A curious choice by Barack's buddy.
A fight over screenings by exclusive housing cooperatives in the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and Cambridge ended this month when Governor Deval Patrick vetoed a bill that would have forced co-ops to admit anyone who could afford to buy.That makes two years in a row that co-ops have scored a victory at the State House, despite arguments by lawmakers who say it is unfair to exclude would-be apartment purchasers for anything other than financial grounds.
Patrick told the Legislature he vetoed the bill again because he continues to believe that it would hamper efforts to create affordable housing in the state and possibly block creation of new complexes for the elderly as well as co-ops for artists.
"I am concerned that this bill undermines the efforts of my administration to enhance affordable housing options and protect vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, from the housing crisis," Patrick wrote in a veto letter.
Lawmakers who see the issue as one of class discrimination, not affordable housing, vowed to file their bill again next year.
The bill was first filed last year after a Beacon Hill co-op board rejected John P. Walsh, the chief executive of the Elizabeth Grady chain of skin-care salons, saying he "would not reasonably coalesce as a member of this cooperative community."
Walsh, who grew up in a Somerville housing project, claimed he was dis criminated against because he wasn't a "blue blood."
State Representative Barry R. Finegold, a longtime friend of Walsh's, said he was "absolutely baffled" by Patrick's decision to veto the latest version of the bill, which Finegold said had been redrafted to address opponents' concerns. It was passed by the Legislature on July 31, the last day of the formal session.
"To say I was disappointed in the governor is an understatement," said Finegold, an Andover Democrat. "We modified. We compromised. We worked with the anti-people."
Senator Bruce E. Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, said he, too, embraced the cause after learning of Walsh's experience.
"When I heard that this kind of discriminatory practice was being allowed to happen in this era, I was appalled," he said. "I thought this kind of thing had vanished from the landscape."
UPDATE: More from the Globe.
SECOND UPDATE: Still more from the Globe.
THIRD UPDATE: More from Barbara Anderson, the Washington Post, the Globe and Herald.
