January 23, 2013
Three little words signal the difference between the local dailies today in their coverage of the new Suffolk County sheriff.
Boston Globe:
Aide named to replace Cabral as sheriff
Tompkins began inmates program
Governor Deval Patrick appointed a former aide to Andrea J. Cabral to succeed her as Suffolk County sheriff on Tuesday, saying he was not concerned that Steven Tompkins could be seen as a political hire.
“By the way, it’s a political job, so the folks that are criticizing it as a political hire, tell them: they’re right,” Patrick told reporters shortly after administering the oath of office to Tompkins, who will serve until the 2014 general election.
Boston Herald:
Gov: You’re right, sheriff pick’s ‘political’
Gov. Deval Patrick unabashedly admitted the hiring of new Suffolk Sheriff Steve Tompkins — a career public relations man and former campaign adviser to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren with no law enforcement experience — was a “political hire.”
“It’s a political job,” the governor said with a smirk last night. “So the folks that are criticizing it as a political hire, tell them they’re right.”
With a smirk. How very Herald.
Also very Herald: Howie Carr’s column on who got screwed in the deal (Boston City Council President Steve Murphy) and why (“Andrea Cabral hates Murphy. He ran against her once” and “Mumbles Menino hates ex-city councilor Michael ‘Flats’ Flaherty,’ who would return to the City Council if Murphy exited).
How very Boston.
4 Comments | 
Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrea Cabral, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Deval Patrick, Michael Flaherty, Steve Murphy, Steven Tompkins, Suffolk sheriff, Tom Menino | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 22, 2013
(With apologies to Hubie and Bertie)
Both local dailies had items on Anna Burns (This Wife Is on Fire!) Welker’s Facebook flameout after the Pats and hubby Wes dropped the ball in Sunday’s AFC title tilt. Boston Herald’s Inside Track:
Wes Welker’s wife takes a page from Gisele Bundchen’s book
Gisele Bundchen hasn’t rung in yet, but our new favorite Patriot wife, Anna Burns Welker, got on Facebook yesterday and ripped Ray Lewis after the Pats fell to the heinous Baltimore Ravens in theAFC Championship game. “Proud of my husband and the Pats. By the way, if anyone is bored please go to Ray Lewis’ Wikipedia page. 6 kids, 4 wives. Acquitted for murder. Paid a family off. Yay. What a hall of fame player. A true role model.”
Boston Globe’s Names:
Wes Welker’s wife rants about Ray Lewis
Not everyone is thrilled that Baltimore is going to the Super Bowl. The day after Ravens QB Joe Flacco outplayed flaccid Pats QB Tom Brady, wide receiver Wes Welker’s wife, Anna Burns Welker , posted a nasty note about Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis on her Facebook page. “Proud of my husband and the Pats. By the way, if anyone is bored, please go to Ray Lewis’s Wikipedia page,” wrote the former Miss Hooters International. “6 kids 4 wives. Acquitted for murder. Paid a family off. Yay. What a hall of fame player! A true role model!” (Welker’s wife was referring to a January 2000 bar fight in which two men were stabbed to death. Lewis and two others were indicted for murder, but the charge against Lewis was dropped and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice.)
Nice touch, that Miss Hooters International thing. But only the Track Gals (without Megan!) had this:
At this juncture we feel it’s our duty to point out that Gi is in no danger of losing her hated nickname: Jinxele. Since the advent of The Bundchen Era, 12 has lost two Super Bowls, two AFC Championship games, one AFC divisional playoff game and one AFC wild card game. He’s missed a season with a wrecked knee and was walking in a cast right before Super Bowl XLII.
To be fair, the Globe did have the better Aly Raisman photo.
Herald:
Globe:
That’s fun!
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aly Raisman, Anna Burns Welker, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Gisele Bundchen, Hubie and Bertie, Jinxele, Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Zdeno Chara | Permalink
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January 21, 2013
The cover story in the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine features sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy’s promo for his new book on former Red Sox manager Terry Francona.
Set the record straight?
Maybe not so much.
From Shaughnessy’s piece:
Our writing process was simple and structured. Terry and I would meet, usually in a hotel coffee shop or restaurant. I’d record a couple of hours of conversation, then disappear for a few weeks to write. When a chapter was finished, I’d e-mail it to Terry, and he’d call back with corrections, clarifications, and occasionally a deletion.
“Do we have to call Heathcliff Slocumb ‘useless’?” he’d say. “Let’s take that out.”
Gone.
“I know you don’t like Schill, but we’re not going to call him a blowhard in my book.”
Fine. Schill is not a blowhard. Not in this book, anyway.
And Shaughnessy was not a journalist. Not in this book, anyway.
Michael Silverman’s Baseball Notes column in the Sunday Boston Herald reinforced that point.
Tito: Book no hatchet job
Terry Francona did not set out to hurt anybody’s feelings when he co-wrote a book about his eight years with the Red Sox.
If the owners are not happy with their portrayal — and how could they be? — as being more concerned with image than substance and as not loving baseball as much as Francona, the former Sox manager owns up to that.
He felt he was being honest, after all. When he was fired or quit in October 2011, his own feelings were hurt. So, without any malice or forethought on his part, it sounds kind of natural to Francona that not everyone is going to be chuckling about how they are portrayed in the book.
Actually, no one but the owners will have anything to complain about. That’s because, according to Silverman, “[a]ny potentially touchy stories about players were vetted, via one-on-ones with Shaughnessy, so that nobody is surprised.” And Francona adds, “I checked with everybody — I didn’t use anything that I thought would make people mad.”
Anyone besides the hardreading staff mad about that?
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Herald, Boston Red Sox, Dan Shaughnessy, Michael Silverman, steno, Terry Francona | Permalink
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January 20, 2013
Now that Lt. Gov. Tim Murray (D-Pressed) has made his high-speed exit from the 2014 Massachusetts gubernatorial race, rampant speculation about who might emerge as alternatives has officially begun.
As is only fitting, the Great Mentioner stopped by both local dailies in Murray’s wake, with – wait for it ! – decidedly different results.
From Joe Battenfeld’s Saturday Boston Herald column:
Here’s one scenario: Joe Kennedy, the father. Sources say the former congressman may not have completely shaken off the political bug. One Democratic source said there has been increasing chatter about Kennedy mulling getting back into politics. But there is even more buzz that his son, newly elected U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III, could be a gubernatorial prospect.
While the elder Kennedy and many other Democrats say he’s happy living in the private sector, he — or his son — could always come in as the Democratic shining knight to keep the GOP from taking over the Corner Office.
Another Herald piece adds this:
As Murray bows out, race for gov is on
Lt. Gov. Tim Murray’s stunning decision yesterday to bow out of the 2014 gubernatorial race shook up the Bay State’s political landscape — likely nudging potential candidates for the Corner Office closer toward a run.
State Treasurer Steve Grossman has made his intentions about a likely run clear, but candidates such as Attorney General Martha Coakley and U.S. Rep. Michael E. Capuano could also decide to take the plunge.
“The race now is wide open,” said Democratic consultant Mary Anne Marsh. “Steve Grossman becomes the front-runner as of today, and you’ve got to think Martha Coakley is looking a lot more closely at it.”
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, there was this:
In addition to [State Treasurer Steve] Grossman, potential Democratic candidates include Donald M. Berwick, a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and State Senator Dan Wolf, the founder of Cape Air.
Murray’s exit could also clear the way for US Representative Michael E. Capuano, an urban liberal who would draw some of the same supporters as Murray. Capuano, a former Somerville mayor, said this week he will not run for Senate.
His spokeswoman, Alison Mills, said Capuano “has already received a great deal of encouragement and will consider other opportunities at the appropriate time.”
Charles D. Baker, a Republican who ran for governor in 2010, is considering another run as well.
Donald Berwick?
Dan Wolf?
But no Martha Coakley?
Seems like the Great Mentioner had an off-day at the Globe.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Charles D. Baker, Dan Wolf, Donald Berwick, Martha Coakley, Michael Capuano, Russell Baker, Steve Grossman, The Great Mentioner, Tim Murray | Permalink
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January 18, 2013
The feisty local tabloid continues its anti-tax jihad today from the very first page (via The Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages):
Inside the Herald puts a price tag on the tax hikes proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick (D-One Foot Out the Door) :
At upper right Howie Carr delivers yet another bulk-mail screed, while Michael Graham, Julie Mehegan, the editors, and cartoonist Jerry Holbert have a whirl on the opinion pages.
Flood the zone? This is more like Katrina.
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, meanwhile, the “moonbat gazette” (Carr) also front-pages the tax hikes (via ditto):
It may be true, as Carr alleges, that the Globe never met a tax hike it didn’t like, but at least the paper provides the details instead of just moaning.
Weep your heart out, Howie.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Deval Patrick, Howie Carr, Jerry Holbert, Julie Mehegan, Michael Graham, tax hikes, The Newseum, Today's front Pages | Permalink
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January 17, 2013
Not-quite-matching her & her columns in the local papers on the topic of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and her (over?)zealous prosecution of Aaron Swartz.
Start with Margery Eagan’s column in the Boston Herald:
Outrage over zealous feds
Statement too little, too late
Just days ago, speculation was rampant. Gov. Carmen Ortiz? U.S. Sen. Carmen Ortiz?
Well, that’s all over now.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz is done. Finished. Forever linked to bringing the full and frightening weight of the federal government down upon a 26-year-old computer genius — and a suicide risk.
If that’s not tough enough for you, how about this, regarding the six month/guilty plea deal Swartz was offered :
“Oh, so you’re innocent. Do only six months in jail,” said a sarcastic Harvey Silverglate, Boston civil liberties
attorney and author of “Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent.” He accused Ortiz’s office of being “drunk with power” and said up to now the media had “protected” Ortiz
because “she’s a Hispanic woman.”
Ouch.
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, the view was quite different in Joan Vennochi’s op-ed piece.
Swartz case is sad, but not an overreach
WHEN IT comes to the prosecution of Aaron Swartz, the 26-year-old computer prodigy who killed himself, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz has explaining to do.
But there are also questions for Swartz’s lawyer, Elliot Peters.
Why reject the government’s offer of a four-to-six month prison sentence? That’s much less than the 35 years and $1 million fine allowed under the federal law that Swartz was charged with violating.
Peters told the Globe that Swartz didn’t believe he was a felon; he was acting on the principle that information on the Internet should be free when he downloaded academic journals from an MIT computer system. But defending principle was not his lawyer’s job. It was to provide Swartz with the best legal advice, given the charges and the government’s refusal to back down.
Vennochi says “the widespread revulsion directed at the US attorney’s office is overreach by cyber-bullies.”
So take your pick – did Oriz bully Swartz or are Internet thugs bullying her?
Or both?
8 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Swartz, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Carmen Ortiz, Joan Vennochi, JSTOR, Margery Eagan, MIT | Permalink
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January 17, 2013
From our Whiskey Tango Foxtrot desk
The recently ended NHL lockout was like the Iran-Iraq war – you wished somehow both sides could lose. And in a way they both did, so that’s a good thing.
Now comes the task of winning back NHL fans, who by and large are far too tolerant. Regardless, the NHL poobahs ran this ad in today’s Boston Globe.
The odd thing is, the ad did not run in today’s Boston Herald. Does that make any sense at all? The hardreading staff could be wrong here, but isn’t the Herald readership a more natural audience for this hockey rehab effort?
Even more headscratching, this ad did run in the feisty local tabloid today:
What the-?? NHL, no – Clive Owen, yes?
Makes about as much sense as the lockout did.
5 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Clive Owen, lockout, NHL, Three Olives | Permalink
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January 16, 2013
The front pages of today’s local dailies almost – but don’t quite – say it all in their coverage of a looming tax hike in Massachusetts.
The Boston Globe’s Page One (via the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages) appears measured and slightly left of center, as usual:
The report itself is equally straightforward:
Patrick favors income tax hike
Broad-based levy vital to transit, education plans
Governor Deval Patrick is set to propose an increase in the state income tax as part of a multi pronged plan to raise new revenue for transportation and education, said a person with direct knowledge of the governor’s plan.
Patrick is expected to unveil the plan, at least in part, in his annual State of the Commonwealth speech Wednesday night. Many in and around state government said he is targeting the income tax because it is the only tax that would bring in enough money to fund his ambitious transportation and education agendas.
Those proposals, which he began rolling out this week, call for $1.5 billion in additional spending next year and $2 billion in annual spending in future years to shore up the state’s transportation system and expand early education programs.
Boosting the income tax from the current rate of 5.25 percent to 5.66 percent would raise $1 billion annually, according to a menu of revenue options the Patrick administration released Monday. The remainder of Patrick’s proposals could be funded through other fees or taxes.
The Boston Herald’s Page One (via ditto) is something else entirely:
The coverage itself is equally hyperventilating.
As indicated above, there are three – count ’em, three – columnists on the case, starting with Joe Battenfeld and Howie Carr in this double-barreled spread:
Cut to Michael Graham’s piece on the op-ed page to complete the chinstroker trifecta.
But wait – there’s also this editorial and this editorial cartoon:
Before you say anything, that’s exactly how that cartoon appears on the feisty local tabloid’s website.
Just like the Herald, eh? Never the full picture.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Deval Patrick, Howie Carr, Jerry Holbert, Joe Battenfeld, Michael Graham, Taxachusetts, The Newseum, Today's front Pages | Permalink
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January 15, 2013
So there was Sen. John Kerry (D-Am I Secretary of State Yet?) at Gillette Stadium rubbing elbows in the owner’s box with Robert Kraft and, presumably, girlfriend Ricki Noel Landed – sorry, Lander – and rubbing etc. on the field with Bill Belichick.
Clearly this called for some scrutiny by the local dailies and, true to form, they dug right in.
The Boston Globe’s Glen Johnson went this way (web only):
Staff says John Kerry paid fair market value for tickets in Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s suite
The CBS Sports cameras made their traditional game-day pan of the owner’s box at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, catching not just Robert Kraft but also one of his highly recognizable guests: Senator John Kerry.
That prompted instant questions about how Kerry ended up in such rarified air, and whether the secretary of state-to-be paid his fair share to attend.
His staff insists he did.
To the tune of a whopping $191 – “what the team determined to be fair market value .”
Uh-huh.
Meanwhile, the Boston Herald’s Track Gals (without Megan!) went this way:
Readers real sports about John Kerry’s Bill blitz
So you think you’re pret-tay, pret-tay funny, don’t you?
Our request yesterday for an amusing caption for this photo of Sen.John Kerry bear-hugging Patriots coach Bill Belichick on the sidelines before the AFC semifinal at Gillette Stadium was met with a few funnies.
We’re partial to one sent in via Twitter by political strategist
@Jake1839, who imagined the secretary of state-in-waiting whispering into BB’s ear, “I’m gonna need defense advice when I get to Washington.”
Ha!
As we said, true to form.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Bill Belichick, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Glen Johnson, New England Patriots, Ricki Noel Lander, Robert Kraft, Track Gals (without Megan!) | Permalink
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January 14, 2013
The hardreading staff yields to no man in its respect for the journalism at the Boston Globe. But this Sunday’s edition struck us as a bit odd.
Page One, via the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages:
The Medicare windfall piece? Excellent.
Then there’s the Camp Menino feature, which reads like a really long press release from City Hall.
Not to mention this OCD graphic of Tom Menino’s rehab floor plan at the city-financed Parkman House:
Next up: This takedown of New England Law dean John F. O’Brien, which reads like a really long hit from . . . who knows?
Not too mention this drive-by graphic:
And the icing on the cake: This advertorial for Geoff Edgers’ reality show, Edge of America, which occupied page one of the Sunday Globe Arts section:
How I went from newspaper reporter to host of a TV show
I am standing in the alligator pit. This is not a euphemism. About 10 feet away, a dozen gators slowly swirl around an ankle-deep pool of swamp water. My job: Walk in, haul one of these critters onto a patch of sand, and tackle him before he flips me into the famed “death roll.”
At times like these, I have flashes of my real life — Boston Globe arts reporter, husband, father of two — and I consider the absurdity of the moment. I’ve wrestled with some elusive sources over the years, but never one who could bite my arms off.
What follows is essentially an infomercial for the show Edgers has produced.
The headscratching staff says:
Huh?
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Camp Menino, Edge of America, Geoff Edgers, John F. O'Brien, Massachusetts, Medicare windfall, New England Law, Parkman House, The Newseum, Today's front Pages, Tom Menino, Travel Channel | Permalink
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 