Tuesday, October 27, 2009

In The Finest Traditions of Beacon Hill – The “Outsider” Keeps It Mostly Inside

You may recall a few weeks ago Governor Deval Patrick announced that his administration would be organizing an economic summit, seemingly a response to the rapidly declining revenue numbers and increasing unemployment rate.

Well, that economic summit is underway, and it comes as no surprise that the summit is closed to the press and consists mostly of Beacon Hill insiders and Patrick campaign contributors. According to State House News Service, “More than half the planning committee for Gov. Deval Patrick’s economic summit today are donors to the governor’s political account. Most of the day’s events are off-limits to the public and the press, including sessions on the usage of federal taxpayer dollars.” SHNS goes on to report that “At least 11 of the 19 members of the panel have written checks to Patrick’s campaign, several of them repeatedly.”

So much for change and transparency! It’s more of the same from Governor Patrick and his administration. Hope Governor Patrick isn’t planning on running for re-election as an outsider again! This administration is consistently behind the curve. It was only weeks ago, that Governor Patrick recognized the scope of the financial difficulties the Bay State is facing. This economic summit is nothing more than a poor attempt for publicity.