That sound you hear is Gov. Patrick screaming as Joan Vennochi cuts to the bone.

GOVERNOR Deval Patrick hired Barack Obama’s campaign manager to help run his 2010 reelection bid.

But Patrick is no Obama, as their mutual strategist, David Plouffe, must understand.

Forget the shared rhetoric, the quest for hope and change, and the similarities in their life stories. Patrick’s approach to politics and the media is the opposite of Obama’s. Politically speaking, the contrast is killing the Massachusetts governor.

The past few weeks have been relatively good ones for Patrick. He stared down Massachusetts lawmakers, who eventually came through on three critical “reform’’ packages the governor demanded - pension, ethics, and transportation.

Now the question is whether Patrick reaps any political benefit, or squanders it.

Despite grim-sounding poll numbers, Patrick still holds the advantage. He’s a Democrat in Massachusetts, and his potential challengers face an assortment of political hurdles.

State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, a fellow Democrat, is positioning himself as a fiscal conservative. But it’s hard to see how Cahill wins a Democratic primary, or, first, gets on the ballot at a state convention controlled by Patrick supporters. That forces a run as an independent.

Republican Christy Mihos ran as an independent in 2006. His campaign then was undisciplined, although Mihos might be more effective with Dick Morris, a nationally known consultant, behind him. Republican Charles Baker, the head of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, has stature in political and business circles, but is unknown beyond that.

If voters are really angry with Patrick and stay that way, anything can happen. The increase in the state sales tax could stoke an anti-Patrick movement. But, today, Massachusetts seems more disappointed than mad.

UPDATE: More from Michael Graham, Wayne Woodlief, the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Phoenix and the Herald.

My God, it's like the Duke never left...

Governor Deval Patrick signed a budget yesterday that imposes more than $1 billion in additional taxes on Massachusetts residents and visitors, most of it through the first increase in the state sales tax in 33 years, even as he declined to rule out a future boost in the state gas tax.

Patrick, whose earlier proposal for a 19-cent-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax was largely ignored by the Legislature, continued to make the case yesterday that the tax could be necessary to put the state’s transportation network on sounder financial footing.

“We haven’t done that yet. We haven’t finished that work yet,’’ Patrick said, when asked if he would keep pushing for a gas tax. “And whether that’s the gas tax or something else, we’re going to have to face those issues, I think sooner rather than later.’’

Patrick aides said afterward that the governor had no current plans to push for a gas tax increase.

The governor made his comments as he signed a $27 billion budget that includes increases in the state’s sales, alcohol, satellite television, meals, and hotel taxes. Even while putting his signature on the budget, Patrick continued to try to distance himself from a first-in-a-generation increase in the state’s sales tax, which on Aug. 1 will rise from 5 percent to 6.25 percent.

“The sales tax is not my first choice, and not the preferred course,’’ he said. “It’s the course that the Legislature pursued. I preferred, and still do, more targeted revenue measures that raise, from a particular source, revenue for particular needs.’’

UPDATE: More from WBUR, the Herald, Boston Globe, Holly Robichaud, NECN and the Lynn Daily Item.

SECOND UPDATE: From Michael Graham and Red Mass Group.

THIRD UPDATE: From Michael Graham, Aaron Margolis, Jan Schlichtmann, Holly Robichaud, Mary Connaughton, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

Governor Patrick, get your hand out of my pocket!

Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that he will sign more than $1 billion in tax increases, ending a months-long standoff with the Legislature and ensuring Massachusetts residents will pay more for everything, from satellite dishes to cheeseburgers.

Patrick’s announcement, coming after the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the tax increases last week, means that the state sales tax will rise for the first time in a generation, and at a time when many residents are losing homes and jobs.

The new sales tax rate, which will increase from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, will go into effect Aug. 1.

“I will approve the new revenues we need to bring our budget into balance, offset the need for even more difficult cuts, and expand opportunity throughout the Commonwealth,’’ Patrick said in a statement. “Due to the economic challenges that all states are facing, this new revenue is necessary to prevent us from losing ground on our long-term goals in education and healthcare, and further straining safety net services that are struggling to meet the increased demand.’’

About $275 million in projected new sales tax revenue will be directed to the state’s transportation network, preventing planned toll increases on the Massachusetts Turnpike, at least for now. The sales tax revenue will also help shore up finances at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, although it might not be enough to head off a fare increase.

The statewide meals tax will also increase, from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, and municipalities will have the option to raise it up to 7 percent and keep the extra revenue for themselves. In addition, taxes will go up on satellite television users, and a sales-tax exemption on alcohol sold in retail stores will be eliminated. Municipalities will also be allowed to raise the local hotel tax by 2 percentage points.

“It’s going to hurt small businesses, and it’s going to hurt consumers,’’ said Jon B. Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.

UPDATE: More from WBUR, the AP, Jon Keller, Holly Robichaud, JoAnn Fitzpatrick, Metrowest Daily News, the Herald and Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: From the Herald and the Boston Globe.

THIRD UPDATE: From Jennifer Nassour, Redhead Republican, Red Mass Group, the Boston Herald, Mary Connaughton and State House News Service.

Here’s a chilling thought: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick being re-elected to a second term in November 2010.

It won’t be too long before Election Day 2010 arrives. On that November morning, we hope that Bay Staters take a look at the past four years, consider the next four, and decide upon a new and better path.

UPDATE: More from WBUR and the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: From Holly Robichaud, WBUR, the Globe, the AP, the Metrowest Daily News, the Herald and the Metro.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Holly Robichaud, WBUR, the Metro, Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

Gov. Patrick vs. the state legislature.

Local legislators said Monday they will give final approval to an ethics reform bill this week and accused Gov. Deval Patrick of grandstanding on the issue.

The lawmakers said the governor should know that they have been working toward passage of the bill and his recent threats over it are unnecessary.

Patrick criticized the Legislature last week for passing tax increases before approving ethics reform. He said he will veto the budget if an ethics bill does not make it to his desk.

"The fact that we have not been able to pass a strong ethics reform bill - despite the clear need to restore the public's trust - threatens all the progress we have made," Patrick said last week.

"For the Legislature to enact a 25 percent increase in the sales tax without first passing a strong ethics bill goes against the pledge that the legislative leaders and I made," the governor said.

State Rep. Bill Bowles, D-Attleboro, said the governor's statement was political posturing.

He said both the House and Senate have passed their versions of ethics reform. A conference committee is working out a compromise bill because the two original versions differ.

"One of the frustrating things is the governor knows both the House and Senate have passed a bill and they are just working out the details," Bowles said.

There has been speculation the governor has adopted a re-election strategy of distancing himself from the Democratic Legislature.

UPDATE: From Michael Graham, Mary Connaughton, the Globe and Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: From Massachusetts Matters, Scot Lehigh, the AP, Boston Globe and Herald.

Aren't we getting a little tired of this?

Since taking office in January 2007, Gov. Deval Patrick has used a credit card from his campaign committee to charge $85,000 in travel expenses to fund the governor's - and his wife's - advocacy of President Barack Obama's campaign.

Charges included travel to New York, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

On Election Night, Nov. 4, 2008, Patrick's staff traveled to Chicago on American Airlines for $623 and spent $410.92 in campaign money on meals at the Blue Water Grill. On Oct. 14, 2008, Patrick charged $38.95 at Sammy's Famous Corned Beef in Pittsburgh, Pa., as a "Political Meal (Obama for America)." On Oct. 29, $389.50 was charged to the committee's credit card for staff travel to Florida for Obama.

Steve Crawford, spokesman for the governor's political committee, said the governor's spending fell within the rules of campaign funding.

"His advocacy on behalf of Barack Obama was a permissible and perfectly appropriate expenditure," he said.

The Patrick campaign fund also paid for the travel of another Obama advocate - Patrick's wife Diane.

Office of Campaign and Political Finance records show that on Feb. 20, 2008, Patrick charged $679.20 for "Candidate and Wife Travel" to a Democratic Governor's Association Meeting on his campaign's credit card. On Nov. 4, 2008, Gov. Patrick spent $1,246 for an American Airlines flight to Chicago for "Travel Candidate and Wife."

Jason Tait, spokesman for the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, said that, by law, candidates can make expenditures to enhance their political future as long as it's not primarily personal. He said a campaign can pay for a spouse's travel expenses if the spouse is an agent of the campaign committee.

Crawford said Diane Patrick's travel fell within these guidelines. "It was both the governor and his wife who were actively involved in Barack Obama's campaign and spoke on his behalf and were honored to attend this (Nov. 4) historic meeting at (the president's) invitation."

Pam Wilmot, executive director for the good government group Common Cause Massachusetts, said travel is important to candidates because they can build relationships with political contacts and create a broader national following.

"Travel is necessary to be the governor of Massachusetts if you are looking for a higher office," she said.

But Wilmot said the use of campaign funds for Diane Patrick's travel flirted with the prohibition of spending campaign funds for personal use.

UPDATE: More from the AP and Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: From the Globe, Herald and NECN.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the AP, Howie Carr and Boston Herald.

What can Bay Staters do when egomania runs wind?

Gearing up for his re-election campaign, Gov. Deval Patrick is slapping his name on highway signs, spending thousands on self-promotion as budget-strapped local officials scrape to fill potholes.

The governor’s highway promotion - defended by officials as needed reminders to motorists to drive safely - marks a quiet reversal of a ban on such taxpayer-funded vanity signs by former Gov. Mitt Romney.

Patrick has put his name on 48 construction signs throughout the state since August 2008 at a cost of $312 a piece, or about $15,000 so far.

The signs warn motorists to “drive safely,” and add, “We’re on the job for you,” in bolder script over a bright orange caution triangle.

Additionally, Patrick has spent $70,000 in federal stimulus cash to erect highway signs - at $2,700 apiece for production and installation - crediting the federal stimulus project for ongoing construction - leaving his name off but reminding voters of the work being done in the campaign-focused year ahead.

The state and federal signs are being ordered up as Massachusetts grapples with a deep fiscal crisis that has required cuts in local aid to cities and towns and a dramatic slashing of services.

“I think when the American people wanted to see if federal stimulus was working, this isn’t what they had in mind,” said John Hart, spokesman for stimulus critic U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla). “It’s classic government self promotion. It pushes the ethical envelope because it uses taxpayer dollars as a campaign ad.”

But Patrick officials said the signs allow residents to see how their money is being spent.

“We think it’s critically important that residents know their stimulus dollars are being invested immediately to create new jobs and fix our roads,” said Colin Durrant, a spokesman at the Executive office of Transportation. “We also want to be transparent about what projects are funded by federal stimulus dollars.”

UPDATE: More from NECN, the AP, the Globe and the Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: From Kevin John Sowyrda, Holly Robichaud, the Herald, the Globe, WHDH, and Matt Margolis.

THIRD UPDATE: From Patriot Games Media, WBUR and Tom Keane.

Let the fundraising for a second-term bid begin...

Gov. Deval Patrick has been on a whirlwind fund-raising tour in the past few months with galas in Atlanta, Detroit, and even a top-dollar soiree at his on-the-market Milton manse scheduled for July.

And keep in mind, it's not beyond possibility that he could be re-elected!

UPDATE: More from the Globe, Masslive.com and Michele McPhee.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe, Michael Graham and Herald.

My God, even when Patrick's right, he's wrong!

Beacon Hill has had more than its fair share of scandals this year. But Flowergate? Cigargate?

Yesterday, after legislators agreed to approve pension reform, Governor Deval Patrick sent House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo a box of cigars and Senate President Therese Murray some flowers.

Nice, right? You can bet the cigars weren't White Owls purchased at a nearby CVS, and the flowers weren't carnations grabbed from a street vendor. One senator, not exactly schooled in the floral arts, described the elegant bouquet as "expensive ones, not like $20 or $50 ones, but designer ones."

In fact, they were so nice, sitting in a fancy vase, that they became a topic of conversation when the Senate held a closed-door caucus to discuss ethics reform in Murray's office, with the flowers on display nearby.

Well, nice but for one nagging fact: They probably violated state ethics rules, which ban gifts of $50 or more to a public official in return for an official action. They certainly violated a key tenet of the proposed ethics overhaul Patrick is trying to push through the Legislature: an outright ban on gifts of any kind to public officials.

Last night, when a reporter inquired about the gifts, officials and their various spokespeople kicked into damage control.

Patrick aides argued a technicality, that since the gifts were to the offices of the House speaker and Senate president and not to them individually, no ethics laws were violated.

UPDATE: More from Scot Lehigh, the Herald and the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: From Robert Ambrogi, Jeff Jacoby, the Herald and the Globe.

Get ready to pay more, folks...

Some Massachusetts business advocates and Republican lawmakers say they are resigned to the inevitability of a state sales tax increase, leaving just two constituencies to battle over smaller tax proposals - package store operators and satellite TV companies.

Both the House and Senate have taken votes to raise the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, and their respective budget plans for next year are being reconciled by a conference committee. For tax opponents, the best chance to block the sales tax hike would be for Governor Deval Patrick to veto the ultimate compromise, and for Patrick to persuade several lawmakers to join his side to help enforce a veto.

It is an unlikely scenario, opponents acknowledged yesterday. Groups like the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which previously lobbied strenuously against the sales tax hike, have turned their attention to several other areas.

"That issue, as far as the conference committee is concerned, is not a debatable issue," said Brian R. Gilmore, an executive vice president for the organization, which represents businesses across the state.

"We're way beyond that at this point," said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, a Wakefield Republican. "I'm against it and don't want to see it go into effect, but that battle has already been fought and lost. I don't see how the dynamics would change."

The sales tax hike is "in both budgets," said Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. "I don't even know if we could take it out if we wanted to at this point."

There remains some diehard opposition, however. The Massachusetts Retailers Association sent out fliers yesterday to encourage customers to call their legislators and the governor to oppose the proposed hike.

"We're going to continue the fight," said Jon Hurst, president of the group. "Never say die."

UPDATE: More from Gov. Patrick and the AP.

SECOND UPDATE: More from Scot Lehigh, the Herald and the Globe.

THIRD UPDATE: From Michael Graham, NewMajority.com, the Herald and the Globe.

No wonder Gov. Patrick can't stand conservative talk radio hosts. Here's Howie Carr:

Shhhhh - keep it under your hat, because nobody’s supposed to know. But Deval Patrick grabbed an extra $382,500 last year on top of his governor’s salary of $140,535.

And Deval didn’t even report the mega-score on his annual sworn statement of financial interests to the State Ethics Commission. Surely the governor plans to close such unconscionable loopholes in his “landmark” ethics reform package.

Deval pocketed a $450,000 book advance (minus a 15 percent cut to his literary agent). But nothing was reported because a book advance apparently isn’t covered under “employment and other associations with businesses.”

Actually, Deval’s advance is $1.35 million, pretty damn good for a first-time author who’s never been on “American Idol” or tested positive for steroids. Deval will get another third of the money - $450,000 - when his (or some ghostwriter’s) manuscript is accepted, and a final $450,000 when it’s published.

So the governor continues his moonlighting - or should I say moonbatlighting. Working title: “Up From Texaco.”

No doubt he’ll be working hard on the tome this weekend out at his mansion in Richmond, after he delivers his not-at-all-anticipated speech to the Democratic state convention in Springfield.

Attending today’s dreary convention is proof that Deval is running for re-election. More evidence: the fact that his operatives, when they’re not testifying before the Sal DiMasi grand jury, continue trying to put a rocket in the pocket of Tim Cahill.

UPDATE: More from Holly Robichaud, WBZ, Wendy Murphy, CNN, the Herald and the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald and Globe.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Holly Robichaud, the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, the Herald and Globe.

Why is Gov. Patrick so bothered by conservative talk radio?

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says he is "disappointed" a Boston radio station reinstated a talk show host who called Mexicans "criminaliens" and other derogatory terms amid the swine flu outbreak.

Before participating in his monthly call-in appearance at WTKK-FM, Patrick said Thursday he found the criticisms by host Jay Severin "just way over the line" and he was "embarrassed" to be associated with the station.

Severin has been a frequent critic of Patrick.

The governor says he hopes society can find ways to discuss issues without demeaning people.

The Herald's Jessica Heslam has more:

“I found Jay Severin’s comments on the air about Mexicans hateful and hurtful, really just way over the line and I was just as disappointed, frankly, that the station chose to let him resume broadcasting this week,” Patrick said.

“I like you guys, but it made me embarrassed to be associated with the station,” Patrick added. “I read and I appreciated his apology and I am here because I believe his apology is sincere.”

The governor added: “But, it seems to me, we have got to figure out a way on this station, and in our broader civic life, to engage even on difficult issues without demeaning people who differ from us in background or point of view.”

Keep in mind that Patrick once tried to blame talk radio for the 1996 church arsons and also lashed out against Severin's colleague Michael Graham in 2007.

What is Patrick's gripe with non-liberal talk radio, anyway? The conservative talkers didn't stop his buddy Bill Clinton from being elected in 1992...nor did they stop his other buddy Barack Obama from winning in an Electoral College landslide in 2008...nor did they stop Patrick himself from kicking Kerry Healey's behind in 2006. Talk radio is a great medium, but it isn't that influential. So why does Patrick always lash out at the conservative talkers? Is he so thin-skinned that he can't stand people expressing non-progressive opinions on-air?

This is not to defend Severin's unfortunate comments, merely to point out that Patrick's obsession with right-wing talk radio is more than a little strange. Maybe it's a failure of human understanding...

UPDATE: More from Randall Bloomquist and the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: From Matt Margolis, Holly Robichaud and the Globe.

The Boston Globe on the Patrick administration's follies.

The corruption indictment of former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi contains what critics are calling an unflattering behind-the-scenes look at Governor Deval Patrick's administration, depicting its officials as bowing to political pressure to award a $13 million computer software contract that was allegedly rigged.

No Patrick officials have been implicated in criminal wrongdoing. Yet the scandal, one of the biggest to roil Beacon Hill in decades, has the potential to create political problems for the governor as he pushes forward on ethics law changes and lays the groundwork for a reelection campaign.

Yesterday, critics seized on the impression that the Patrick administration, which awarded one of two Cognos ULC contracts cited in the indictment, failed to respond to a series of red flags indicating that DiMasi and others were exerting heavy influence.

"What the speaker is accused of doing is absolutely wrong - and he should be held accountable - but it takes two to tango," said House minority leader Bradley H. Jones Jr., a North Reading Republican. "Somebody in the administration knew it was important to the speaker, and somebody made the decision to go forward with it."

DiMasi is accused by federal authorities of reaping $57,000 from the software company even as his associates pushed state officials to award contracts to the firm. Three friends were also indicted. No further indictments are expected.

"There was a lot of insider baseball going on, and you wonder how the contract got approved in the first place," said Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei, a Wakefield Republican. "Was awarding that contract in the best interest of the people in Massachusetts, or was it done to placate the speaker? That's really the question."

Yesterday Patrick's office acknowledged that the administration could have acted sooner to scuttle the project. But administration officials said Patrick and his staff were unaware that DiMasi was pushing for a contract award to Cognos, and they denied any deal-making with the speaker.

"There have been absolutely no allegations by the investigators of misconduct of any kind by any senior Patrick administration official," said spokesman Joe Landolfi. "We are confident that senior administration officials acted appropriately at all times."

Landolfi declined to discuss specific allegations in the indictment, citing the ongoing federal investigation.

UPDATE: More from the AP, Michael Graham, Joan Vennochi, the Herald and WBUR.

More action--as opposed to inaction--by Gov. Patrick.

Massachusetts Governor Patrick is promising fewer police officers and more civilian flaggers at construction sites. The Governor says the state will realize significant savings.

WBZ Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve says the State released a long list of projects where flaggers and not cops will be handling traffic.

It wasn't easy but we found a civilian flagger Monday handling traffic on Route One in front of the Dedham Mall. They have been a rare site but Patrick is promising more and more of them despite protests from police.

To drive his point home, the state released a list of 71 projects that will use less expensive non-union flaggers this construction season.

"It's the same policy we launched last year now we have a full construction season to implement it," said Patrick. "We want people to know we are serious about this."

So how much money is the state saving by using flaggers instead of police officers? It's not very much, according to figures. By the end of last year, the state saved about $12,000 across a few dozen projects.

While the governor wouldn't say how much they will save, at the very least it's upwards of a million dollars.

UPDATE: More from NECN, the Globe and AP.

SECOND UPDATE: From NECN, the Globe and Herald.

Barbara Anderson on a nice little conversation she had with Gov. Patrick.

...Gov. Deval Patrick came to Marblehead for one of his community meetings. I was there to take notes for this column so I didn't raise my hand to ask a question. But suddenly I found myself answering one from the governor when he asked for a show of hands on who supports, and who doesn't, a graduated income tax.

I was a definite "doesn't," so to my surprise he walked over to my chair and asked, "Why?"

It's funny how disoriented you can be when someone who is there to answer questions suddenly asks one. I had never met Gov. Patrick, but I'm sure I made an impression by first looking behind me and saying, "Who, me?" and when he nodded, asking "Why what?"

When I finally got around to it, I explained that the grad tax (which would require voter approval for a constitutional amendment) always loses because voters understand how varied rates would allow the Legislature to pick us off one bracket at a time, ratcheting up every two years; and Massachusetts taxes are already the fourth highest in the nation per capita.

"No, they're not," the governor argued.

"Yes, they are," I said. This first meeting was going well.

UPDATE: From Wayne Woodlief, the Herald and the Sun-Chronicle.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the Globe, Herald and WBZ.

Nothing Gov. Patrick does can surprise us anymore.

Gov. Deval Patrick - impatiently demanding that lawmakers pass “meaningful reforms” - yesterday took advantage of a loophole that allows him to raise more than 10 times the legal limit in campaign contributions.

A group of heavy-hitting lawyers - including disgraced ex-state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson’s former defense attorney Cheryl Cronin - hosted a fund-raiser for Patrick’s political committee at the Union Club on Beacon Hill last night.

The fund-raiser’s invitation encourages those “who feel inclined to make a donation larger than $500” to give to the Seventy-First Fund. The group - so named because Patrick is the 71st governor - allows contributors to donate $5,500, which is split between the state Democratic Party and Patrick’s political committee.

The party then uses most of the money to pay off Patrick’s campaign bills. Party chairman John Walsh said the fund complies with current state campaign laws.

UPDATE: More from the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Barnstable Patriot, the Globe and Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: From the Herald, Holly Robichaud and Scot Lehigh.

David G. Tuerck: Gov. Patrick at a crossroads.

Now is when Gov. Deval Patrick decides his political future.

The Legislature has laid down the gauntlet: The governor can either sign legislation that will raise the sales tax or use his veto and let Beacon Hill thumb its collective nose at him and override the veto. For the sake of both the commonwealth and his political future, he should call the Legislature’s bluff.

What the governor needs to understand but what also runs counter to his political instincts is that this is not about teacher layoffs, human services cutbacks and all the other dire consequences that the increased sales tax is intended to avert. This is about politics and moral courage.

In the Legislature, politics has trumped moral courage. The Legislature knows that the increase in the sales tax will not bring in enough revenue to end the “crisis,” as it is commonly seen. But it also knows that it has to raise some tax - any tax - to show that it is willing to sacrifice a few thousand private-sector jobs in order to pacify the union bosses and other special pleaders to whom it is largely beholden.

It is this lack of courage that makes the Legislature so terrified of the “R” word. When Patrick tried to reform transportation by abolishing the Turnpike Authority and moving MBTA employees’ health care to the Group Insurance Commission, he got a poison pill from the Legislature. When he tried to cut back on overpriced police details, the Legislature thwarted him by tying the hands of local governments. When he tried to raise the gas tax, the Legislature decided a sales tax hike carried less political risk.

So now it’s the governor’s move. Now he gets to decide whether he can practice good politics and responsible government at the same time.

UPDATE: More from the AP.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Cape Cod Times, Herald, Phoenix and Globe.

Democrats at each other's throats? Yes!!!

The widening rift and bitter words between Governor Deval Patrick and his Democratic colleagues in the Legislature is creating dismay among some party members, who worry about their political fortunes as the state faces a budget crunch of epic proportions and a countdown to reelections in 2010.

The inability of top Democrats to work in concert, generating as much ill will between the branches as when Republicans held the corner office, shows how liberals, conservatives, insiders, and outsiders at the State House have succumbed to factional disputes and political posturing as they respond to intense pressure to cut budgets and raise taxes.

"It's clearly getting in the way of important work. It does exactly what none of us want, which is the further erosion of public confidence," said Representative Jay Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat and House chairman of the Committee on Revenue. "The analogy that rings true still is that we haven't quite sorted out this dance. You would think that after 2 1/2 years we would have started to figure that out."

The only joy in the current political environment is emanating from the state's Republican Party, which is already recruiting candidates for next year's election as it portrays Democrats as incompetent to lead in a time of crisis.

"It's an exciting time," said Nick Connors, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party. "The Democrats are creating opportunities for us all around the state. It shows a definite need for two parties and a different vision for where we can take the state."

The discord among Democrats, in some ways, is counterintuitive. The party has control of both the House and Senate - by the largest majority in the state's history - and also took the corner office in 2006 for the first time in 16 years.

But with no Republicans to battle, Democrats have turned upon themselves in repeated bouts of intraparty bickering. Strains that may be less visible during flush times are also highlighted as top leaders debate raising taxes, cutting local aid, and overhauling laws around ethics, pension, and transportation.

UPDATE: More from the Norwich Bulletin, NECN and WBZ.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald, Brockton Enterprise, Wendy Murphy and Joan Vennochi.

THIRD UPDATE: From the Herald.

Barbara Anderson on the Bay State's tax fetish.

Governor Deval Patrick, in an effort to let us know how serious the budget crisis is, says that "if we fired every single state employee, we'd still have a billion-dollar hole."

Of course we would. Many of those employees would go out on instant pensions. Others would collect unemployment, have state-subsidized health insurance, or get a job at one of the independent authorities where they would start to accrue bigger pensions like those available at the MBTA after 23 years.

Would we still have a $28-billion state budget to go with the billion-dollar budget hole? Who would be running it and spending the money? Governor, what's your point? That payroll costs aren't much of the problem?

Can we stop being silly now?

At least Patrick's sticking to his demand for "reform before revenues." Unfortunately, the Legislature is sticking to its resistance to reform.

As various Democrats have said: "We can't reform our way out of this crisis."

Translation: "Let's go directly to the revenues."

So the Senate opened its budget debate by passing a 25-percent sales tax hike and local option taxes. Maybe it will get to reforms after my column deadline. Darn, it's hard to write while holding my breath.

UPDATE: More from Cape Cod Today, Wayne Woodlief, the AP and Boston Phoenix.

SECOND UPDATE: More from Adrian Walker, Scot Lehigh, WBZ, WCVB, Red Mass Group, the Globe and Herald.

It's a joke. I know it's a joke.

Gov. Deval Patrick is heading to the White House to meet with President Obama amid speculation he is among those being considered for a Supreme Court post.

An event added to his official schedule for today has him attending an auto emissions announcement with the president. It had not been on the governor’s schedule before Monday. His staff had only said he was traveling to Atlanta for a biotechnology conference.

UPDATE: More from Red Mass Group, Jon Keller, the Herald and the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from Jon Keller, the Globe and Herald.

Gov. Patrick cannot be serious about running again.

Gov. Deval Patrick went straight to lawmakers this week to defend a program that hands donated cars to welfare recipients with state-funded insurance and AAA memberships.

In a letter sent by Patrick’s Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby, the administration sought to change the minds of many senators pushing to cut the $400,000 initiative, which the Herald reported the governor is expanding.

“It’s a program that saves money and enables people who are on welfare to get to work,” Patrick said yesterday, adding it was former Gov. Mitt Romney’s initiative. “Either we’re serious about getting people off welfare and into jobs, or we’re not.”

Sen. Steven A. Baddour (D-Methuen) and Sen. Scott P. Brown (R-Wrentham) have filed amendments to the budget eliminating the program, which has given out between 45 to 65 donated cars per year to welfare recipients across the state.

“It’s one thing if they are out in east Osh Gosh, but a lot of people in Lawrence and Lowell are getting these cars,” said Brown. “Give me a break.”

Several top senators, including Senate Ways and Means Vice Chairman Stephen M. Brewer (D-Barre) and Sen. Michael W. Morrissey (D-Quincy) have said they’d like to ax the plan.

You know, at least the guy who came up with this cockamamie idea had the decency not to run again!

UPDATE: More from the Herald and Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the AP, the Globe and Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: From the Herald.

Another round of Michele McPhee vs. Gov. Patrick.

The next time you notice a bumper sticker that reads “Honk If You Paid For This Sweet Ride”; or maybe one that says “My Other Car Is The One You Didn’t Pay For,” pay attention. Because it may be very likely that there is a welfare recipient behind the wheel of the donated vehicle who got the car for free — along with a year subscription to AAA; taxpayer-funded insurance; free excise tax; and who knows, maybe even one of those free Fast Lane toll paying mechanisms that the lawmakers and politicians drive around with.

Free for them, that is. The vehicles cost Massachusetts taxpayers $500,000 — not to mention the salaries of the people who oversee the hackarama bureaucracy that doles the cars out.

Apparently, this is the reform Deval Patrick has been referring to. He is going to lay off police officers, firefighters and teachers across the state and give people who don’t pay taxes new cars. This is as absurd as giving pink slips to Registry of Motor Vehicle workers making less than $50,000 a year so that he can hire career hack Eddie Jenkins.

Maybe Patrick needs to become familiarized with the term “reform,” which the dictionary describes this way: “to make changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices.”

Isn’t it an injustice to expect Massachusetts taxpayers to pay a new sales tax; while continuing to face the highest gas tax in the country; while paying $7 bucks to get off the island of Eastie? I would say yes.

I am bewildered by the foot-dragging that is going on with the part of the reform definition that describes making changes for improvement. Because nothing has improved for us.

UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: From the Globe, Herald, NECN and Michael Graham.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Scot Lehigh, WBUR, the Globe and Herald.

What is Gov. Patrick up to now?

Governor Deval Patrick, who once headed the Civil Rights Division of the US Justice Department, plans to appeal a federal court ruling that allows minority police officers to pursue a civil rights lawsuit challenging the state's promotional exam.

The Patrick administration filed notice Monday that it will appeal an April 7 ruling by US District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Tauro rejected the Patrick administration's motion to dismiss the suit by 44 black and Hispanic patrol officers from seven departments who contend that the written civil service exam for sergeant is discriminatory.

"We are shocked that Deval Patrick is continuing to defend these exams and opposing our efforts to reform this discriminatory promotional system," said Shannon Liss-Riordan of Boston, the lawyer for the officers. "With Deval Patrick as the governor, you'd think he'd be trying to fix this problem, rather than throw away the state's money litigating it."

Kyle Sullivan, a spokesman for Patrick, said in a statement that the governor "believes that all citizens in the Commonwealth should be afforded the same opportunities for employment." Nonetheless, the administration, represented by Attorney General Martha Coakley, is seeking dismissal of the claims because the officers are employees of cities and towns, not the state, Sullivan said. Tauro rejected that position.

The lawsuit, which the officers unsuccessfully asked the judge to certify as a class action claim, is scheduled to go to trial next month.

At issue is a multiple-choice promotional exam prepared by the state Human Resources Division and used by about 200 police departments across the state, said Liss-Riordan. The 44 plaintiffs are patrol officers who took the exam since 2005 but have not received promotions. They work in police departments in Boston, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Springfield, Worcester, and the MBTA Transit Police.

The officers say that the exam, which relies heavily on rote memorization of facts about law enforcement, discriminates against members of minority groups and has prevented advancement within the ranks. As a result, they said, supervisors in departments do not reflect the diversity of their communities.

In Lawrence, where minority groups make up three-quarters of the population, only two of the 39 police supervisors were members of minority groups, the officers said when filing the suit in September 2007. Methuen, which is more than 10 percent minority, had no minority members among its 25 supervisors, the suit said.

UPDATE: More from the Herald and Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: From Michael Graham.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Holly Robichaud, Mass. News Platoon, the Seattle Examiner, Somerville News, New Hampshire Business Review, the Herald and the Globe.

FOURTH UPDATE: From the Globe and Herald.

Michele McPhee vs. Gov. Patrick.

So, Deval Patrick wants lawmakers on Beacon Hill to “speak the truth” about the Bay State’s grim financial outlook.

Okay, Governor, let’s speak the truth. The truth is that within days of taking office, Patrick attempted to appoint a campaign fundraiser to the $75,000-a-year job of working as a personal secretary for his wife Diane.

That ill thought out plan was barely scuttled when he picked out a fancy Cadillac, and told the press that he was forced to upgrade the governor’s ride because Ford no longer made the Crown Vic — which of course was not even close to the truth.

Then there was the $55,000 upgrade to his office, courtesy of the taxpayer, and the unrelenting junkets, including one to China that cost us $250,000. While he was in the Orient, Patrick picked out an office in Beijing. That’s right. Beijing.

Right now, we are paying rent on office space in China, and you will be happy to hear that, “in addition to the state’s Beijing office, Massachusetts will maintain a satellite contact office in Shanghai,’’ according to the state’s own press release. What a relief.

We also pay for an office for Patrick in Washington D.C. — just in case he decides to go on an interview for a shot at a seat on the Supreme Court.

Then, of course, there are the patronage appointments that do not end. First his neighbor landed a $120,000-a-year job that never existed before. Then there was the Marian Walsh debacle. Between those two incidents — which I would argue are bordering Mafia-like corruption — there were other campaign contributors and Patrick supporters rewarded with contracts and jobs.

UPDATE: More from Holly Robichaud, the Globe, Herald and USA Today.

SECOND UPDATE: From Jon Keller, the Globe and the Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the Globe, WBZ and the Herald.

FOURTH UPDATE: From the Herald and Holly Robichaud.

At this point, you almost wouldn't mind having Gov. Patrick replace David Souter!

Gov. Deval Patrick - pushing new taxes and preaching reform - continues to practice old-style patronage politics, handing his campaign manager’s sister a plum six-figure gig and hiring her close pal to an $83,000-a-year post.

Patrick, whose job approval rating has plummeted in the wake of a string of hiring controversies, gave his former campaign manager - and current state Democratic Party chairman - John Walsh’s sister Patty Vantine a $105,000-a-year position at the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Vantine, a former bean counter for the state Democratic Party, had been making $85,000 working in the human resources division.

The Herald also has learned that Patrick hired Martina Jackson, a longtime campaign supporter and member of the Democratic State Committee, as the $65,000-a-year communications director for the Department of Elder Affairs.

Walsh said of his sister: “Patty is qualified for the position and was selected for the position after applying on her own.”

Vantine, who has donated $1,200 to the governor since 2005, didn’t wait long to make her mark, swiftly hiring her pal, Kathleen Reilly, as a DCR “fiscal officer.”

Reilly, who lives near Vantine in their hometown of Abington, formerly worked in state government but had been a stay-at-home mom before landing the $83,000 post.

Reilly is also a Patrick supporter, donating $500 in 2006.

Jackson, who formerly served as director of the nonprofit Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty, has donated $750 to Patrick since 2005, records show.

Patrick this week has clashed with legislative leaders, slamming their plan to hike the sales tax, instead calling for a higher gas tax and other “targeted” increases. He also blasted lawmakers for dragging their feet on ethics, pension and transportation reforms.

UPDATE: More from NECN, Jon Keller, Pundit Review, Jim Stergios, the Boston Herald and the Chicago Tribune.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: From the Herald and Globe.