Critics tag Patrick's corporate role
Group seeks to tie candidate to abuses
Gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick's strong grip on the liberal wing of the Democratic Party faces a test this week from a national labor group that is targeting his role as chief legal counsel at
The New York-based Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, a group of labor activists that seeks to expose Coke's alleged misdeeds around the world, is launching a campaign to portray Patrick as a greedy corporate executive who has become a multimillionaire defending the two companies. The portrait that Killer Coke paints contrasts sharply with the image Patrick has projected over the last 18 months as he has wooed influential liberal activists to his candidacy.
``Deval Patrick, at his position at Coke and Texaco, was the highest legal authority, where he advocated policies that have done great damage and hardship in communities around the world," Killer Coke director Ray Rogers said in an interview last week. It remains unclear whether the campaign will gain much traction, and late last week Rogers was still recruiting volunteers.
But the effort points to the kind of attack that Patrick, who led in the latest poll in the Democratic gubernatorial contest, will face as the election heats up and his career in corporate America draws intense examination. The outcome of the primary may depend on whether Patrick has the agility to defuse the attacks and maintain his standing with the base of followers who have catapulted him from political obscurity to a leading contender for governor.
Killer Coke has printed up 30,000 fliers for the effort highlighting Patrick's ties to Coca Cola, Texaco, and Ameriquest Mortgage, where Patrick served on the board of directors. The literature briefly describes the controversial cases he handled as chief legal counsel at Texaco and Coke, and his role at Ameriquest, which was accused of predatory lending practices.
In an interview, Patrick argued that he took his progressive values into the corporations where he worked, and implemented significant changes, such as reforming lending practices at Ameriquest, pushing Texaco to quit an industry advocacy group that was trying to undercut global warming theories, and pushing Coke to investigate human rights abuses at its Colombian bottling plants.
``I am not running as something I am not," Patrick said. ``I am a person who believes that economic expansion and social justice go hand in hand . . . people have to figure whether they want to call me a liberal looney or a corporate devil."
He also seemed resigned to the fact that his primary opponents, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and Chris Gabrieli, may take aim at his corporate record .
``I expected all along there would be attempts to exaggerate the bad and diminish the good; that is how it works," Patrick said.
US Representative Barney Frank, a Newton Democrat who has endorsed Patrick, said that he is comfortable with Patrick's experience in the corporate world. He said that, while Patrick's corporate work is controversial to some, it is an important credential that allows liberals to show voters they are sympathetic to business interests. He said anyone who has any kind of record, in private or public life, is not perfect.
``The only time in my life that I got to vote for a perfect candidate was when I ran the first time," Frank said. ``By the time I ran for reelection it wasn't true anymore because there were a couple things on my record that I had to do that weren't perfect. "
George Bachrach, a former state senator with strong liberal credentials who is supporting Patrick, said that he and other progressives are satisfied that Patrick was effective working inside the corporate world to bring reforms.
``Everyone who supports Deval know he lives in the real world and has had to make hard choices," Bachrach said. ``But the overwhelming number of choices he has made have been in support of the public good, civil rights, and human rights."
As of the weekend, Rogers was still organizing a kickoff event for this week and recruiting volunteers to leaflet and demonstrate at Patrick appearances.
Some Democrats, including state party chairman Philip W. Johnston, think the move by Killer Coke could actually help Patrick by softening his liberal image. ``This may well help Deval Patrick by making him appear more independent and moderate," he said.
While the Killer Coke attack marks the first assault on Patrick's corporate record, his campaign aides say they are preparing for an onslaught of negative ads as the Sept. 19 primary nears. With Reilly and Gabrieli expecting to significantly outspend Patrick on advertising, the Patrick campaign is preparing to blunt any attacks. Just last week as the Globe pressed them on his corporate background, his aides quickly provided a long list of labor leaders, social activists, and environmentalists to defend his record.
In his business career, Patrick has been involved in high-profile and controversial issues:
As general counsel and executive vice-president, Patrick was at the helm of Coca-Cola's legal team, which defused charges of human rights abuse stemming from killings by paramilitary forces of labor organizers at a Coke-franchised bottling plant in Colombia. Coke insists its own investigation and another by the Colombian government found the company was not involved. Patrick also was chief legal officer when Coke ran into problems in India, where a Coca-Cola plant had polluted the drinking water supply for a community.
When he arrived at Texaco, Patrick inherited the oil giant's defense against a lawsuit brought on behalf of 30,000
His service on the board of Ameriquest, which paid him $360,000 a year in director fees for attending a half-dozen meetings, has already drawn fire. Ameriquest has repeatedly been accused of predatory lending that exploited the elderly, the poor, and minorities. Early this year Ameriquest agreed to a $325 million nationwide settlement. Patrick left the board July 1.
Frank Phillips can be reached at phillips@globe.com. 
