Air Deval

Yesterday and this morning I read and listened to the Rodney Allen Ripney of Massachusetts politics' stance on the use of the state Police helicopter to attend a funeral and the swearing in of Joe Denucci. In all honesty after the original disgust and comparison to figurehead Governor Jane Swift passed, I guess in the gran scheme of things its not such a big deal. Don't get me wrong, I was initially PO'd and in the heat of the moment posted a nasty response on www.DevalPatrickWatch.com. In retrospect I guess if i want the leader of the State to do an important job, maybe its not such a big deal.

Then I started listening to the audio clips of his explanation. Now I've heard a lot of the puff pieces ( his podcasts are as fluffy as a roll of Cottennelle toilet tissue) and the arrogance came through loud and clear. It was there. The "How dare you" tone. The "I know better than you and don't think to question me" tone. The tone that gave away the true measure of the man.

And I didn't like it. It reminded me of those movies where the sweet little girl is possessed and for just a second her eyes turned green and you saw the demon within. I saw it when he interviewed with John Keller too.

It also says " I won't forget this" it says " I'm as big a politico as there is " And unfortunately it also says" business as usual".

Am I reading too much into this? I don't think so. Taken in context with everything Duval has done, or hasn't done for that matter, I think this episode just served to expand the chasm between the doe eyed hopefuls that latched themselves to his wagon hoping for more inclusion, hoping for more transparency, hoping that he wasn't an empty suit when they walked into the ballot booth.

Where are his followers, his supporters, the 'WE' in Yes We Can? I don't hear as much from them anymore. Not even the 'lets give him a chance' folks. Is there a level of dissapointment growing at the grass roots? I can't believe that all of these people are satisfied with the product Duval is delivering?

And taxes. I'm hearing more and more about them. In my hometown, they're floating a prop 2 1/2 override out again. Already threatening to cut policemen firemen & schoolteachers. I guess I have a problem with this since if we had enough moneylast year and we budget for growth, why don't we have enough money this year? What are my property taxes going to? betterments and easements and so on all moving to the town coffers and they keep asking for more. I don't have it to give.

3 more weeks until Rodney Allen Ripney floats his budget. I can't wait to see where he cuts. Do you really think he got good imput from the departments asked to trim budgets? Of course not. If your livleyhood is based upon how much you allegedly produce, how are you going to tell your boss you're not at bare bones. I'll take action on the fact that the reason these cuts were not released to CLT is because they were laughable.

God help us all, I could type till my fingers fall off.