A tone-deaf choice for Patrick

AFTER MORE THAN two years in office, Governor Patrick can still be surprisingly tone-deaf. The man who pledged to change the way business is done on Beacon Hill has shocked even some supporters by engineering the impending appointment of state Senator Marian Walsh, an early backer of his, to a $175,000-a-year job as assistant director of the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority (HEFA).

Granted, the new post won't increase Walsh's state pension. And HEFA board chairman Allen Larson notes that the state neither guarantees the authority's bonds nor funds its budget, which is financed through a fee on bond transactions.

But HEFA, which was created by the Legislature, is still a public agency. So the notion that its monies really aren't public dollars - and, by implication, that people shouldn't care how they are spent - is bogus. Indeed, the Patrick administration has essentially rejected that argument by pushing a budget rider to prevent state authorities from hiring outside lobbyists, even if they aren't paid with tax dollars.

Walsh says the administration recruited her. Larson says HEFA needs someone with her grasp of state government as the authority tries to do more. "Is she the best person in the world? That is for others to decide," he said. "But . . . she is very responsive to the skill set we wanted to add to our mix."

Here's the bottom line, however: The assistant director's post has been empty for 12 years, so it's hardly integral to the authority's operation. Making it a highly paid patronage plum for a gubernatorial ally can't help but raise public hackles - especially when Patrick is talking tax increases amid a major recession.

Patrick, Larson, and the HEFA board should rethink this unfortunate decision.