Massachusetts' New Governor Should Be Ashamed

Deval Patrick surely knows better. He was elected governor of Massachusetts, not emperor. But he has begun his term rather imperiously. There are the $12,000 draperies for his office. There’s a Cadillac being leased for nearly $1,200 per month. And, rather than assigning a staffer to help his wife with her public schedule as is typically done, he hired someone for a salary of $72,000. All on the state taxpayers’ dime at a time they are being told to face a shrunken government to address a budget deficit.

If he needed to transform his office decor, he could have raised tens of thousands of dollars privately. Wealthy man that he is, I’m sure he knows others with money.

Boston media have pounced upon this, but he should have expected each and every step he makes to be under a microscope. After all, he is the first Black man to hold that office. Now, the media have nicknamed him Governor Deluxe and Cadillac Deval.

For days he ignored the media uproar before finally acknowledging, “Oh, yeah, we screwed up.”

His experience reminds me of what happened in New York City in the early 1990s when a Black woman was put in charge of public housing – you know, housing for the poor? – and promptly spent $345,000 re-doing the executive offices, including $115,000 for her private office. The symbol of her out-of-whack priorities was a $3,000 pink leather sofa. She was forced to resign.

Commentators are saying that since this is so early in his term, Patrick has time to redeem himself. That begins with ending the lavish spending while asking others, less fortunate, less privileged, to make sacrifices.

Symbolism is sometimes as important as substance, Mr. Patrick.