The buzz behind the Gov's buzzcut

August 15, 2008 12:42 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

NECN made no mention of Governor Deval Patrick's new buzzcut in the story it aired after the press conference on Feb. 11.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

He entered the conference room, dapper in suit and tie, gripping and grinning as he walked. Eyebrows raised and heads turned that February day as people began to take note: the governor had shaved his head.

Governor Deval Patrick after his haircut

Call me petty for focusing on his follicles, but Deval's Dome struck me as interesting.

Perhaps he was making a political statement, going into his second year with a fresh approach to both his legislation and his locks. Maybe he lost a bet. It could have come as a request from his wife.

But these pressing questions would have to wait. The governor, after all, had an announcement to make. Joined by House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray, they wanted to reaffirm support for $1 billion life sciences legislation -- a topic that by that point had already been the subject of more than a dozen news stories (including one that ran on the Globe's front page that very day). They also noted that $12 million in research grants -- which had been announced four months earlier -- were now going out.

After numerous questions in public – about life sciences, about the presidential race, and about an administration official who had been accused of sexual assault – the governor walked toward the door, and I quietly approached to ask about the new 'do.

"It's great!" Patrick said with a laugh. "Low maintenance."

The Globe ran a 226-word article the next day about the haircut, but nothing about the press conference at a research facility near Massachusetts General Hospital on Feb. 11. (We weren’t the only ones who didn’t take note: Among the dozens of photos, videos, and speeches Patrick maintains on the state’s website, none mention this event in February. No press releases were sent out from his staff).

Yet as he has traveled the state this summer holding nearly a dozen "town hall meetings,” this incident has become stump fodder for the governor. Patrick, who has frequently chided the press, uses it to demonstrate why he needs a direct line to the people -- to avoid a media filter that would write about his haircut, but not his prepared remarks at a press conference.

And that tale appears to have gotten taller with each telling.

“Reporters only wanted to ask questions about his new haircut,” according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in a story that ran July 31.

“The governor's new haircut became the story — not the more significant and costly life science bill,” wrote the Berkshire Eagle on Aug. 6.

“The first question he got at a press conference was from a Boston Globe reporter who asked about his new haircut,” according to the Cape Cod Times on Aug. 12.

“We need a strong, active, independent media in order to have a strong democracy,” Patrick said in Hull on July 10. “But I also believe that you need a relationship with me, and you need to hear in unfiltered terms from me what we are doing … I’m not governing for sound bites and photo ops.”

At one point during the press conference in February, Patrick put his arms around Murray and DiMasi and said to the photographers, “Get a good shot. This is a preview of what you are going to see in a few days' time when this bill gets signed into law.”

The bill was signed into law 126 days later, on June 16.

Oh, and it’s safe to say no one has asked about his haircut at these town hall meetings.

In case you’re wondering, he’s grown it back.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com