Well, well, well..... not since the cultural revolution under Mao or the killing fields under Pol Pot have we heard such talk.....
Got to make room for the Partrick "supporters".... make way for squadrons of "dewy-eyed" togother we can cultists.... should be interesting....
Post your nominees (for firing) here.... you know who they are..... name names! Turn them out before they turn you in!.... it's every man for himself......
Patrick forms team to help market agenda
Group will offer advice on governing, policy
Governor Deval Patrick has assembled a small group of seasoned political and media strategists to informally advise him on how to market his agenda and deal with the heated political world of Beacon Hill, another sign that the first-time leader is being forced to embrace the traditional kind of governing style he often denounced during the campaign.At the governor's direction, Patrick's new chief of staff, Doug Rubin, gathered the group for its first meeting Wednesday night at a private downtown office, where they agreed on a major priority: to crack the whip on the administration's lagging efforts to replace Republican-appointed government managers with a team loyal to Patrick.
The push for new agency leaders, regulators, and commissioners reflects the frustration of many Patrick supporters and Democratic leaders, who believe that the governor has not acted swiftly enough to take control after 16 years of Republican rule.
"It became clear that the first thing we had to do was to get the administration to reflect the campaign that the governor ran," said one of those at the meeting. "It cannot be a government which is made up of managers who were part of the administrations of Republican governors who had a completely different vision of what state government should be."
The group, which will meet monthly, includes Ronald Homer, former head of the Bank of Commerce, who spearheaded the drive for new blood in key government positions; former attorney general Scott Harshbarger; veteran political strategist John Marttila; pollster Tom Kiley; Democratic political consultant Michael Goldman; state Democratic Party chairman John Walsh, who served as Patrick's campaign manager; and Dennis Kanin, former political adviser to the late senator Paul E. Tsongas.Rubin told the group Wednesday that the meeting was part of Patrick's outreach to supporters and advisers from his gubernatorial campaign who may feel disconnected from what the governor has been doing on Beacon Hill. While many of Patrick's campaign advisers have continued to offer him guidance, some Democrats have criticized him for not following through on their counsel.
"There's been a disconnect, and the governor realizes that and he wants to correct it," said another participant in the meeting, who did not want to be identified because of the confidential nature of the gathering.
After stumbling several times during his first months in office, Patrick is working to rebuild his senior staff with a team steeped in politics and media relations.
Patrick, whose campaign challenged the political establishment and eschewed traditional political and media strategies, tried to bring that philosophy to the State House.
But within the first few months, as he focused nearly exclusively on the state budget, he faced a furor caused by several controversial decisions: to upgrade his state car to a Cadillac, to buy expensive furnishings for his office, and to call a major financial institution on behalf of a subprime lender, Ameriquest Mortgage, where he had recently served as a board member.
His critics and supporters also said he had failed to use the traditional honeymoon period to dramatically champion several well-defined initiatives, an important political step for any new governor.
Rubin, who at 39 is a veteran of state politics, was brought on last week to replace Patrick's initial choice for chief of staff, the politically inexperienced Joan Wallace-Benjamin. Several weeks earlier, Patrick bolstered his senior staff with Joseph Landolfi, a veteran State House press aide, and David Morales, a policy aide to former Senate president Robert E. Travaglini.
The new group of advisers is reminiscent of the kitchen Cabinet that Governor Michael S. Dukakis assembled when he returned to office in 1983 to help him avoid the mistakes that contributed to his defeat in 1978. The Dukakis team consisted of several politically savvy advisers who met regularly with his chief of staff, John Sasso.
Patrick's group, however, could be a little more unwieldy, with more than 15 members attending the first meeting.
One participant in the meeting said the group, while large, will break down into smaller units to deal with specific areas.
Rubin declined to comment in detail on the meeting, saying he wanted to keep the discussions confidential. But he confirmed he assembled the group from advisers who helped in the campaign.
Others in the group are Jon Jennings, who heads US Senator John F. Kerry's Boston office; Michael Kineavy, chief of policy and planning for Mayor Thomas M. Menino; Bill Wasserman, a former North Shore newspaper publisher and early Patrick supporter; Liz Morningstar, executive director of the Patrick political committee; Steve Wright, a Boston lawyer; and Larry Carpman, a former press secretary to Kerry and a media consultant to Patrick.
