary.
"At this time, I want to be as helpful as I can to Diane as a friend, and I feel that I can best accomplish that outside of the Executive Office," Gorin said in a statement released by the governor's office.
Andrea Estes of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/16/patrick_moves_to_shore_up_his_staff/
Patrick moves to shore up his staff
2 State House veterans tapped to add stability
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | March 16, 2007
After two months of escalating political setbacks, Governor Deval Patrick brought in two State House veterans yesterday to help stabilize his new administration and announced the resignation of his wife's $72,000 chief of staff, whose position will be abolished.
Patrick turned to one of Senate President Robert E. Travaglini's top aides, David Morales, to become his senior adviser on policy and strategic planning.
He also moved Joseph Landolfi, a veteran press officer who has led the communications operations at several high-profile state agencies, from Administration and Finance into the governor's inner office to take over day-to-day media operations.
Aides hope that the departure of Diane Patrick's chief of staff, Amy Gorin, will stem some of the heavy criticism the governor has taken for creating the position. She resigned less than a week after Patrick announced that his wife was suffering from exhaustion and depression.
Patrick's advisers, who have spent the last several days working on plans to shore up Patrick's staff, said the governor expects to make other additions in the near future as he seeks to bolster his staff with aides who have more political and media savvy.
"This is a good first step," said one senior aide. "Landolfi has a good knowledge of the press, and Morales knows the politics both inside the State House and outside, and he is someone the governor can lean on."
The shake-up follows several weeks of missteps that have weakened Patrick politically and stirred increasing concern among his supporters that his governorship is foundering in its infancy. A WBZ-TV poll showed a 20-point decline in his favorable rating over the last month.
Patrick's decision will also help calm fears among his supporters that his well-publicized blunders and self-inflicted political wounds will diminish his clout with political powerbrokers on Beacon Hill as he tries to advance his agenda.
"It is about time," said Dan Payne, who briefly advised Patrick during his campaign. "Considering what has happened over the last nine weeks, this is a smart move. This is a critical time for him, and people are forming their opinions, and all they are hearing is bad news."
Patrick's lease of a Cadillac and purchase of $27,000 worth of furniture for the governor's office put him on the defensive within weeks of his inauguration and prompted even his closest supporters to question why he did not anticipate the backlash it would create.
The governor smoothed over some of the controversy by personally paying for the office trappings and a portion of the car lease. Patrick, however, defended hiring an aide for his wife, who is a partner at a Boston law firm, arguing that past administrations have had staff members who help the governor's spouse with scheduling, if not a specially designated chief of staff.
But Patrick's decision late last month to call a top official at a major financial company to vouch for a controversial mortgage company stirred even sharper criticism and a Republican call for an investigation by the State Ethics Commission.
On Feb. 20, Patrick called former US treasury secretary Robert E. Rubin, now a top executive at Citigroup, as the financial giant was considering whether to extend credit and pump cash into ACC Capital Holding, the parent company of Ameriquest Mortgage. Patrick resigned from the ACC board last year after serving two years as a $360,000-a-year director.
In the past week, the young administration became mired in a series of contradictory messages. Communications director Nancy Fernandez Mills, a political newcomer, told a Globe columnist this week that Patrick was unaware of an immigration raid in New Bedford until it was going on, directly contradicting other members of the administration and Patrick himself.
On Wednesday, Patrick seemed to contradict his public safety secretary and social services commissioner, saying that the federal government had given the state assurances that social workers would have access to the illegal immigrants at the New Bedford factory the day of the raid to determine if they had children who needed to be cared for.
Landolfi's move into the governor's circle will diminish Mills's role. She will retain her title and $102,000 salary but focus on so-called new media -- Patrick's podcasts and the governor's website -- and her duties overseeing the external affairs office. Landolfi will take on the title of senior communications adviser to the governor and will oversee press secretary Kyle Sullivan and the press office staff.
Landolfi, 55, who has worked at the highest levels in both Democratic and Republican administrations during the last 30 years, will keep his $107,000 salary, which will continue to be paid by Administration and Finance.
Morales, 32, an activist in the state's Latino community, will get a boost in salary, from about $80,000 in his Senate post to $100,000 a year. Gorin's salary will be shifted to help pay Morales's salary. Morales had negotiated to join Patrick's senior staff during the transition but then backed off.
In a statement, Patrick said that Landolfi and Morales will help him deliver "on the people's expectations for change, including a government that is more responsive to their needs."
Morales is the third Travaglini aide to leave since the beginning of the year, fueling speculation that the Senate president is preparing to step down.
The Globe reported yesterday that a community hospital association is considering a proposal today to offer him a $300,000-a-year position as its president. He has said he is not aware of the potential offer.
Gorin's departure appears aimed at defusing the attacks Patrick has endured for hiring a full-time aide for his wife, which no governor has done since the Dukakis administration.
But his office took pains to make her departure appear voluntary.
"At this time, I want to be as helpful as I can to Diane as a friend, and I feel that I can best accomplish that outside of the Executive Office," Gorin said in a statement released by the governor's office.
Andrea Estes of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
This guy is a complete idiot.
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
![[crying]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/006.gif "Crying [crying]")
