Mass. governor’s first weeks are rocky
As a candidate, Deval Patrick won over voters with a message of hope and renewed confidence in government. Now, eight turbulent weeks into his term, Massachusetts’ first black governor is already pleading: “Don’t give up on me.”First, the 50-year-old former chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division under the Clinton administration was criticized for using a state helicopter to zip from one end of the state to the other. Then he found himself defending his decision to upgrade his state car to a $1,166-a-month Cadillac.
Soon came news of pricey new drapes for the governor’s office, a $72,000 appointments secretary for his wife and a call to Citigroup on behalf of a struggling lending company on whose board he once served — a move that prompted a call for an ethics investigation by the Republicans.
