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.

SOME of You folks... DO GET IT !!!

WELL... you're not ALL SHEEPLE !!!!

Anonymous left a very astute post (see it quoted below).
He (or she) said:

"I called the Mass Labor Board. Our one-year contracts expire June 30, 2007. So we needed to get 50 percent of our fellow members to sign cards/petitions to get out of NAGE and file them at the Mass Labor Board by January 31st. Since we didn't do that, we couldn't file again until after the contract is signed.


So we need to get another union, collect 50 percent of the cards/signatures and we need to NOT vote if they come out with another crappy deal to shove down our throats. Anyone else in?"

He (or she) is right on the money. This is precisely the problem.

Here's how NAGE will play it when the low ball piece of bleep contract proposal comes out as a result of the SHAM NEGOTIATIONS that are now taking place........

NAGE/Holway, after painting a gloomy a budgetary picture (ever notice how it's ALWAYS terrible for state employees whether its a state revenues feast or famine?), including that perennial threat that "unless you accept a below-the-rate-of-inflation contract, with no retro, witches and goblins be loosed on the world" (you know, the usual threats, you MAY be subject to layoff.... blah, blah, blah....)

NAGE WILL LIE TO YOU about this because if the piece of crap contract, (that they will no doubt put before the members) is REJECTED!, then they will drop back into that very short period of vulnerability when the members actually have a slim chance of voting their greedy behinds out of their uncontested right to steal your dues money (thanks to weak state laws).

HOLWAY is scared to death that enough of you might wake up, and take away the easy money ($250k graft/salary) that he sucks out of your dues.... while giving you no fair representation of YOUR interests in return

Without even seeing it, I can tell you folks to VOTE NO, on the piece of crap contract that will inevitably be put before you.... if nothing else it will send a message to Holway and the Burgin Parkway bandits that their days are numbered.....

Members, we have it be in it for the long haul.... if we're not able to prevail this time, we'll be ready the next time.... these thieving scum must go! ( I call it thievery when they take your dues, vote themselves obscene undeserved salaries, and party- hardy from Cambridge to Vegas, all the while ducking their constitutional duty to hold regular membership meetings to serve YOU ! )

Consider me IN anonymous!.... spread the word members....

..... VOTE NO .... on the insulting contract proposal you'll soon find in your mail box, with no prior opportunity for debate or discussion.....).... stop making it so easy for these cowardly scum to give you the shaft whilst picking your pockets..... you can do better!.... the Legislature has been signaling us that we should get rid of these bums.... voting NO is the 1st step....

"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/

When will Unit 6 ever have a membership meeting?

According to the NAGE constitution, such as it is (a piece of bleep), we members are entitled to have a general membership meeting once a year:

SECTION 8.
All Local Units shall have at least one general membership meeting annually.

But do we get one?..... NOoooo. Now one would think with there being so much to discuss (Contract negotiations, outrageous dues increases, the Governor's Budget....), that our duly elected Local Officers would be scheduling one..... but don't hold you breath.

I want the Unit 6 membership meeting to be held at Jasper White's in Cambridge....not some shithole-in-the wall NAGE Regional office at 70 Elm St. in Worcester! I understand Jasper's is quite the place!.... NAGE Headquarters has spent over $25,ooo there on parties for itself in the last two years (no members...) .... one has to surmise that the budget for the staff Xmas party is $12,500 per year and the budget to fund membership meetins is $$$ZERO!!!!! folks we can't keep putting up with this crap!

I think it's about time they started spending some of my dues money on ME and my fellow members! How about it?

And I can suggest how to fund the effort? .... here's how:
STOP squandering our dues money on the social engineers at SIEU national with their outrageously expensive and unsuccessful efforts to do, God only knows what, with their ridiculous fight for the future boondoggle.

Here is a suggested agenda for the meeting, when and if it is held.

Unit 6 General Membership Meeting Agenda-2007:

1st order of business: to set the time and place for next general membership meeting (and those to be scheduled for the rest of the year)
Don't let these skunks keep getting away with hiding from us while they squander our dues and get us nothing in return! Let's start calling these over-paid layabouts to account !......on a regular meeting basis!

Other business to be taken up AND VOTED by the members: (you all understand what voting is, right?.... that's what is supposed to happen in democratic organizations....something the sheeple in NAGE never get a chance at...)

1. To see if the Members will vote to require that Mandatory general membership meetings be increased to 6 times per year
2. To see if the Members will vote to direct the "leadership" to see that meeting minutes are taken and published on the website
   
3. 
   
   To see if the Members will vote rescind (or approve) the recent dues increase foisted upon them by the "nationals".
   
   
   
4. To see if the Members will vote to limit the rate of future dues increases to be less than or equal to salary rate increases achieved by NAGE for members through contract negotiations (the recent increase in dues is approx 22%, while the recent salary increase is only 3%)
5. To hear the NAGE Financial report: Total Dues collected from members-by local and by agency, detailed expenditure report of same, proposed salary increases for NAGE officers and Employees.
6. To hear the report of the Grievance Committee: How many grievances have been filed, by agency and by issue. What is the current status of grievances, what was the outcome of settled grievances? How many grievances were handled by professional legal counsel, how many by unpaid volunteer stewards? What is the average length of time taken from grievance filing to settlement?
   
7. Election report: what was the precise tally, by candidate, for the recent election (every election gives the tally by candidate---except for NAGE and Iraq under Saddam Hussein)

NEPBA gives Holway a well deserved bashing...

New England Police Benevelovent Assoc....news

..... from the NEPBA Website..... these folks are well organized, and active. Take a look at what a little competition will do for disclosure..... we SHEEPLE in the pathetic cash-cow State Locals UNits 1, 3 &6 should learn a few lessons from these guys....
Check out their website.... there are plenty more editorials about NAGE's underhanded dirty-dealing tactics....

HOLWAY’S RAGE DANCE CONTINUES
AS NAGE TRUSTEE’S DOC CAPTAIN’S

The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

February 16, 2007 – Instead of addressing the failures of his once promising reign as King of Organized Labor, the enraged tyrant of Burgin Parkway has once again shown his true colors. He continues to place locals in trusteeship because they simply have filed decertification petitions to leave the sinking ship known throughout the region as the S.S. NAGE. Like most tyrants, he has a multitude of titles including, National President of NAGE, IBPO, IBCO, IAEP and so on and so on….but, apparently his most powerful position is that of Supreme Trustee of Corrections.

On September 11, 2006, the Middlesex Sheriffs filed a decertification petition with the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission in order to choose between their current exclusive representative and the New England PBA, Inc., I.U.P.A., AFL-CIO. However, before most of the local had even realized that the S.S. NAGE had hit an iceberg and was sinking faster than the Titanic, “Captain Chaos” Holway pulled up the row boats and tossed the Middlesex Sheriff’s Executive Board overboard.

But, that wasn’t enough – he also tried to have their president walk the plank by attempting to file FALSE criminal charges against him, which were ultimately rejected by the Nashua, NH Police Dept.

Now, “Captain Chaos” has repeated his arrogant ways by also placing the Massachusetts DOC Captain’s in trusteeship – ONE DAY AFTER they too have filed a petition with the Labor Relations Commission to join the New England PBA, Inc., I.U.P.A. Local 9000, AFL-CIO. But, the similarities don’t end there “Captain Chaos” also took over their treasury and drummed up more false charges against some of the most respected members of the DOC Captain’s, including President William Ryan and Vice President Shawn Dewey. NAGE also refuse to return over $30,000 in overage monies due the DOC Captain’s.

Apparently, “Captain Chaos” has forgotten the last history lesson which the Newton Police gave NAGE several years ago. NAGE lost that case too! The New England PBA has offered their legal services to the DOC Captain’s in order to remove the trusteeship and to return the $30,000 in overage dues to its rightful owners, but maybe NAGE just need the money to make payroll this week. Whatever the case we will keep you updated, because as Ken Lyons said, “We Tell It Like It Is – Isn’t that the Best Way!

How Low will NAGE go on the next Contract?

Let's see, I'm guessing NAGE will settle for 1%, 1% and 1.5% COLA over the next three years....

Oh, and we'll see off-setting increases in our health insurance co-pays and premiums, along with service reductions (previously covered services-no longer covered.... ) Governor DeVille chooses to call them "reforms" in his new budget..... rather than cuts to benefits, which is what they are.....

NEWS FLASH!!!!!
The Group Insurance Premium and Plan Costs Line item for state employees in the new Governor De Ville Budget has been reduced by over $269 million for next year (due to "reforms", yeah, right!).... if reforms mean higher premiums and less coverage, I guess that's right....


I also note that the Insurance Premiums line item for teachers is going UP by $5million..... what do you read into that?

Here are some of the "reforms" were likely to see from the Group Insurance Commission:

......more Tiered- "Select and Save" plans ..... (in english it means THEY'VE selected a diluted health care coverage plan that will put the screws to YOU, so it will save THEM money)

..... one REALLY EXCITING new GIC Select and Save Plan you may be offerred in this years "Benefit Guide" provides that if you're willing to select a veterinarian for your primary care Doctor, and Angel Memorial Veterinary Clinic as your family hospital.... then your out of pocket costs will be held to only a 50% increase this year WOOF!..... hey with NAGE looking out for you how can you lose?

My advice is, that if you've been putting off an operation or other medical procedure..... do it now before things get any worse.... you could wind up bankrupted, or worse, if you wait till next year.... oh and try not to get sick.......

Believe me, Prez for Life Holway and the rest of Burgin Parkway Bandits don't care whether you get a fair contract, they have only one concern:
........keeping the flow of your dues into their pockets!

How much longer will it be before (when out of the blue, with no opportunity for public debate or discussion) we get the ballot asking us to vote for yet another insulting contract?

You know how it always goes, NAGE will once again be telling us....

Well.... it's not a GREAT contract,... ahhh, it's not even a GOOD contract,... in fact it's downright lousy contract..... but the Commonwealth can't afford to give you a fair cost of living adjustment.... just look at the projected deficit.....

Hmmmm.... too bad Holway and NAGE were selling you all down the river for 1.5% to 2% COLAS for all those years......when the Commonwealth was enjoying record high surplus revenues!....

If we'd had a union run by members, instead of self-serving swine interested only in their own obscene salaries, perhaps those contracts would have kept pace with inflation instead taking serious losses in inflation adjusted constant dollars.....

.......put another way, you're worse off today financially than you were 10-15 years ago, thanks to NAGE..... and by the time NAGE gets through "negotiating" the new contract, you'll be still worse off.....

Holway is warming up to do it again with his Judas Goat routine.... where he leads all the other unions to slaughter by settling for a dirt poor contract..... get ready to be sold down the river by NAGE headquarters, once again.....

NAGE will then publish a self-congratulatory piece in their in-house rag, the NAGE Reporter, bragging to the members that they the were the first union to settle! ..... what's really sad is that the SHEEP-LE in units 1&6 will eat this BS right up (hey I'll give a little credit to Unit 3, they at least had a case of temporary sanity when they voted the NAGE scum out in favor of MOSES (a real democratic union that accounts for every penny to their members.)
Alas they soon reverted to form with the rest of the pathetic sheep...

Stay posted and hang onto you wallets.

Governor De ville Patrick is beholden to the teacher's union and the municipalities.... He's got to provide health insurance for illegal aliens..... He's got to pay for those promises somehow.....

By the way, did I mention how tight Dave Holway is with Deval Patrick?.... he'll do real well for 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.... ")