Here is a small update from the land of Ted Kennedy on how their HNIC has been doing.

Deval Patrick, nigovernor of MASSAchusetts

Inauguration

Breaking with the tradition of being inaugurated in the House Chamber of the Massachusetts State House, Deval Patrick and Tim Murray took the oath of office, and Patrick delivered his inaugural address, outdoors on the West Portico of the State House facing Boston Common. This allowed a larger part of the public to witness and take part first hand in the event, and was intended to signal more open, transparent, and accessible government. The governor-elect was facing the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, just across Beacon Street, a memorial to the first African American regiment in the U.S. Civil War. He took his oath of office on the Mendi Bible, which was given to then-Congressman John Quincy Adams by the freed slaves from the ship La Amistad. (How convenient. Using the excuse of allowing a larger part of the public to witness his inauguration, he just "happens" to be facing a memorial to the state's nigger regiment. Also, he has a bible from a slave ship that is famous for successfully mutinying. Just dandy, huh, White man?)

A series of regional inaugural balls, seven in all, were held to bring the inauguration to the citizens of the commonwealth. These celebrations took place on Cape Cod, in Worcester, Dartmouth, Pittsfield, and Boston.

Controversies

In the early months of Patrick's administration a series of decisions the governor later conceded as missteps have brought substantial unfavorable press. These include spending almost $11,000 on drapery for the governor's state house suite, changing the state's customary car lease from a Crown Victoria to a Cadillac:krofl, and hiring a staff assistant (who had previously helped chair his election campaign) for the Commonwealth's first lady at an annual salary of almost $75,000. Emerging from a weekend of working on the state's budget and calling for cuts in services to taxpayers, Patrick responded in a February 20, 2007 press conference that "I realize I cannot in good conscience ask the agencies to make those choices without being willing to make them myself," Patrick subsequently reimbursed the Commonwealth for the cost of the drapery and furniture purchased for the state house, and the additional monthly difference in his car lease. First Lady Diane Patrick's staff assistant, Amy Gorin, resigned. Later in the same month Patrick again came under fire, this time for contacting Citigroup Executive Committee chair, and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin on behalf of the financially beleaguered mortgage company Ameriquest, a subsidiary of ACC Capital Holdings of which Patrick is a former board member. Both Citigroup and ACC Capital Holdings have substantial holdings in Massachusetts. Patrick attempted to deflect criticism claiming he was calling not as governor but as a private citizen. Later Patrick backed down, stating "I appreciate that I should not have made the call. I regret the mistake."

Patrick's Sep. 11 memorial service speech in 2007 caused a controversy as well. Among other things, he said "It was a mean and nasty and bitter attack on the United States. But it was also about the failure of human beings to understand each other and to learn to love each other. It seems to me that lesson at that morning is something that we must carry with us every day." This was criticized by several newspapers as well as some relatives of the victims. Jim Ogonowski, a brother of the 9/11 victim and a congressional candidate called the comments "completely inappropriate."

During the election, Patrick's membership in the historically elitist Fly Club drew the sincerity of his progressive and populist political mantra into question. Patrick claims to have left the club in 1983, when he realized the discrepancy. Still, the criticism he drew could be compared to that of his Democratic colleague, Ted Kennedy, for membership in another final club while at Harvard.

It really don't sound like da bro is doin' too well, do it?;)