Patrick ripped over hiring

But Deval has to raise our taxes to make up for our budget deficit. Maybe he should be a little more fiscally responsible and not give out $175,000/year jobs that aren't needed. At least someone is standing up to him and bashing him when he is wrong.

A member of the board that hired a state senator to fill a long-empty executive job ripped Gov. Deval Patrick and his colleagues for the appointment and said the state should not be spending $175,000 per year on a glorified lobbyist.

Marvin Gordon told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was on vacation in the Caribbean last week and had no notice that the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority was going to vote on hiring Sen. Marian Walsh, D-Boston.

The vote was not itemized on the board’s public agenda and came up at the end of the meeting, during a section described generically as the "Chairman’s Report." The hiring was approved unanimously.

Patrick has appointed or reappointed the majority of the seven-member board and has been roundly criticized for Walsh’s hiring — and $100,000 raise — while the state is facing a $1 billion budget deficit. In addition, Walsh was an early political supporter, and both the governor and Legislature have faced a public outcry over recent patronage appointments within state government.