Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick
71st Governor of Massachusetts
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 2007
Lieutenant	Tim Murray
Preceded by	Mitt Romney
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division
In office 1994–1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	John R. Dunne
Succeeded by	Bill Lann Lee
Personal details
Born	(1956-07-31) July 31, 1956 Chicago, Illinois, USA
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Diane Patrick
Children	Sarah Patrick Katherine Patrick
Residence(s)	Milton, Massachusetts, USA
Alma mater	Harvard Law School (J.D.) Harvard College (B.A.)
Profession	Lawyer
Signature
Website	Governor Deval Patrick's webpage

Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is the 71st Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, Patrick served as United States Assistant Attorney General under President Bill Clinton. He is the first African American to hold the office of Massachusetts governor.

Early life and education

Patrick was born on the South Side of Chicago, where his family resided in a two-bedroom apartment in Robert Taylor Homes housing projects. In 1959, his father Laurdine "Pat" Patrick, a member of jazz musician Sun Ra's band, left his wife Mae (née Wintersmith), Deval, and their daughter, Rhonda (who is one year Deval's senior) in order to play music in New York City and because he had fathered a daughter by another woman. Deval reportedly had a strained relationship with his father, who opposed his choice of high school, but they eventually reconciled. Patrick was raised by his mother, Mae, who traces her roots to American slaves in the American South, in the state of Kentucky.

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. 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 Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where he first worked defending poor families in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Following law school, Patrick served as a law clerk to Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for one year before joining the staff of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1983. In 1986, he joined the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow and was named partner in 1990, at the age of 34.

Personal

He and his wife, Diane Patrick (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. In July 2008, Katherine publicly announced that she is a lesbian, and mentioned that her father did not know this while he was fighting against a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have banned same-sex marriage. In a joint interview Patrick expressed support for his daughter and said he was proud of her.

Career

Clinton Administration

In 1994, Clinton nominated Patrick Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, subsequently confirmed by the United States Senate. As the head of the Civil Rights Division, Patrick worked on issues including racial profiling, police misconduct, fair lending enforcement, human trafficking, prosecution of hate crime, abortion clinic violence 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 Black churches in the South in the mid 1990's. 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 defended Clinton's policy. Patrick also enforced federal laws concerning treatment of incarcerated criminals, to the extent that one warden called him a "zealot." 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 a black woman of allegedly "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 was subsequently rehired and 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 Texaco's Equality and Fairness Task Force to oversee implementation of the terms of a race discrimination settlement at Texaco. Working with employees at all levels, Patrick and his Task Force examined and reformed Texaco's complex corporate employment culture, and created a model for fostering an equitable workplace. After serving for nearly two years, he was appointed Vice President and General Counsel for the company in New York City, leading the company’s global legal affairs. 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 partnership benefits. Patrick contended that for a global company to comply with local employment ordinances in San Francisco would have set an unhelpful precedent. Patrick successfully encouraged UAL to offer such 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. Ameriquest subsequently agreed to a $325 million dollar settlement regarding its predatory lending practices in 49 states. Deval Patrick resigned from the board on July 2, 2006.

Campaign for Governor

Main article: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2006

In 2005, Patrick announced his candidacy for Governor of Massachusetts. He was at first seen as a dark horse candidate, facing veteran Massachusetts campaigners Thomas "Tom" Reilly and Chris Gabrielli in the Democratic primary.

Patrick secured the nomination in the September 2006 primary, winning 49% 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.

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. The governor-elect was facing the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, just across Beacon Street, a memorial to the first black 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 American slaves from the ship La Amistad in honor of his heritage.

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.

2010 Campaign for re-election

Main article: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2010

On April 2, 2009, Patrick confirmed that alongside Lt. Governor Timothy Murray, he would run for re-election as Governor of Massachusetts. On June 5, 2010, he was renominated by the Democrats and is running against Republican Charlie Baker, Independent Tim Cahill, and Green/Rainbow Jill Stein. A Rasmussen Reports poll released on September 28 showed Patrick leading Baker 47%-42%. The election is November 2, 2010.

Administration as Governor of Massachusetts

Transition

Before taking office, Patrick named a transition team headed by lawyer Michael Angelini, bank executive Ronald Homer, and Weld administration economic affairs secretary Gloria Cordes Larson. 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 due to the effects of the economic recession on the state's budget. 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 D. Baker, Jr. on Budget & Finance, a Weld administration finance advisor who is now the 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.

Appointment of Interim Senator

On September 24, 2009, Patrick appointed Paul G. Kirk as the interim U.S. senator in the wake of Ted Kennedy's death.

Controversies

During the 2006 Gubernatorial Election Patrick faced criticism for writing letters to the parole board describing correspondence from Benjamin LaGuer, a man convicted of a brutal eight-hour rape, as "thoughtful, insightful, eloquent, [and] humane". Patrick, who supported the release of LaGuer, contributed $5,000 towards the DNA testing which linked LaGuer to the crime. Once the DNA test proved LaGuer's guilt, Patrick withdrew his support for the inmate's release.

Before taking office, Patrick faced criticism for urging legislators to ignore the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s finding that the legislature was constitutionally bound to take a second vote on whether or not to allow a citizen initiated referendum to define marriage as an institution between one man and one woman. The Massachusetts General Court ignored his call and voted not to place the measure on the ballot.

In the early months of Patrick's administration, a series of decisions the governor later conceded as missteps brought substantial unfavorable press. These included spending almost $11,000 on drapery for the governor's state house suite, changing the state's customary car lease from a Ford 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, that had been accused of predatory lending practices and of which Patrick is a former board member. Both Citigroup and ACC Capital Holdings have substantial holdings in Massachusetts. 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, speaking at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In December 2008, Patrick faced criticism from Massachusetts Republicans for the hiring of attorney and real estate consultant Dana Harrell to the newly created position of state Director of Real Estate Services. Harrell is a neighbor of Deval Patrick in Milton, and he and his wife have contributed to the governor's election campaign and to the Democratic State Committee. The appointment to the $120,000-per-year position came at a time when the state faced a $1.4 billion revenue shortfall which may cause Patrick to layoff 1,000 state workers and cut state aid to towns and cities.

Patrick came to the defense of Presidential candidate Barack Obama during the Democratic primary when it was reported that a few key phrases from one of Obama's stump speech were very similar to words used during Patrick's own 2006 Massachusetts Gubernatorial run. The charges of plagiarism were largely dismissed after Patrick explained that he had encouraged Obama to use the same quotes.

Cabinet

The Patrick Cabinet
Office	Name	Term
Governor	Deval Patrick	2007 – present
Lieutenant Governor	Tim Murray	2007 – present
Secretaries of Executive Departments
Health and Human Services	JudyAnn Bigby	2007 – present
Energy and Environmental Affairs	Ian Bowles	2007 – present
Public Safety	Kevin Burke	2007–2010
	Mary Elizabeth Heffernan	2010 – present
Labor and Workforce Development	Suzanne Bump	2007–2010
	Joanne F. Goldstein	2010 – present
Transportation and Public Works (until 2009)	Bernard Cohen	2007–2009
	Jim Aloisi	2009–2009
Department of Transportation (from 2009)	Jeffrey B. Mullan	2009 – present
Administration and Finance	Leslie Kirwan	2007–2009
	Jay Gonzalez	2009 – present
Education (created in 2008)	Paul Reville	2008 – present
Housing and Economic Development	Dan O'Connell	2007–2009
	Greg Bialecki	2009 – present
Elder Affairs	Jennifer Davis Carey	2007
	Michael E. Festa	2007–2009
	Ann L. Hartstein	2009 – present
Veterans' Services	Thomas G. Kelley	2007 – present
Special Advisors
Education	Dana Mohler-Faria	2007–2008

Political views

Education

Throughout his term in office, Patrick has made achieving “world-class public education” a main priority of his administration. After campaigning against charter schools, Patrick now supports a doubling of the number of charter schools in Massachusetts. In his first year in office, Patrick proposed making Community College free to all Massachusetts high school graduates.

Patrick also committed a historic amount of public funds to Massachusetts schools, introducing legislation to tackle a persistent education gap among minority students, and winning the national Race to the Top competition.

Same-sex marriage

Patrick favored the legalizing of same-sex marriage because of the fundamental principle that "citizens come before their government as equals". He worked with the state legislature to prevent a ballot measure eliminating same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, which reaffirmed the state's first-in-the-nation same-sex marriage allowance.

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. Patrick proposed a bill that would streamline Massachusetts's permit appeals process for wind-energy projects. The Wind Energy Sitting Reform bill would reduce the permitting process from the current litigation limbo to nine to 19 months

Health care

Patrick has made implementing the state's 2006 health care reform law a signature achievement. Currently, over 97% of Massachusetts residents have health care insurance, more than any other state.

Patrick also moved to cap health care premium increases, empowering the state to review and curtail health insurance premium increase.

Life Sciences

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 "pathway[s] to citizenship" for immigrants who have established lives in America. On the state level, he supports increased enforcement of employment laws to crack down on employers taking advantage of illegal immigrants, while supporting providing state services to those in the country illegally, including such things as public housing, in-state tuition for public universities, and drivers' licenses.

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 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 of new jobs, 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. 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. DiMasi 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 on personal business, finalizing a $1.35 million dollar deal with Broadway Books, an imprint of Random House, to publish his autobiography.

By mid-2010, the house and senate passed a bill with plans for three resort-style casinos and two slot parlors. However, Patrick vetoed it as he previously stated that he would only accept one slot parlor.

Transportation

The legislatively chartered Transportation Finance Commission (TFC) reported in 2007 that over the next 20 years there would be $15–$19 billion gap between revenues and necessary expenditures, just to maintain existing transportation system in Massachusetts. The Commission identified several reforms and revenue options to close the gap. The Patrick Administration lobbied for and passed a major transportation reform bill, which incorporated many of the TFC-recommended reforms, and which created the Massachusetts Department of Transportation by merging smaller transportation agencies.

Patrick proposed raising the state gas tax by 19¢ per gallon to forestall Massachusetts Turnpike toll and MBTA fare increases, fully fund Regional Transit Authority and Turnpike operations, and address part of the capital shortfall identified by the TFC, but this was defeated in the state legislature. Instead, a sales tax increase of 1.25% was passed, with part of that dedicated to transportation. This was enough to prevent the short-term toll and fare increases, but did not address the long-term funding gap.

Patrick has been a supporter of the South Coast Rail Link project, which his administration advanced from planning to early construction.

Electoral history

Democratic gubernatorial primary 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Deval Patrick	452,229	49.57%
	Democratic	Chris Gabrieli	248,301	27.22%
	Democratic	Tom Reilly	211,031	23.13%
	Democratic	Write-in	787	0.08%
	Democratic	Blanks	14,054
Majority			203,928	22.35%
Turnout			926,402

Massachusetts Gubernatorial Election 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Deval Patrick	1,234,984	55.6
	Republican	Kerry Healey	784,342	35.3
	Independent	Christy Mihos	154,628	6.9
	Green-Rainbow	Grace Ross	43,193	1.9

External links

• Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick official Massachusetts government site
• Deval Patrick for Governor official campaign site
• Template:GovLinks
• Transcript of Patrick's 2006 acceptance speech The Boston Globe, November 8, 2006