It's always nice when someone sees the light...

He was once a key member of Deval Patrick’s team - the communications director in the early months of the 2006 campaign. But now Kahlil Byrd, who also served as Patrick’s appointments secretary once Patrick won office, has broken with the governor. He has become a devotee of Charles D. Baker, the Republican former health care executive looking to unseat the man Byrd once called boss.

“The governor’s a great man in the wrong job,’’ said Byrd, who now works as a senior fellow at a Washington think tank and runs his own strategy firm. “The governor could have led us through tough times by tapping into the spirit of innovation that is much of a part of Massachusetts. He hasn’t succeeded, and unfortunately he’s lost the promise of his 2006 campaign.’’

Byrd is a Republican. He worked for longshot GOP candidate Jeff Beatty in his bid to unseat Senator John F. Kerry in 2008.

Byrd gave the maximum allowable amount, $500, to Baker’s campaign in 2009. He said he was drawn to Baker because he’s been “deeply involved in public policy and government in Massachusetts for a long time’’ and has also been “a successful leader in the private sector. He’s excited about becoming governor when our problems are at their deepest.’’

UPDATE: More from the Globe, State House News Service, Howie Carr and David Kravitz.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald and the AP.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

This should be interesting...

A senior member of Governor Deval Patrick’s administration was accused in a civil lawsuit yesterday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in a steam room at an exclusive Florida resort in 2007.

The civil suit against Carl Stanley McGee, an assistant secretary in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, follows a decision by Florida prosecutors to drop criminal charges that were initially brought after the incident.

The boy, a high school senior who lives in upstate New York, filed the suit in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston alleging that McGee forced himself on the teenager two years ago. McGee was arrested in Florida on Dec. 28, 2007, after the boy alleged that McGee had performed oral sex on him when he was a guest at the Gasparilla Inn & Club in Boca Grande, according to police reports at the time. McGee was held overnight on a $300,000 bond before being released.

At the time, McGee was placed on unpaid administrative leave from his state post, but he returned to work three months later after the prosecutor in Lee County, Florida, declined to bring charges.

Yesterday, neither the alleged victim, referred to in the complaint only as John Doe, nor his family agreed to be interviewed about the civil case against McGee. But Wendy Murphy, a family spokeswoman, said they are looking for “another form of justice.’’

McGee, 40, was on vacation and could not be reached yesterday for comment. Boston lawyer Charles Rankin, who handled criminal proceedings in Florida for McGee, did not return a phone call. Kofi Jones, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the office of the state attorney in Lee County, Florida, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The civil suit was filed on behalf of the teenager and his parents by attorney Andrew Meyer of Lubin and Meyer. The family is seeking unspecified money damages.

UPDATE: Please be sure to join us Wednesday night on the Year in Review edition of The Notes on Blog Talk Radio! Plus, more from the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald.

(More) bizarre behavior from the governor.

Firing an early salvo in the 2010 gubernatorial race, Governor Deval L. Patrick predicted yesterday that his opponents in next year’s election would use “fear mongering’’ and seek to prey on voters’ apprehension about their economic security.

Speaking with reporters at a year-end press briefing, Patrick said that with state and national economic conditions the way they are, his challengers will try to exploit the public’s concerns in trying to persuade voters not to reelect him.

“Fear is going to be used as a tool in this campaign,’’ Patrick said. “You watch it. I will.’’

Patrick and his supporters made a similar assertion during his 2006 campaign, but back then it meant something different. In that campaign, many in Patrick’s camp were incensed at how his Republican opponent, Kerry Healey, sought to raise doubts about what a Patrick administration would bring, particularly on crime.

Yesterday, Patrick declined to be more specific about what he meant. He did not name his rivals - Republicans Charles D. Baker and Christy Mihos and Independent Timothy P. Cahill - nor did he cite comments they had made to prompt his political forecast.

“Make a marker and then watch it as we go along. I promise you,’’ he told media gathered in his State House office. “People are afraid right now, the people I meet who are out of work, the people I meet who are in homeless shelters, the people I meet who are at soup kitchens. . . . They are afraid about the future; they’re worried about that.

“And there are going to be people, because fear is a classic political tool, who will be saying, ‘My goodness gracious, if we stay on this course, you have even more to be fearful of.’ ’’

When challenged to elaborate, Patrick did not point fingers, but said his opponents’ political views would be the basis for their rhetoric.

“These are good people,’’ Patrick said. “I don’t mean to personalize this to any of the challengers. They have very different views and visions of government and of the future. And I think part of what they are about is that sort of, ‘You’re on your own - every man and woman for him or herself.’ ’’

How will he respond?

“I’m going to keep my cool,’’ he said, adding that he wanted to be able to look himself in the mirror after the campaign. “Win or lose, I intend to have my integrity and values intact.’’

UPDATE: More from Matt Margolis and the Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: More from Bowdoin College and the Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Red Mass Group.

Who will be the #1 contender to Deval Patrick's title?

Initially, the thought of having to face Christy Mihos in next year’s Republican gubernatorial primary produced some teeth-gnashing in Charles D. Baker’s camp.

But the thinking among Baker advisers has shifted: They now believe that having Mihos in the race could be a good thing, in part because a primary fight would give Baker a good tuneup for the general election next fall.

They say they have no plans to try to keep Mihos off the primary ballot.

Whether that’s a smart move remains to be seen.

Though Baker is the favored candidate of the Republican establishment, Mihos has millions of dollars at his disposal to spend on a campaign. When he ran as an independent in 2006, he used $4 million of his own funds, though he captured 6 percent of the vote.

Mihos also has a certain populist, antigovernment appeal that could play well against the Ivy League-educated Baker among some GOP primary voters.

UPDATE: More from the Globe and Frum Forum.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald and WCVB.

Can Gov. Patrick get any worse?

Gov. Deval Patrick’s punchy campaign staff sent out an e-mail blast to supporters Monday night hoping to blunt yesterday’s Herald expose on the administration’s year-long hiring frenzy, flinching even before the brutal news hit the street.

But experts warn the attempted pre-emptive political strike is risky business for the slumping governor’s re-election bid.

“It just whiffs of desperation,” said Thomas Whalen, a Boston University political science professor. “It sounds like they can’t afford to have any bad news, so they’re trying to get on top of bad stories before they even come out.”

Patrick campaign officials sounded the alarm Monday night - hours before the Herald’s splash landed on racks. The report detailed how the administration has hired some 1,300 new employees this year - including a librarian for cons, a painter for public health and a “game biologist” - despite a spiraling fiscal crisis.

“The story may unfairly distort the Governor’s outstanding record of confronting our state’s budget challenges,” Patrick campaign manager Sydney Asbury wrote in the e-mail obtained by the Herald.

Asbury also urged readers to “forward the e-mail to 10 friends” in an attempted viral campaign to spin the story in their favor.

However, a subsequent Herald payroll analysis shows the administration in fact low-balled the projected annual salaries of some of the new hires by as much as $34,000.

Reached yesterday to explain the mistaken figures provided to the Herald, Sally McNeely of the state Human Resources Division, said, “It appears an error was made in the initial entry.”

Meanwhile, Patrick campaign spokesman Steve Crawford said the e-mail blast - which highlighted a 2,000-job net loss from the state payroll - was standard operating procedure. “We place a high level of importance on keeping our supporters informed and this is another example of that,” he said.

A rapid response to head off bad press isn’t new to political campaigning, but it runs the risk of spreading negative news to an even larger group, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor.

“It can end up drawing even more attention to the matter,” said Sabato. “Obviously Patrick has a very tough general election in front of him, and he has to come out swinging every time there’s a charge against him.”

UPDATE: More from the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Beacon Hill Institute, Holly Robichaud and Globe.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Howie Carr and the Herald.

Oy vey...

The Patrick administration filled more than 1,300 state jobs this year - including a librarian for cons, a painter for hospitals and a “game biologist” - in a hiring frenzy that has watchdogs questioning whether the governor has a tight grip on hiring in the face of a dire fiscal crisis.

A Herald payroll analysis also indicates scores of the lucky job-seekers also gave generously to Gov. Deval Patrick’s election campaign.

The hiring flurry is alarming state budget observers who slammed the governor for dishing out plum posts - including 20 that carry salaries of $100,000 or more - with no apparent rhyme or reason.

“In the middle of this fiscal meltdown there should be a close scrutiny of new hires, and that doesn’t seem to be reflected here,” said Michael Widmer, executive director of the business-based Massachusetts Taxpayers Association.

The list of new hires obtained by the Herald shows jobs spread out across executive offices:

A $78,000-a-year teacher and a $47,400-a-year librarian for the Department of Correction, two of 200 prison employees hired;

A $31,000-a-year painter for the Department of Public Health, which also added a physician specialist for $210,500 - the top-paid hire this year;

A $44,307-a-year game biologist for the Department of Fish and Game;

And a $206,000-a-year commissioner of higher education and a $117,000 elementary education administrator.

In all, the state has added $46 million in new hires from January to November, the Herald review shows.

The governor’s aides defended their actions, noting that the administration has since laid off 236 of the recent hires.

UPDATE: More from the Globe.

History in the making...

Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday tapped veteran trooper Marian McGovern to be the first female leader of the Massachusetts State Police, promoting a 30-year veteran who was among only a dozen women in the agency when she began her career.

“She has done just about every job in the state police,” Patrick said of his pick yesterday. “She is very well-prepared and very well-regarded.”

McGovern, 55, of Millbury, goes from second-in-command to top cop on Dec. 16, replacing Col. Mark Delaney.

McGovern said she was “on cloud nine” over the new post but also acknowledged the significant financial challenges the force faces in the coming months and years. She said, however, that she is ready to meet those challenges.

“I know and I certainly understand we have a tough road ahead of us,” she said. “I think that is when leadership needs to take a stand.”

Delaney recalled how there were no female troopers on the job when he began 35 years ago. Now, McGovern is among 173 women on the 2,250-trooper force.

Senate President Therese Murray praised the move.

“Like so many other superintendents before her, she worked her way up the ranks,” Murray said.

UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald and Globe.

From US Senate candidate Scott Brown's (R) primary night victory speech:

Right now in Washington, we have 10 congressmen and two senators who all vote the same way, they’re beholden to the same special interests and when they vote, the first thing they ask is how am I going to be rated on the special interest report card. Their idea of a debate is not to argue over whether to raise taxes, but how high to raise them. If change is what we have in mind, do we really need another robot who's programmed to vote like the rest of our delegation? When I take a vote, the first thing I am going to ask is, is this bill good for Massachusetts. You will be my special interest.

My entire career has been spent fighting to keep taxes low, cut out wasteful spending and keep government in check.

As your next US Senator, I will always speak my mind and act in the best interests of the people I represent. I don’t take my orders from either of the political parties, or from Harry Reid, or Deval Patrick, or the labor bosses. I plan to take my orders from you, the people who sent me to Washington DC to make a difference.

The political machine in this state is going to pull out all the stops to keep their hands on this Senate seat. Rest assured it will be me against the machine. You’re going to see all the special interests line up with my opponent and the last thing they want is someone coming in and changing the way business is done on Capital Hill.

They say I’m the long shot, and if the same old powers-that-be get to decide this election, I guess that's right. But I'm betting that a new day is coming in Massachusetts. I am here in the name of every independent-thinking citizen, whether they be Democrat, unenrolled-independent or Republican, to take on one-party rule, and the Beacon Hill bosses, and their machine, and their candidate … and with your help I intend to win.

UPDATE: Please be sure to join us Wednesday night on The Notes on Blog Talk Radio at 8:00pm EST. Our guests will be Sushannah Walshe and Scott Conroy, the authors of Sarah from Alaska, and David Horowitz, the author of A Cracking of the Heart. Plus, more from the Globe.

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

Hey, I thought Deval Patrick was a progressive!

Governor Deval Patrick canceled at the last minute a speech he was scheduled to give before a little-known but prestigious men’s group, saying the invitation was accepted before he knew of its policy toward women.

Patrick withdrew from the speech before the 126-year-old Clover Club about two hours before a dinner was scheduled to begin at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on Saturday, according to event organizers.

“The invitation was accepted by staff without a full understanding of the club’s traditions for [the] event - specifically its policy of not allowing women to attend the function,’’ the governor’s communications director, Kyle Sullivan, said in a statement last night. “When the governor recently found out about the fact that women were not allowed to attend such functions he expressed his concern to the organizers and decided not to attend.’’

“He appreciates the long social and cultural history that the Clover Club has played in Massachusetts and the role the club continues to play in the lives of its present-day members,’’ Sullivan added.

Jack Quinlan, secretary of the Clover Club, said one of Patrick’s aides called about 5 p.m. to say that the governor was unable to make it.

“No reason was given,’’ Quinlan said. “Nor did we ask any reason. The guy’s the governor of 6 million people. We just accept that something came up. . . . He’s the busiest guy in the state, and if he could’ve made it, he would have. Hopefully, we’ll get him another time.’’

When asked whether the club has had other cancellations, Quinlan said, “There’s certainly been some for weather. Beyond that, I don’t know.’’

A Patrick aide said there had been conversations between administration officials and club officials on Friday and Saturday to express the governor’s concerns.

When the announcement was made at the dinner on Saturday night that Patrick was not going to speak, the audience applauded, according to one attendee, although it is unclear whether that indicated ill feelings toward the governor or simply that people wanted to call it an early night.

Apparently, this brought back bad memories of The Fly Club...

UPDATE: More from the Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

Is momentum building for Charlie Baker?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker raised more than $500,000 last month, his campaign said yesterday, yet another strong fund-raising haul in his bid to unseat Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat.

Baker’s campaign raised $516,123 during the month, significantly more than any other candidate. Baker, a former health care executive, has raised more than $1.5 million this year from more than 5,000 donors.

The announcement was made about a week after Baker announced his running mate, Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei of Wakefield.

“Voters are responding to our campaign for one reason: Charlie Baker is the only candidate who will stand up for taxpayers and put our fiscal house in order starting on Day One, and he has the record to prove it,’’ campaign manager Lenny Alcivar said in a statement. “Our strong fund-raising this year means the Baker-Tisei team will have the resources we need to win on Election Day and start a turnaround in Massachusetts.’’

UPDATE: Please join us Wednesday night on The Notes on Blog Talk Radio at 8:00pm EST Wednesday night. Our guests will be authors Dinesh D’Souza and Matthew Spalding! Plus, more from Scot Lehigh.

SECOND UPDATE: From Holly Robichaud, the Globe and Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: From the Globe and Herald.

Can't Democrats all just get along?

The administration of Governor Deval Patrick, in a sharp disagreement with Patrick’s handpicked Senate appointee, said yesterday that it would be a mistake for President Obama to grant US Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr.’s request to delay federal approval of the Cape Wind project.

In a letter to Obama earlier this month, Kirk, who has largely shied away from divisive issues during his two months in office, urged the Obama administration to hold off on a decision until a federal panel can devise comprehensive guidelines for development in the nation’s waters. But officials from the Patrick administration said the governor strongly disagrees with Kirk’s request and urges quick approval. “After eight years of thorough review and as the world convenes shortly in Copenhagen to tackle climate change, the governor believes the time is now to move forward with this landmark clean energy project - the only offshore wind project that has the potential to be built in President Obama’s first term,’’ Patrick’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs, Ian A. Bowles, said in a statement yesterday.

US Representative Edward J. Markey, who chairs a key congressional committee on energy independence and global warming, has, like Patrick, strongly backed Cape Wind. In a letter sent to the Obama administration on Nov. 9, three days before Kirk’s letter to the president, Markey urged the administration to approve Cape Wind before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7.

Markey wrote that approving the project would “send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States’ commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution.’’

Supporters of Cape Wind criticized Kirk’s request as an attempt to delay further a project that has been repeatedly challenged in the Legislature, Congress, and the courts. Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Cape Wind, which is developing the project, said he was confident that the Obama administration would reject Kirk’s request based on the president’s strong support for renewable energy projects.

UPDATE: From the Globe and the Wall Street Journal.

SECOND UPDATE: From the Boston Herald and the Daily Free Press.

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

Don't tell me infighting among the Bay State center-right will hurt the GOP's chances of winning the State House in 2010.

There are two candidates for the Governor's office on the right - Christy Mihos and Charlie Baker. Both are good men, but something less than perfect. We will not find a perfect candidate no matter how hard we try. That being said lets not forget that 'perfect is the enemy of good'. Let's not trash either of the GOP candidates or their LG choices.

Starting here and starting now let's remember that the REAL enemy here is the Democrat party that has lied, cheated and stolen away our economy and our liberties. Deval Patrick lied when he said he would lower our property taxes. Deval Patrick lied when he said he would create 100,000 jobs. Deval Patrick lied when he said he would make it easier for small businesses in Massachusetts. The Democrats cheated when they forced Sen Kirk on us prematurely by falsely claiming a state emergency. The Democrats cheated us out of our money when they promised to lower our income taxes so many years ago. The Democrats stole our money when they offered up big pensions to criminal state hacks like Billy Bulger.

The Republicans are not the problem. Not Senator Tisei, Charlie Baker or Christy Mihos. The Republicans do want to be part of the solution. And whoever wins the primary should be promised the unwavering support of the other candidate and his staff. Remember, once the primary is done you can't take back the bad things that are said of the opponent.

UPDATE: More from the Globe, Herald and AP.

SECOND UPDATE: From State House News Service and the Globe.

...what Mrs. Patrick thinks about the US Senate election!

Diane Patrick, the governor’s wife, issued an impassioned plea yesterday to elect US Representative Michael E. Capuano to the US Senate, but the congressman hedged when asked whether her support might help him against Attorney General Martha Coakley, the perceived front-runner and sole woman candidate.

“It’s more personal than anything else to me,’’ Capuano said of the endorsement. “I’ve said from day one, I’m not concerned about gender issues.’’

Although Governor Deval Patrick remains officially neutral in the four-way Democratic primary race, his wife called Capuano a “tenacious fighter’’ who would make a difference on the Senate floor.

“Mike is, number one, a brilliant strategist, and I don’t mean that in the sense of campaigning, but in the sense of getting the job done,’’ Patrick said at a campaign stop before about 150 people at the Dedham Community Theater. “What you see in Mike Capuano is what you get. He is the most genuine man I know.’’

The primary election, to be held Dec. 8, also includes political newcomers Stephen G. Pagliuca and Alan Khazei.

The endorsement by Diane Patrick, a law partner at Ropes & Gray, follows similar public support for Capuano from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor Michael S. Dukakis.

Capuano said he is “proud’’ to receive Patrick’s backing, which follows the congressman’s early support for her husband’s gubernatorial campaign. But when asked to rate its importance, Capuano replied, “I have no idea.’’

UPDATE: More from Howie Carr and Jeff Jacoby.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Boston Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the Globe, Michael Graham, Holly Robichaud and the Herald.

We need to stop this epidemic of Democrat-on-Democrat (rhetorical) violence...

The war of words between the governor and some legislative leaders grew decidedly more forceful yesterday. Deval Patrick exhorted lawmakers to remain in session to address unresolved reforms and budget shortfalls, though as he spoke, most members were already gone for the remainder of 2009.

Amid the back-and-forth, Patrick implied that the Legislature was shirking its responsibility, and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo accused Patrick of political posturing. DeLeo apparently failed to return a phone call from the governor, a rare breach of political etiquette, especially between two key officials of the same party who had been trying to nurture a working relationship.

“It’s more than a little frustrating that they would leave for whatever it is, six or seven weeks, with so much of the Commonwealth’s vital business undone,’’ Patrick said during a rare, unscheduled visit to the State House press room.

“It’s my hope that the members will realize that their rules are of their own making, that they have it in their own power to work a couple of more days, or frankly, as long as it takes to get this work done.’’

Yesterday, about 10 senators approved a deficit reduction bill passed by the House of Representatives late Wednesday night. The bill makes few actual budget cuts, but primarily transfers funds from one account to another to net about $95 million toward closing the budget gap. These moves, combined with reductions already made by the governor, will eliminate about $480 million of the state’s projected $600 million budget deficit for this year, lawmakers said.

“This should have been done weeks before,’’ said the Senate’s Republican leader, Richard R. Tisei. “We’ve been in session all year and haven’t taken the steps that were needed to confront the fiscal crisis. For people to hear we broke for the year with all these problems - it’s embarrassing.’’

Exchanges escalated through the day, with DeLeo issuing a sharp rebuttal to Patrick, who had chided the House for failing to act on an education bill, passed by the Senate earlier in the week, that would have raised the number of possible charter schools.

“Governor Patrick’s comments seem to be more about political necessity than ‘moral obligation,’ ’’ DeLeo spokesman Seth Gitell said in an e-mailed statement. “Speaker DeLeo’s obligation is to the Commonwealth’s schoolchildren, not Governor Patrick’s political calendar.’’

DAMN!

UPDATE: More from the Globe and the Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: From Howie Carr, the Globe and Herald.

Can we classify Gov. Patrick as a "temporary guest worker" at this point?

Governor Deval Patrick today will unveil a state-commissioned report that urges him to push for driver’s licenses and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, as well as English classes for foreign-born Massachusetts residents who need them.

The issues were the top concerns raised by immigrants across the state during a series of public meetings the governor ordered from 2008 through early this year.

Now they are among 131 recommendations in the “New Americans Agenda,’’ billed as the state’s most comprehensive blueprint for integrating immigrants into Massachusetts.

It is unclear whether Patrick will embrace the recommendations, which he has declined to release since he received them in July. He will refer the list to his Cabinet for an action plan within 90 days, said his spokesman Kyle Sullivan.

The majority of the 912,310 immigrants in Massachusetts are here legally; almost half are naturalized US citizens and other legal residents are waiting in line. But the authors of the report also urged Patrick to press federal officials to create a path to legal residency for immigrants here illegally, saying the harsh national debate casts a pall over all immigrants.

“We need to get past the rhetoric of hate that has dominated this debate and instead strive for policy choices that are in the best long-term interests of our nation,’’ Westy Egmont and Eva Millona, cochairmen of the Governor’s Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants, which authored the report, wrote in a letter to Patrick.

“As governor of Massachusetts, you are in a position to help influence the debate in Washington in favor of true reform that benefits the Commonwealth and the country.’’

The recommendations were submitted to the governor a year after he commissioned a panel of state officials and advocates to find better ways to integrate immigrants into Massachusetts.

The panel held six statewide hearings from Chelsea to Springfield through early this year, talked to 1,200 people, and spent $260,000 in private funding to complete the report.

Patrick has had a mixed record on immigrants, who make up 14 percent of the state’s population. The governor is viewed as an ally, but he has disappointed many immigrants by not lobbying hard for in-state tuition for undocumented students at state colleges and universities.

Patrick has long said he would sign a bill if lawmakers passed it, but advocates said they do not yet have the votes.

UPDATE: From the State House News Service.

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

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