Deval Patrick

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is a politician and the current Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. On November 7, 2006, Patrick became the first black governor of Massachusetts, the third black governor in United States history. He is one of two current black governors, along with David Paterson of New York.
For the first time in U.S. history two black governors serve concurrently. He took office on January 4, 2007. Before entering politics, Patrick worked as an attorney and businessman. Patrick’s stumbles over his first year in office have led to falling poll numbers.

An April 9, 2008 SurveyUSA poll puts Patrick’s approval ratings at 41%, with 49% of the Commonwealth’s residents disapproving of the Governor’s performance in office.

Early life and education Patrick was born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, into a Black American family and residing in a two-bedroom tenement. In 1959, his father Laurdine “Pat” Patrick, a member of jazz musician Sun Ra’s band, left his wife Emily (née Mae Wintersmith),2 son Deval, and daughter Rhonda (a year Deval’s senior) in order to play music in New York City3 and because he had fathered a daughter by another woman. Deval had a strained relationship with his father, who opposed his choice of high school, but they eventually reconciled.

While Patrick was in middle school, one of his teachers referred him to A Better Chance, a national non-profit organization for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among academically gifted students of African-American descent, which enabled him to attend Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts.

Patrick graduated from Milton Academy in 1974 and from Harvard College (with a concentration in English and American literature) in 1978. He then spent a year working with the United Nations in Africa. In 1979, Patrick returned to the United States and enrolled at Harvard Law School. While in law school, Patrick was elected president of the Legal Aid Bureau, where he first worked defending poor families in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

He and his wife, Diane Patrick née Bemus (born 1951), a lawyer specializing in labor and employment law, married in 1984. They have lived in Milton, Massachusetts since 1989 and have two daughters, Sarah and Katherine.

Career

Early legal work After receiving his J.D. from Harvard Law School, Patrick worked as a law clerk for Judge
Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, then became an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) in New York City. While working with LDF, Patrick met future President Bill Clinton, then serving as Governor of Arkansas. Clinton was being sued over a voting rights case, and the two worked out a settlement. Also while working with LDF, Patrick married Diane Bemus, an attorney specializing in labor and employment law. In 1986 Patrick went to work as a private attorney for Hill and Barlow, a now-dissolved Boston law firm, and became a partner in 1990. He also continued doing volunteer work for LDF and for other civil rights causes. Patrick also represented Desiree Washington, a former Rhode Island beauty queen whom former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was convicted of raping in the early 1990s. She filed a civil suit in 1992 in US District Court in Indianapolis, and Patrick was Washington’s attorney. The suit was settled in 1995.

Clinton Administration In 1994, Clinton nominated Patrick Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights
Division, subsequently confirmed by the Senate. As the head of the Civil Rights Division, Patrick worked on issues including racial profiling, police misconduct, fair lending enforcement, human trafficking, and discrimination based on gender and disability. He led what was (before the September 11, 2001 attacks) the largest federal criminal investigation in history as co-chair of the Task Force investigating the arsons of synagogues and African American churches in the South. He had a key role as an adviser to post-apartheid South Africa during this time and helped draft that country’s civil rights laws.

His tenure was not without controversy. Federal affirmative action policy was under judicial and political review, and Patrick was thrust into Clinton’s policy defense. Patrick also enforced federal laws concerning treatment of incarcerated criminals, to the extent that one warden called him a “zealot”.9 He has also been criticized for his role in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals case Piscataway v. Taxman, wherein, due to budget constraints, a white woman named Sharon Taxman was laid off rather than an African American woman of identical qualifications, because the school wanted diversity on its teaching staff. Taxman sued and prevailed in US District Court, but Patrick encouraged the Justice Department, which had supported Taxman in the Bush administration, to withdraw from the case. Taxman, who was subsequently rehired, eventually settled her suit.

Business career In 1997, Patrick returned to Boston to join the firm Day, Berry & Howard, and was appointed by the federal district court to serve as Chairman of the Task Force to oversee implementation of the terms of a race discrimination settlement at Texaco. After serving for nearly two years, he was appointed vice president and general counsel for the company in New York City. From 2000 to 2004, Patrick worked as executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta. He resigned in 2004, ending nearly 6 years of weekly commuting between Massachusetts and jobs out of state.

Some gay rights activists have criticized him for his tenure on the United Airlines (UAL) board. During this time, the company fought a San Francisco ordinance requiring companies to offer domestic partners benefits. Patrick contended that for a global company to comply with local employment ordinances in San Francisco would have set an unhelpful precedent. On the other hand, Patrick successfully encouraged UAL to offer domestic partner benefits to all employees, making it the first airline to do so.

In 2004, he was appointed to the board of directors of the firm that controls Ameriquest, the mortgage company infamous for predatory lending scandals, because of his 20 years of fighting such problems. Ameriquest subsequently agreed to a $325 million dollar settlement regarding their predatory lending practices in 49 states.11 Patrick resigned from the board on July 2, 2006.

Campaign for Governor In 2005, Patrick announced his candidacy for Governor of Massachusetts. He was at first seen as a dark horse candidate, facing veteran Massachusetts campaigners Tom Reilly and Chris Gabrielli in the Democratic primary. The Patrick campaign gained momentum at the Democratic State Caucuses, where it organized their supporters, many of whom had never been involved in such party processes before, to win twice as many pledged delegates as the Reilly campaign.

Patrick secured the nomination in the September 2006 primary, winning 49 percent of the vote in a three-way race and carrying every county in the state. In the general election, he faced Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, a Republican, Christy Mihos, running as an Independent, and Grace Ross, of the Green-Rainbow Party.

On November 7, 2006, Patrick became the second elected African American state governor in United States history, the first being Virginia State Governor Douglas Wilder, who was elected in 1989, and the third African American to serve as a United States state governor, the first being P. B. S. Pinchback, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, who ascended to the governorship of Louisiana in 1872 upon the impeachment and removal of his predecessor, Henry Clay Warmoth.

Patrick received 56 percent of the vote in the four-way gubernatorial race. He finished 20 percentage points ahead of the second-place finisher, Kerry Healey. Patrick’s margin of victory increased the Democratic party margin, already a supermajority, in both houses of Massachusetts General Court, the state’s legislature.

Inauguration Breaking with the tradition of being inaugurated in the House Chamber of the Massachusetts State House, Deval Patrick and Tim Murray took the oath of office, and Patrick delivered his inaugural address, outdoors on the West Portico of the State House facing Boston Common. This allowed a larger part of the public to witness and take part first hand in the event, and was intended to signal more open, transparent, and accessible government.

This action also resulted in Mitt Romney, the outgoing Republican governor, having to take the traditional “lone walk” from the State House the prior evening before leaving office.13 The governor-elect was facing the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, just across Beacon Street, a memorial to the first African American regiment in the U.S. Civil War. He took his oath of office on the Mendi Bible, which was given to then-Congressman John Quincy Adams by the freed slaves from the ship La Amistad14.

A series of regional inaugural balls, seven in all, were held to bring the inauguration to the citizens of the
commonwealth. These celebrations took place on Cape Cod, in Worcester, Dartmouth, Pittsfield, Springfield, and Boston.

Administration as Governor of Massachusetts

Transition Deval Patrick became the governor of Massachusetts on January 4, 2007. Before taking office, he
named a transition team headed by lawyer Michael Angelini, bank executive Ronald Homer, and Weld administration economic affairs secretary Gloria Cordes Larson.16 In his first meetings with the legislative leadership, he proposed his first action would be to hire 1000 new police officers and to expand full-day kindergarten statewide. He has since scaled back his original proposal and will hire only 250 officers.18 As part of the transition, Patrick created a series of working groups who held public meetings to advise him on various policy areas. The groups included a few names prominent in the election: Harvard Pilgrim CEO Charles Baker on Budget & Finance, a Weld administration finance advisor who had been considered a potential GOP candidate for governor; Center of Women and Enterprise founder and candidate in the Lieutenant Governor’s primary Andrea Silbert on Economic Development; and gubernatorial primary candidate Chris Gabrieli on PreK-12 Education.

Controversies In the early months of Patrick’s administration, a series of decisions the governor later
conceded as missteps brought substantial unfavorable press. These include spending almost $11,000 on drapery for the governor’s state house suite, changing the state’s customary car lease from a Crown Victoria to a Cadillac, and hiring a staff assistant (who had previously helped chair his election campaign) for the Commonwealth’s first lady at an annual salary of almost $75,000. Emerging from a weekend of working on the state’s budget and calling for cuts in services to taxpayers, Patrick responded in a February 20, 2007 press conference that “I realize I cannot in good conscience ask the agencies to make those choices without being willing to make them myself,” Patrick subsequently reimbursed the Commonwealth for the cost of the drapery and furniture purchased for the state house, and the additional monthly difference in his car lease. First Lady Diane Patrick’s staff assistant, Amy Gorin, resigned. Later in the same month Patrick again came under fire, this time for contacting Citigroup Executive Committee chair, and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin on behalf of the financially beleaguered mortgage company Ameriquest, a subsidiary of ACC Capital Holdings of which Patrick is a former board member. Both Citigroup
and ACC Capital Holdings have substantial holdings in Massachusetts.22 Patrick attempted to deflect criticism claiming he was calling not as governor but as a private citizen. Later Patrick backed down, stating “I appreciate that I should not have made the call. I regret the mistake.”

Patrick’s Sep. 11 memorial service speech in 2007 caused a controversy as well. Among other things, he said “It was a mean and nasty and bitter attack on the United States. But it was also about the failure of human beings to understand each other and to learn to love each other. It seems to me that lesson at that morning is something that we must carry with us every day.” This was criticized by several newspapers as well as some relatives of the victims. Jim Ogonowski, a brother of the 9/11 victim and a Republican congressional candidate called the comments “completely inappropriate.”

During the election, Patrick’s membership in the historically elitist Fly Club drew the sincerity of his progressive and populist political mantra into question. Patrick claims to have left the club in 1983, when he realized the discrepancy. Still, the criticism he drew could be compared to that of his Democratic colleague, Ted Kennedy, for membership in another final club while at Harvard.

In February 2008, Carl Stanley McGee who serves as assistant secretary for policy and planning in the Patrick
administration was placed on unpaid leave pending the resolution of an arrest and allegations against him in Florida. McGee was arrested on December 28, 2007 at the Gasparilla Inn & Club in Lee County, Florida and charged with sexual battery for allegedly sexually assaulting 26 a 15 year old boy who was a guest at the hotel. McGee was scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on January 28, 2008, but the arraignment was postponed several times as the Florida prosecutors investigated the matter.27 On March 20, 2008, Florida Assistant State Attorney Francine H. Donnorummo announced that the case would be dismissed and closed with no criminal charges being filed because investigators were unable to locate any witnesses or find any physical evidence to corroborate the allegations of the 15-year old.28 McGee returned to work on April 22, 2008.

Political views

Same-sex marriage Patrick is in favor of preserving same-sex marriage because of the fundamental principle that “citizens come before their government as equals”.3031 To stem controversy in among socially conservative and religious factions, he has emphasized his focus on finding solutions to other Massachusetts issues, such as the murder rate, AIDS, and unemployment.

Death penalty Patrick opposes the death penalty, saying that “the death penalty does not work. It hasn’t
worked in actually deterring crime, and it won’t work for Massachusetts.” This position had put him at odds
with ex-Lt. Governor Kerry Healey, who wanted to “reinstate the death penalty for felons convicted of killing a law enforcement officer, judge, prosecutor or corrections officer.”

Energy policy Patrick was an early supporter of the Cape Wind energy project, at a time when prominent
Massachusetts politicians from Mitt Romney to Ted Kennedy were working against it. His leadership on this issue was a key turning point in the early stage of the campaign, and tapped into the then-unknown widespread support held by over 70 percent of the state.

Health care On health care reform, Patrick has called the new health insurance mandate an important first step that needs to be “implemented brilliantly”, although far from the last word. He has said that the state needs to have a debate about moving towards single-payer health care.

Stem cell research Patrick is a proponent of stem cell research and was critical of former Massachusetts
Governor Mitt Romney for vetoing a stem cell bill. He proposes creating a bonding bill similar to California’s recent path, and using it to invest in stem cell research at the University of Massachusetts, creating a simultaneous boost to the commonwealth’s institutions of public higher education.

Illegal immigration Patrick has called immigration a federal issue and has supported the McCain-Kennedy plan to tighten border control and create “pathways to citizenship” for immigrants who have established lives in America.39 On the state level, he supports increased enforcement of employment laws to crack down on employers taking advantage of illegal immigrants, while opposing discrimination on the basis of immigration status for providing state services, including such things as public housing, in-state tuition for public universities, and drivers’ licenses. Recently, he has acknowledged it may be impossible to go forward on drivers’ licenses due to recent federal legislation.

2008 Democratic primary Patrick supports Senator Barack Obama in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and has stumped for him.41 In February 2008, the campaign of Obama’s rival Hillary Clinton accused Obama of plagiarism for lifting a portion of a speech Patrick made during his 2006 Massachusetts campaign for use in his Wisconsin primary stump speech. Patrick later rebuffed this accusation, stating, “I am neither surprised nor troubled that he used the words. I asked him to use of my own.”

Casino gambling Patrick submitted a bill that would allow the construction and operation of three resort-style casinos in the state. He argued that these casinos would generate $2 billion for the state economy and add $400 million in annual casino revenue and $200 million in fees per license to the state coffers as well as add $50 million to $80 million in sales, meal, and hotel taxes. He also touted that the casinos would create 30,000 construction jobs and 20,000 permanent jobs.

Patrick’s proposed that the revenue generated would be spent to beef up local law enforcement, create a state gambling regulatory agency, repair roads and bridges ($200 million), gambling addiction treatment ($50 million) and the remainder would go towards property tax relief.

Patrick’s plan faced strong opposition from Salvatore DiMasi, the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of
Representatives. DiMasi questioned the governor’s projections on new jobs projections, revenues to be generated and was an opposed to what he referred to as a casino culture saying: “Do we want to usher in a casino culture — with rampant bankruptcies, crime and social ills — or do we want to create a better Massachusetts for all sectors of the society?”

On March 20, 2008 the Massachusetts House of Representatives rejected Patrick’s casino bill by a vote of 108 to 46.50 Despite the overwhelming vote, questions were raised by critics of DiMasi as to the tactics he used to win. These included allegations that he promised a subsequent vote on a bill that would allow slot machines at the state’s four racetracks and the pre-vote promotions of six lawmakers who had been thought to support the bill, but either abstained or voted against the bill. Demasi denied that any promise had been made on the race track bill and denied that the promotions were connected to the casino bill vote.

Patrick’s conduct was also criticized and his commitment to the bill questioned when it was revealed that he was not in the state on the day the bill was voted on in the legislature. As the bill was being voted down, Patrick was in New York City finalizing a $1.35 million dollar deal with Broadway Books, an imprint of Random House, to publish his
autobiography.