NYT, pg1: Early Dazzle, Then Tough Path for Massachusetts Governor Patrick

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Early Dazzle, Then Tough Path for a Governor
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: March 27, 2008


(Rick Friedman/NYT)
Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, is working with a Democratic Legislature but has been at odds with Salvatore DiMasi, the speaker of the House, and suffered a nasty defeat on a casino plan.

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick has lately addressed doting crowds around the country as a surrogate for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, his friend and fellow gifted orator. Last month, Mr. Obama even acknowledged borrowing language from Mr. Patrick’s stump speeches, casting a flattering light on a novice politician barely known outside Massachusetts. But there is no such glow at home for Mr. Patrick, the first Democrat to lead his state in 16 years and the nation’s second elected black governor.

Mr. Patrick, who easily won office in 2006 after dazzling voters with a message of hope and change, suffered a nasty defeat last week at the hands of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which quashed his proposal to increase revenues by allowing three resort casinos in the state. None of the governor’s major policy proposals have cleared the Legislature, in fact, and he and Salvatore DiMasi, the speaker of the House, have taken to trading barbs publicly.

Mr. Patrick is faring better than a year ago, when he was under siege for spending more than $10,000 on drapes for his State House office and upgrading his state car from a Ford Crown Victoria to a Cadillac. (He later agreed to reimburse the state for the drapes and part of the car lease.) By his third month in office, Mr. Patrick had announced that his wife was being treated for depression, and by his fourth, he had overhauled his staff.

But even now, governing is not coming easily for Mr. Patrick, 51, a former civil rights lawyer and corporate executive who came to Massachusetts on a prep school scholarship in the ’70s....

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“He’s got to score some major successes to prove he is relevant,” said Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. “One thing you don’t want to be is irrelevant, especially with the kind of appeal that he had as a candidate and is similar to that of Barack Obama.”...

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Mr. Patrick said he felt new momentum this year, partly because he has realized the importance of building support for his proposals inside the State House and out. “The other thing I would say is I have a better idea this year about who to trust and who not to,” he said. “And you better believe that’s helped.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/us/politics/27patrick.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all

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