The triumphs, blunders of Deval Patrick

(Globe Staff Photo Illustration)

AFTER A tough couple of weeks, Doug Rubin, chief of staff for Deval Patrick, is determinedly pushing this message: Good things have occurred on his boss's watch - and more are coming.

Here's my question, however: what about the bad things that have just happened?

Like, say, the drubbing Patrick took on his casino legislation. Or his trip to New York City on the day the casino bill went down in flames, where, we later learned, he scored a megabucks book deal - one that has caused people to question his commitment to his day job.

Or sharply calling out House Speaker Sal DiMasi in a New York Times story, one that ended up appearing just as Beacon Hill Democrats were trying to put the casino battle behind them and demonstrate that they can work together on other issues.

All that has left some once-enthusiastic Patrick supporters dismayed.

"People are just shaking their heads and saying, 'What the hell?' " says one.

Rubin concedes it's been a difficult period.

"I think that we made a mistake," he says of the New York trip, though he refuses to divulge whether he advised Patrick against it. "We are going to make mistakes from time to time. We are not perfect."

As I see it, the issue isn't about making the occasional mistake, it's about not making such stupid mistakes.

"OK, I agree with you," Rubin says. "But since the first few months, this is the only one you can point to that is in that category, as you categorize it."

During his rocky early months, Patrick's blunders - the Cadillac, the drapes, the in-hopelessly-over-their-heads top staffers, the phone call to Citigroup on behalf of ACC Capital Holdings, the parent company of Ameriquest - were attributed to inexperience. I've since come to suspect that a certain self-absorption makes the governor dismissive of political niceties and disdainful of his critics.

That's why I also wonder this: Does Patrick himself, who last week said he had no regrets about the trip's timing, now think he made a mistake?

A second question: Does the governor, who with his wife has more than $5 million in mortgages, need the $1.35 million book deal to help meet his financial obligations? The public has a right to know more, which is why Patrick should release his income tax returns.

Although the book deal has triggered speculation Patrick will leave before his term ends, particularly if Barack Obama becomes president, Rubin denies that. "I am 100 percent certain that the governor will serve out his first term," the chief of staff says, adding that he expects Patrick to seek reelection.

One thrust of Rubin's damage-control effort reduces to this: In the time between Patrick's early blunders and this one, the administration had had a pretty good run. He cites defeating the proposed constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, instituting managed competition in automobile insurance, upping the film tax credit, establishing the Commonwealth Corps, reaching tentative agreement on the closing of some corporate tax loopholes, creating a state secretary of education, and streamlining the state's permitting process, among other things.

Gay marriage, certainly, was big, though DiMasi deserves as much credit there as Patrick. But the other items are either relatively minor matters or areas where the jury is out. For example, restructuring the education bureaucracy yet again is much less important than moving purposefully ahead with education reform - but there, the report of the governor's Readiness Project, long in preparation, is now not expected until May.

But let's grant Rubin this: the legislative pipeline does contain some significant items.

Prominent among them are the governor's smart, well-designed life sciences initiative, a measure developed in cooperation with DiMasi to promote clean and renewable energy and conservation, legislation to establish a first-in-the-nation ocean-management plan, and several noteworthy bond bills. So by year's end, the administration's record may well look better - if, that is, the governor can quit pulling the rug out from under himself.

Still, right now, if I were Harvard Pilgrim CEO Charlie Baker, acknowledged star of the Weld administration and an aspiring Republican gubernatorial candidate, I'd be watching Patrick and licking my chops.

Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.

• Searched
• E-Mailed