BU's Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center has put together an impressive panel this evening for a discussion of media and politics -- and invited me too. John Carroll, who you probably know from WGBH's Greater Boston, is moderating, and the panel includes Newsweek's Jonathan Alter; NPR's Tom Ashbrook; Renee Loth of the Globe; Ida E. Lewis, former editor of Essence; columnist Debra Saunders; and Ernie Suggs of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And me.

It's at the Tsai Performance Center, at 6:30; come check it out.

2/25/2008 2:19:46 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [5] |  

On tonight’s “Beat the Press” edition of Greater Boston (7:00pm, Ch. 2), one segment will look at the Inspector General’s report on allegations regarding a contract for international tourism marketing, raised by an article I wrote a year ago. [Update: It turns out the segment will not air after all.]

 

While I have previously responded to the report in general, a number of people have asked me specifically about a section of the report’s Executive Summary that directly addresses my article. That section begins (emphasis mine):

 

In February 2007, an article appeared in a Boston newspaper in which unnamed sources raised questions about the awarding of the ITF funds in the above-described process. This Office’s review has determined that that [sic] the assertions of impropriety cited by the unnamed sources in the article were unsubstantiated, as follows:

 

Here are the bullet-point items that follow, in full, with my responses.

                         

--an assertion that the winning vendor had been deemed ineligible by MITCI staff during the RFP process due to excessive overhead expense was unsubstantiated by the facts. Furthermore, such conclusion would be erroneous under Commonwealth accounting standards, as easily verified by prior accounting practices;

 

Whether they were correct or not (a determination I am not in a position to make), MITCI’s staff did conclude that the vendor – William MacDougall – was ineligible by the statute’s criteria. My assertion was based not on anonymous sources but on a copy of the report submitted by them to the board members, as I wrote in the article. The Phoenix obtained a copy of that report, I wrote, which “concluded that MacDougall’s bid was ineligible — i.e., it did not meet the statute’s criteria. In addition to other disqualifying problems, MacDougall’s international-tourism proposal included spending way more than the defined maximum of 20 percent on administrative costs. If overseas sales representatives’ fees are included, more than half the MacDougall plan was budgeted for administration — three times what the MLA’s budget put toward those same costs.”

 

--an implication that MITCI board members resigned in order to curry favor with members of the legislature was contradicted by the documentary evidence summarized above;

I do not have most of the documentary evidence referred to, which is selectively summarized but not provided in the IG’s report.

I wrote that the three-member board received the MITCI staff report in September 2004, and that “defying Murray’s wishes could have been politically disastrous for two of the board members. Mitchell Adams, the board’s chair, for instance, is executive director of the quasi-public Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which relies on state funding controlled by Murray’s committee. And Christopher Supple is a Beacon Hill lobbyist. Adams and Supple abruptly resigned on the same day in November 2004. Neither publicly cited the MacDougall decision as the cause…. The final member — a bewildered Columbia University professor — gave up and resigned the following month, effectively dissolving the Trade Council.”

That is all true. The IG’s report argues that the three board members resigned over concerns about MITCI’s legal status. I would note that the three board members’ resignation letters, which I have copies of, each provide different explanations for their decisions, not a shared one as implied by the IG’s report —  the Columbia professor specifically cited geographical distance, not MITCI’s legal status. In addition, both Adams and Supple resigned prior to the state’s lawyers offering an opinion about MITCI’s legal status.

 

--an assertion that millions of ITF dollars were missing was inaccurate, and in fact all funds have been accounted for;

 

There is no such assertion in the article.

 

The article does assert that Tourism Massachusetts head William MacDougall refused to account for expenses to the satisfaction of Romney and Patrick officials. This was based not only on sources but on extensive documentation – including one memo quoted in the article, sent by MacDougall to state officials, in which he wrote: “There is no provision for us to provide contracts and/or invoices and we are not going to.”

 

--an allegation that legislators including Senator Murray traveled to Russia through a grant from Tourism Massachusetts and a specific accusation that Senator Murray was traveling to Italy on state-paid “junkets” were proven false by a detailed review of Tourism Massachusetts expenditures. In addition this Office reviewed Senator Murray’s passports covering the time periods from June 12, 1996 through June 11, 2006 and August 7, 2006 through the present and found no evidence of any entries into Italy by Senator Murray during this eleven (11) year time period;

 

The Phoenix retracted the Italy quote two weeks after the story ran, a year ago.

 

The Russia trip was mentioned in the last paragraph of the story: “Murray and other legislators went to Russia this past year, paid in part through a grant from Tourism Massachusetts…. That excursion was ostensibly to encourage visitors from a town that, by one industry source’s estimate, might generate a maximum of 35 tourists to Massachusetts” The IG’s office confirms that Tourism Massachusetts made a grant of over $25,000, to a Umass-Amherst institute, which was used to sponsor the exhange of officials with a Russia town, and that Murray was one of the legislators who travelled as part of that exchange. However, an IG spokesperson tells the Phoenix that the institute did not pay for any of those legislators’ travel expenses.

 

 --the unnamed parties making assertions in the newspaper article would likely have been aware –but apparently failed to disclose- the well-documented legal controversy that led to the breakdown of the ITF procurement, including a documented opinion by the General Counsel to the Attorney General that MITCI is in fact a state agency, validating the reasons behind the MITC board member’s resignations.

 

This appears to be an allegation that sources for the article must have deliberately withheld information from the Phoenix regarding the MITCI board’s reasons for resigning. It does not appear to dispute anything in the article, beyond what was raised in the earlier bullet-point item, and appears to be an attempt to speculate about my sources’ identities, and to cast aspersions upon their actions and motivations.

2/22/2008 1:52:29 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [3] |  

A couple of commenters rightly pointed out that I failed to provide the url for the IG's report that I referenced earlier. My error: I did not have the url when I wrote the post, and forgot to go back and add it later.

I would also encourage those interested in the topic to read Jay Fitzgerald's series of articles on Tourism Massachusetts, some 10 or 12 of which ran in the Boston Herald between December 2006 and February 2007, when the IG's investigation began. To the best that I can tell, the IG's report refutes nothing in his articles. Unfortunately, the Herald charges for archived articles, so I don't have url's to give you.

2/21/2008 7:36:13 AM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [4] |  

Sorry for the light blogging lately. Here are a few quick looks at what's been going on.

--Barack Obama got caught using some of Deval Patrick's rhetoric. No surprise to anyone who reads my colleague Adam Reilly. I've got no problem with it, except that like Adam suggests, you would think Obama would try to avoid obvious incidents like this latest one.

--MBTA general manager Dan Grabauskas admitted that the T has long been secretly cutting back on service because of budget problems. A loud "I knew it!" could be heard from everyone who has ever waited for a bus or train. This is part of a larger problem endemic in our government agencies: nobody wants to admit that their agency's services are not up to snuff, so they cover up the flaws and claim to be doing a heckuva job. Then they get frustrated when their pleas for more budget (or more broadly, a tax increase) go unheeded. Well, if you're doing fine, why do you need it? We could use a lot more honesty up front.

--Speaking of agencies pleading for more budget, those hearings are going on now and guess what? A lot of state agencies are having a tough time providing services at their current funding levels, according to State House News Service reports. Tuesday's budget hearing in Cambridge covered education. Ann Reale, commissioner of early ed and care, told legislators that the 23,000-family waiting list for state-assisted early education and care services was probably an underestimate, and that the real number could be triple that figure. Funding does not exist to do anything about it. I thought we were all about the children in the Bay State? Guess not. Acting Ed commissoner Jeffrey Nellhaus acknowledged a lack of classrooms for thousands on a waiting list for adult basic education. Board of Higher Ed Chairman Frederick Clark spoke of searching for "reasonable ways of protecting quality … despite weak state support for us" -- weak supporting that includes a $400 million revenue gap. Expect more of the same from today's budget hearing in Palmer, which focuses on public safety. Ditto Thursday, with health and human services in Westfield. And we already know about transportation, which will be covered Friday in Revere, along with energy and environment.

--Yesterday city councilor Michael Flaherty "announced" his "Kitchen Table Conversation Tour," which had been described four days earlier in the Boston Globe. Flaherty will apparently be doing this all year. Sure sounds like he's running for mayor, don't it? Check this quote from his release: "Instead of talking about issues like moving City Hall, we should be talking about getting City Hall moving again."

2/20/2008 10:35:12 AM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [4] |  

For anyone interested, my brief response can be found here.

2/15/2008 6:05:52 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [5] |  

In today's Globe, Stephanie Ebbert looks at the stealth efforts of Michael Flaherty, Ralph Martin, and John Tobin in preparation for a potential run for mayor next year. Those three, in that order, held my top spots on my list of 20 top contenders for the office in this article back in November.

Ebbert mentions several others -- all from my list -- as "among those considered mayoral material." She names Peter Meade (#6), Stephen Lynch (#5), Joseph Kennedy (#12), Maureen Feeney (#20, but surely moving up since her recent maneuvering), Sam Yoon (#7), Mike Ross (#19), and Rob Consalvo (#8). She also notes that Paul Grogan (#10) told the Globe that he will not run.

The only members of my top 10 left out are Chris Gabrieli and Charlotte Golar-Ritchie, neither of whom I would discount as possibilities. I would also keep my eye on either Steven Tolman (#11) and Martin Walsh (#14) jumping in to claim the labor vote, if Menino doesn't choose to run again.

Ebbert reports that Martin ran a poll, which I had previously heard but couldn't confirm. Neither Martin or his supporter serving as Ebbert's source would reveal anything about the poll's results -- which probably means that they were not good.

Update: My colleague Adam Reilly reports that Meade vociferously denies that he might run.

2/15/2008 10:04:54 AM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [4] |  

To nobody's surprise, state rep Jamie Eldridge is running for the state senate seat of Pam Resor, who has announced that she is not running for re-election this year. Eldridge, a liberal who ran a somewhat quixotic campaign for US Congress last year, should be a strong force in this race. His campaign put out a release this morning confirming that Eldridge will run.

In a bit of an upside-down reality, Eldridge may need to get more votes to win state senate (at least in the general) than for congress, despite the much smaller district in play. The senate race will occur along with a presumably huge-turnout Presidential election, while the congressional was an oddly-timed special election.

Resor is one of three state senators who are reportedly leaving this year, along with Robert Antonioni and Ed Augustus a little further west. Should be plenty of action!

2/11/2008 11:31:30 AM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [1] |  

Pornography contributes to out-of-wedlock pregnancy, particularly among racial minorities. Liberals pursue a relentless attack on religion, culture, and the Constitution. Entitlement programs are a poison destroying the culture upon which rest our economic development and superpower status. Abortion and Godlessness is turning Europe into a Muslim-dominated "disaster." Obama and Clinton have announced plans to declare defeat in the war on terror. A Democratic victory in November would guarantee terrorist attacks on US soil.

That's what Mitt Romney now believes, based on what he said in his withdrawal speech at CPAC.

There is no evidence that he really does believe any of this nonsense, or ever has believed it. You certainly won't find any of it in his book, "Turnaround," or in anything he said as governor. You don't get any sense from those who know him that he ever believed anything like this.

Perhaps he got persuaded by a few John Gibson and Michelle Malkin books or something. Oh well. I can't wait to hear his speech at the GOP convention.

2/8/2008 12:02:58 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [2] |  

Mitt Romney could have fought on, trying to deny John McCain a majority going into the convention and then convincing Mike Huckabee's delegates to go with him because McCain hates God. But perhaps he's learned an important lesson about the Republican Party: they always nominate someone who has proven his loyalty to the party.

That's why I predicted from the start, and never stopped predicting, that they would nominate McCain. Sure, they would take a look at more interesting, exciting, and ideologically pure candidates, but McCain was the only one in the field who had really proven his loyalty to the GOP -- by supporting candidates nationally, and of course by turning around and supporting GW Bush in 2000.

Romney, by bowing out, supporting McCain, and bashing the Dems (who apparently intend to surrender to the terrorists as soon as they enter office), has put himself in excellent position for the '12 nomination (assuming McCain loses this November).

2/7/2008 3:27:17 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [3] |  

This week's issue of the Boston Phoenix finds me wearing my investigative-reporter hat, writing about the wrongful conviction of Stephan Cowans. It is online now:

Framed?

The Boston Police investigation of Stephan Cowans led to a wrongful conviction. Was it incompetent — or corrupt?

2/6/2008 3:43:25 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [1] |  

Tom Menino put himself out with gusto behind Hillary Clinton, but it doesn't look like he's going to deliver the city for her -- with 58% of the city reporting, Obama has a 51%/46% lead. Still worth watching, since the parts of the city reporting or not could make a big difference....

2/5/2008 10:12:09 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [2] |  

...shows Clinton and Obama in a dead heat, for what it's worth. If so, WBZ's pollsters, SurveyUSA, will have some 'splainin' to do for that side of things, where they had Clinton in a rout.

Looks like they had it right on the GOP side, though, where Romney is cruising to victory.

Update: Well, who looks smart and who looks stupid now? (That's a rhetorical question, no need to comment...) WBZ and SurveyUSA were right on. So, who out there was lying to the exit pollers? Fess up!

2/5/2008 8:10:50 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [0] |  

A statewide California poll conducted by EMC Research this past weekend shows big changes heading into today's critical biggest-of-the-big primary.

Mitt Romney has overtaken John McCain, leading 36% to 32% among likely Republican voters. Huckabee trails with just 11%.

A win in California -- where GOP delegates are doled out on a district-by-district basis -- could rejuvenate Romney's sagging hopes for the nomination, by offsetting McCain's expected victories in winner-take-all states like New York.

Just three weeks earlier, the same poll showed McCain with a substantial lead, which narrowed to six percentage points two weeks ago, as reported by the Phoenix.

For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton's lead has shrunk from 11 points to just three, 41% to 38%, as Barack Obama has picked up the bulk of supporters of John Edwards, who has dropped out of the race.

Both leads are within the poll's margin of error, and the poll found a substantial 13 percent undecided for each of the contests.

2/5/2008 2:38:06 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [1] |  

Sorry for the light blogging in these action-filled days. I'll try to make up for it tomorrow. Meanwhile, some quick thoughts and observations:

--Obama is closing fast everywhere, and it's now possible to think that he could win not only Massachusetts but Connecticut, New Jersey, and/or California tomorrow. Even if he loses them all, he should do well enough to not get pounded in the delegate count. Onward to Washington; to Maryland and Virginia; to Texas, Ohio and even Little Rhody!

--NBC/National Journal report that Mitt Romney is planning to fly commercial to DC for CPAC Wednesday. You've got to be kidding. He's been charter-jetting for a year. His campaign spent, by my count, more than $750,000 in the last three months of '07 just on chartered jets. Now he's going commercial? Should we be taking this as a sign?

--Speaking of Romney's finances, my initial review finds that just about half of the $33.8m he spent in Q4 '07 went to media (ie ad buys). Roughly $4.2m went to payroll and payroll expenses; $3.6m to direct-mail printing and postage; $3.2m to consultants and pollsters; around $2m on travel; close to $1m on events (staging, facility rental, catering), $700k on web/computer expenses; over $400k on rent; $200k+ on phone expenses; $200k+ on promo merchandise; $180k on "message calls"; and the rest on various bank fees, supplies, and other random stuff.

--Rudy Giuliani, on the other hand, wisely paid $219,000 to his own company, Giuliani Security & Safety, for security services in Q4.

--Boston.com has a poll up asking whether yesterday was the worst loss in Boston sports history. Anyone who answers yes is clearly new to this town -- I know people who should still be on suicide watch over '86 Game 6, and let's not even get into Bucky.

--On Beacon Hill these days, it's ALL about whether you're with Obama or Clinton. (Or McCain/Romney, for the few remaining Rs.)

2/4/2008 6:38:04 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [0] |