Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Governor Patrick can’t even run his own office efficiently!

In case you missed it, today’s Boston Herald has a report that calls into question Governor Patrick’s ability to run his own office, let alone the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Herald reports that more than 20 of Governor Patrick’s former staffers “cashed in more than $90,500 in unused vacation days last year.”

One of those former staffers is none other than Doug Rubin, who now runs the Governor’s re-election campaign. Rubin alone received more than $11,000 in vacation pay when departing from the corner office.

When asked to comment on this story Governor Patrick said, “I’ll have to look at it.” Is this the leadership we’re supposed to believe in?

You may recall the Boston Herald had a similar report not too long ago about how Massport paid out more than $1 million last year to employees who cashed in their unused sick and vacation days. Governor Patrick ripped Massport for their exorbitant practices and said it “has got to change.”

Governor Patrick needs to get his own house in order first. If he proves he is capable of doing that, maybe then he can take a look at policies in other state agencies and quasi-agencies. Until then, Governor Patrick probably shouldn’t comment on any other obscene payout scenarios since his office is very guilty of that practice.

What’s particularly ironic about this story coming to light today is the fact that Lieutenant Governor Murray was quoted in an Associated Press article just today saying his republican opponent “is misleading the public by suggesting state employees haven't suffered like their private sector counterparts amid the economic downturn.” Murray, a.k.a. the Governor’s sidekick, went on to say "It's bad enough to try to score cheap political points on the backs of public employees, but he's wrong. He's flat-out wrong.” We guess the Lieutenant Governor should do a little research before he opens his mouth since obviously if you’re a friend of the Patrick-Murray Administration, these perks are common practice!