Together We Can... Fire some Republican Managers

According to the Globe (see article below), Gov. Patrick has convened a "star chamber" of advisers who, among other things, will accelerate the brooming of republican appointed state employee managers. So watch out you high paid do-nothing managers appointed by Weld-ducci, Swift and especially Willard Romney..... your days are apparently numbered.

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

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | April 20, 2007

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.

"85-15" Protected in Governor Patrick's Budget ? Not so fast!

NAGE's Lying Propaganda website reports.....

"Contending with a $1.3 billion spending gap to close, Governor Deval Patrick filed House 1, officially putting into the record his FY2008 budget recommendation for the Commonwealth. Although his spending plan calls for sweeping cuts across the state, at least one significant budget item remains protected—the 85-15 employer/employee split for state employee health-care premiums."

Don't start congratulating yourself yet, Holway.... As we've all found out in recent years, there's more than one way to skin a cat. The 85-15 premium contribution is only one part of the equation. Increases in co-pays, reductions in service, increases in deductibles are other ways to shift the financial burden of formerly covered health care cost to employees.... let's wait and see what the "Benefit Guide" tells about the hidden costs to employees..... AND What about the huge cut in the GIC line item?

NAGE prevaricating Propagandists report.....

"It's obviously a huge victory for us [NAGE members], given that the governor had to close a budget gap of more than a billion dollars," said National President David J. Holway.

Somebody get me a tissue..... boo hooo, poor governor Patrick has to close a 1.3 billion budget gap..... and I suppose we've got help out by accepting another-below the rate of inflation contract, right Dave?

Here we go again .... NAGE is starting already to soften everybody up and get them prepared for a yet another low-balled insulting contract..... Judas Goat Holway is leading us down the ramp to the slaughterhouse....

NAGE Propaganda website reports.....

When NAGE discovered that Governor Patrick had issued a memo to his Cabinet secretaries directing them to identify ways to cut their annual budgets by up to 10 percent, NAGE lobbyists immediately got to work to make sure that 85-15 would be protected.
"We knew Governor Patrick would be looking at every way possible to cut the budget, so we immediately set up meetings with his officials and with Lt. Governor [Tim] Murray," said NAGE Legislative Director Ray McGrath. "We're definitely pleased that 85-15 remained untouched, and we will continue to keep its protection at the top of our priority list."

Well let's hope that do-nothing, layabout, Ray McGrath ($165,000/ year of YOUR DUES MONEY) at least got a meeting... by the way, People are saying that McGrath is persona non gratis in Therese Murray's office...(the new Senate President) (remember this guy, the idiot that fumbled the funding for the last paltry raise we got? ....and then tried to Blame it on the Senate Way's & Means Committee (Where Therese Murray was Chairwoman?)

..... Do you think we'll be getting another "message" from the Legislature they they've grown tired of Holway's arrogance????

You can review Govenor Patrick's full budget recommendation at http://budget.mass.gov/budget/

Idiot Holway... NAGE alienates Deval Patrick...

Unit 1,3 & 6 Members will pay the price for Holway's arrogance..... at the bargaining table...... screwed again by NAGE incompetence!

David J. Holway, the tin-horn, fly-weight ,dictator of SEIU Local 5000 (aka NAGE), likes to think he is a real mover and shaker on the national stage. Caught up in the throes of a "delusion of grandeur", Holway went out of his way, and off the reservation, to insult Deval Patrick..... the next Governor of the Commonwealth! at the outset of the campaign...(while cozying up with Level- four loser, AG "Thom Who?" Reilly)

Patrick, of course, was not impressed with Holway's threats.... he scoffed.... but I'm willing to bet he remembers this episode when Holway (our "representative" at the bargaining table) sits down to negotiate the next contract.... JESUS! spare us.

I can just picture it when they sit down to negotiate our contract: ... "Oh hi, Dave Holway, hmmmm... yeah I remember you now.... you're the guy who was busting my ass over the ambassador to the Netherlands... (that reminds me... screw you AND your members.... ")

Folks, Holway has likely set us up for yet another crappy contract with his self-aggrandizing attempts to sound like a celebrity. Why can't this jerk, act like what he is: a local union president whose 1st concern should be for the Comm of Mass State Employees that fund his bloated salary?

The squash nosed drunk, is killing us at the bargaining table.... he has alienated both the the Legislature AND the new Governor .... this self-serving dolt must go!

MEMBERS of UNITS 1,3& 6....It is pretty clear:
NAGE is no longer representing YOUR interests...

DO YOU think it appropriate for idiot-boy Holway to to be insulting the future Governor (over who Bush is going to appoint as ambassador to the Netherlands???).... COME ON FOLKS, is that the kind of issue any of us care enough about to get into a pissing contest with the future Governor????.... talk about not knowing how to pick your battles!..... Holway is an utter FOOL!

While Holway was insulting Deval, he was selling us down the river to Willard Romney with below-the-rate-of-inflation contracts .... the two faced hypocrite!!!!

We have got to bring this dope and his toadies to heel!

Here's the Globe article ( a tip of the hat to "anonymous" for digging it up...thanks brother.... I checked it out, it's for real)

UNION IS PRESSING PATRICK TO RENOUNCE BUSH NOMINEE

Boston Globe, The (MA)
November 17, 2005
Author: Frank Phillips Globe Staff

A major Massachusetts-based union is calling on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval L. Patrick to withdraw his support for President Bush's nominee as US ambassador to the Netherlands, Roland Arnall, a controversial Republican fund-raiser and principal owner of a mortgage company that is under investigation in 30 states.

The National Association of Government Employees has also called on Patrick to resign as a director on the board of Arnall's firm, Ameriquest Capital Corp. The union said his backing of the nominee contradicts Patrick's campaign promise to offer a "fresh look" for state government.
"We view your backing of Mr. Arnall as just more `business as usual' and acceptance that important positions such as an ambassadorship should go to the highest bidder," David J. Holway, NAGE national president, said in a letter to Patrick this week. (Holway, you dope---please SHUT the hell UP!)

He noted Arnall's strong political financial support of Bush. Arnall and his wife, Dawn, were described by The Washington Post in January as "the single biggest source of financial support for Bush since 2002. Over the period, they gave and raised at least $12.25 million."

Patrick rejected the union's demands yesterday, saying he has committed himself to helping Arnall's company settle the investigations into Ameriquest's business practices, which critics say involved predatory lending aimed at low-income people, minorities, and the elderly. The company is in settlement talks with the investigating states.

"My commitment is to provide independent oversight that will help the company in its continuing effort to be the very best in the industry," Patrick wrote to Holway. "If keeping that commitment costs me the endorsement of NAGE, then I am prepared to live with those political consequences." (Way to go Holway... I thinks it's the NAGE membership who will be living with the consequences..)

Patrick submitted a letter last month to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee praising Arnall, telling the senators, "This is a good man." He said he disagrees with the nominee's political views but doesn't "regard political affiliation as the only possible measure of a person."

Edition: THIRD
Section: Metro/Region
Page: B8

Copyright (c) 2005 Globe Newspaper Company

Record Number: 0511170347

Wake up Mass State Employees..! Vote NO on 3

NAGE is STEALING your dues money!
Stealing it and giving it to these SEIU assholes, these Social Engineers in Washington DC who wouldn't know a Mass State Employee from a hole in the ground....

Maybe I'd think it was commendable for SEIU to be spending millions to organize janitors, and hotel housekeepers, and illegal aliens.... if they weren't spending MY DUES to do it! (My dues are suppposed to be fiancing the interests of my professional state employee bargain unit.... not the interests of private employees in other states...) Hey good luck to them, but let them raise their own dues!

You state employees get NO REPRESENTATION of your interests at the state bargaining table. Holway and his minions are only interested in stealing your dues so they get to be heroes to their SEIU masters by transferring MILLION$ of your dollars.....

Watch how quickly Dave "Judas goat" Holway sells you all down the river when the talks begin for the next contract. What will we see, another 2%?, 3%?..... how much further erosion will we see in health insurance benefits?

DID you get that full color, over-sized, glossy postcard with the generic SEIU propaganda? With the little "customized-fill-in-the-blanks" section asking you to vote for Deval & Question 3? What a joke.... your dues are paying for these generic mailers that are being sent all over the country.... don't let them fool you, they don't give a shit about state employees in Massachusetts .....

By the WAY...... please vote NO on question 3

Campaigns(Like Question 3) have nothing whatever to do with your interests and will not benefit you in any way..... this bullshit is completely beyond the scope of the Mass public employee collective bargaining law, Chapter 150E..... why the hell is NAGE spending our money on this twaddle?

We, as state employees, have absolutely no stake in whether home-based day care providers can organize unions..... they are not state employees and they never will be.....

The best I can say about Question 3 is: I don't give shit one way or the other, and the worst I can say is that NAGE/SIEU/Holway arrogance will ONCE AGAIN piss off the Legislature

..... (you don't think the legislature is going to appreciate an attempt by carpetbagger out-of-state union-shitheads to foist a change in the general laws on their constituents, do you?),
and we, the poor members, will be punished again by being screwed in the next contract!.... wake up folks, these NAGE assholes have to brought to heel.


NAGE is stealing your dues to pay for this campaign while they give you shit for service..... For God sake, don't do anything to encourage them to keep raiding our bank account!!!

VOTE NO ON Question 3.... let them raise their own money.

NAGE Funding Line item to be taken up

Word is the House Ways & Means Committee has today released a Supplemental Budget which includes the funding for the NAGE Unit 1,3,6....

....next stop Senate Ways and Means.

I understand that the supp can be passed in an informal session..... so it should pass without much fanfare.

I thinks it's apparent that someone made their point, but it was not appropriate to continue to punish the members for whatever the union may have done to piss someone off.....

you heard it here first.

Contract Funding: A Glimmer of Hope

The NAGE spin on the failure to secure funding for the Unit 1,3, 6 contracts-- a monumental screw-up, is that "NAGE was a victim of it's own success!"
(More on that in another post----NAGE as the Judas goat of the State Bargaining Units)

You've got to be kidding, right?... With success like that who needs failure?.... all the other unions were funded in the supplemental (Chapt 192) budget.... not NAGE.

(Other unions have already seen the raise in their pay checks, and they've gotten their retro....NAGE neglects to mention that on their web site)

What some people are saying is: that somehow NAGE offended the House of Reps and that it was no accident or misunderstanding that the House excluded only NAGE from the list of collective bargaining reserve accounts in the supp budget....who can say?

HOPE?
Word is that the Legislature has agreed to return for ONE DAY ONLY, sometime next week, to go into formal session for purpose of taking up the badly needed bond bill.

Now if NAGE manages to get it's act together, facts straight, and bare their throat to the legislature they offended, etc..... there may be a glimmer of hope for the members.

A supplemental budget item could pass (along with the bond bill) funding the NAGE contracts.... if that doesn't happen folks, it could be ugly..... the "L" word..... quite a sacrifce for the members to bear for the sins of Dave "Slobodon" Holway (whatever they may, or may not have been).

There are a number of members working on this for you.... they didn't offend anyone.

...... more to follow....

Units 1,3 and 6 Contract Funding Update: NO MONEY! SCREWED by NAGE again.

You folks in Units 1,3 and 6 are not getting any raises (Unlike MOSES,AfSCME, and SIEU.... they've already gotten their raises and their retro checks).....

Bad enough that NAGE sold you on a crappy 3% raise during a time of record high surplus revenues AND when inflation is running at 4.15%..... but you poor uninformed members are going to have to settle for a 4% pay cut instead of a 1% pay cut after all.....

You are probably too miserably uninformed to even realize you've been been screwed.

Sorry folks, there is NOTHING on the Legislative radar screen that indicates they'll take up a new supplemental budget to fund the NAGE raises....so expect to wait a looooong time....maybe sometime next spring.Don't believe it? call NAGE and listen to them babble.... they don't have an answer, yet the other unions have the money........

The raise, when it comes, if it comes, it may not even be retroactive....who knows???

What Happened?????
Chapter 192 of 2006 (the Supplemental Budget) contained funding reserves to pay all the unions except for NAGE 1,3,6. When the language in the supplemental budget came out lacking a reserve for NAGE contracts, the NAGE stood by and did nothing to have the language and the money put into the supp budget.... that NAGE legislative machine is really on the ball, huh?

While the other unions diligently attended to their knitting and made sure their members' contracts were funded in the supplemental budget....where was NAGE?.... planning the party in Vegas?

This is our punishment for being uninformed and putting up with an undemocratic, self serving union dictatorship....... more to come........