Patrick nears decision on governor run
Ex-justice official gets family's OK
Deval Patrick edged closer to a run for governor yesterday, saying his family has given him the green light to plunge into the race as he continues to assemble a staff and campaign organization.
Patrick, a Democrat who headed the civil rights division of the Justice Department during the Clinton administration, said that ''not much" stands in the way of his getting into the race, but he wants to assure himself he is comfortable with the campaign structure he is working to put together.
''I don't want to be packaged into something that is someone else's view of what can win," Patrick told reporters after he delivered a speech to a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce group in Boston.
''I want to offer a defense of Democratic values, an advance of the idea of opportunity, equality, and fair play, and I want to play to the latent sense of civil engagement."
Patrick had originally vowed to make his decision by the end of March, but he has delayed that goal because his effort to hire a campaign manager is taking longer than expected.
Several weeks ago, he discussed the post with Doug Rubin, the top deputy to state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, but Rubin declined the offer because of an illness in his family, according to two Patrick strategists. Still, Rubin is expected to play a role as a consultant and later in the fall could be available to direct the campaign, the strategists said.
Patrick is viewed by many political veterans as a wild card in the Democratic race for governor. Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly has emerged as an early favorite among many party leaders and financial backers. Secretary of State William F. Galvin also has expressed interest in running.
Because Patrick has never run for office before, it is not clear how he would perform as a candidate and how the party's activists, special interest groups, and office holders would react to him.
Yesterday, Patrick confirmed that, after more than two months of traveling the state to test the waters, he has resolved two other issues in his decision-making: getting positive reaction and encouragement from voters and Democratic activists, and persuading his wife and two daughters to endure the rigors of public life.
Patrick said that during a vacation to Costa Rica last week, he made clear to his family members that they may face a rough-and-tumble campaign.
''The games that get played in old-style politics are sometimes mean and nasty," Patrick said after the chamber event. ''I think your kids . . . can't really prepare to see their dad as a subject of a negative ad until they see their dad as a subject of a negative ad."
If Patrick runs, he would be the first African-American to emerge as a major candidate for governor in Massachusetts. His candidacy would also force some of his friends who are active in politics to make difficult choices.
At a breakfast meeting in downtown Boston last month, two of the highest-profile Republican political figures in Massachusetts who are black -- former US attorney Wayne Budd and former Suffolk district attorney Ralph Martin -- told Patrick they were backing Reilly. Both are close friends of the attorney general.
Both Budd and Martin also indicated they would help Patrick if he ran for attorney general or lieutenant governor, according to a Patrick supporter who spoke to him after the meeting. Budd said there was no pressure by him or Martin to persuade Patrick to leave the race for governor. He also said Reilly had nothing to do with the meeting.
''Deval is an old friend of mine," Budd said. ''Someone asked me to come the meeting. Reilly had nothing to do with it. He wasn't even around the edges." Martin declined to talk about the details of the conversation.
Another major issue for Patrick is raising campaign funds. He worked as an executive at both Texaco and
He has said reports in the financial press about his stock options and severance packages have exaggerated his net worth.
But he has told political figures he can put at least a half-million dollars of his own money into the campaign.
He has already contributed $100,000 for his exploratory efforts, including renting a downtown Boston office and hiring several aides and consultants. But most analysts figure that Patrick, to be a serious candidate in the primary, must spend as much as $5 million. Raising that much is difficult because state law limits each contribution to $500 per person each year.
Meanwhile, Reilly, who has $2.2 million in campaign funds, is making an all-out push to demonstrate his dominance in the field with a fund-raising bash tomorrow.
His fund-raising team expects to raise more than $200,000 at an event this week. Galvin has more than $1.5 million in his political account.
