Why Was Barney So Worried?

Bay State weirdo Barney Frank sure is paranoid: all of those tacky TV ads proved pointless as the protest vote against him is only 28% and not expected to climb much higher.

The GOP didn’t even try to recruit a candidate to run against him; the one that appeared on the ballot was running without party support.

Frank has just wasted $500,000 in campaign funds that could have been used to help Dems in the next election cycle, one that will be likely be far less favorable to his party than tonight’s action.

Republicans need Barney: his bizarre antics play well in fundraising letters sent to other parts of the country.

NH = MA x 2

At what point can we safely declare New Hampshire to be more liberal than Massachusetts? Are we there yet, or will it take one more election cycle?

Yes On Question One Launches Email Campaign

The Yes On Question One campaign (elimination of state income tax) has launched a last-minute, person-to-person email campaign they hope you will utilize to counter the millions spent by public sector unions to defeat the measure.

Here’s their pitch:

Will you please take 4 minutes right now to get another 100,000 YES on 1 votes?

Be one of 5,000 people to do this free, simple, easy, effective thing.

Send a personalized email – using the message already written for you below – to urge your friends to vote Yes on Tuesday to END the Income Tax.

Please click “new” or “compose” to start a new email message in your

mail application.

In your email header’s subject line, put “A message from (your name)” – e.g., “A message from John.”

Copy the message below – starting just after COPY MESSAGE BELOW THESE DASHES STARTING WITH THE WORD “Hi”.

Then address the email to every Massachusetts person in your email

address book. All your Massachusetts family, friends, business

associates, and neighbors.

Blind copy (“bcc”) it to everyone (do not send “to” nor “cc”). This

protects their privacy and spares them from the possibility of a

bothersome email discussion.

We need you and your help. Please do this now.

Thanks.

Your friends,

Carla Howell & Michael Cloud

COPY MESSAGE BELOW THESE DASHES STARTING WITH THE WORD “HI’

———————————————————————-

Hi,

You matter to me. What’s best for you and your family is important to me. Will you please do me one small favor – so I can do you a big favor?

Will you please take 3 minutes to read my message below?

Thanks!

+++

On Election Day, you get to vote on Ballot Question 1, the first big tax cut in 28 years. Ballot Question 1 will cut your state income tax by 50% this January 1st. It will cut the last 50% of the state income tax next January 1st.

Elected politicians are against it. So are the Teachers Unions – who

spent over $5 million in ads and mailers to scare you into voting

against Ballot Question 1.

I’m on your side. I want you to decide what’s best for you, your family, your neighbors, and the 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers who are paying this tax.

Okay?

Why haven’t you been told these 9 huge benefits to your family and your neighbors from voting YES on Ballot Question 1?

1.You get back $3,700 each year from this tax cut – if you’re an average taxpayer. Every year. So do your neighbors, co-workers, and friends. So do the 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers.

2.The average Massachusetts worker is earning $2,000 less than 8 years ago, The average homeowner is paying over $2,000 more in property taxes than 8 years ago. $4,000 taken from your family. This year.

Next year. Every year.

Getting back $3,700 with this tax cut gives lets you “erase”

the $4,000 loss – and get back your family budget.

3. This will end the 5.3% additional income tax taken from your family when you sell your home. If a family bought a home for $200,000 ten years ago, pays $30,000 in property taxes on it during the 10 years, and sells it for $300,000 – they pay another $5,300 income tax on the home when they sell it. That’s right $5,300 income tax on the home’s increase in value. Yes on Question 1 will end this.

4. Save families from home foreclosures and bankruptcies. Getting back $3,700 a year average from this tax cut may well save thousands of working families who are barely making ends meet.

5. Massachusetts has the 5th heaviest city and state tax burden. Ballot Question 1 reduces and relieves your total tax burden – and your neighbors – and makes taxes more affordable. After we end the income tax, our total tax burden is still higher than New Hampshire’s.

6. Keeps our children and grandchildren in Massachusetts. When our children and grandchildren graduate, tens of thousands of them are driven out of state by our heavy tax burdens. Yes on 1 keeps our families together.

7. It will take $12.6 billion out of the hands of wasteful state government – and puts it back into the hands of the 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers who earned it.

8. Yes on 1 will create over 100,000 new jobs in Massachusetts.

9. Ending the state income tax will force the legislature to reduce and remove government waste, over-charges, massive overpayment for government retirement packages, patronage, sweetheart deals, and giveaways to special interests and lobbyists.

Will you do me a little favor?

Will you please vote YES on Ballot Question 1 on Tuesday?

Will you please vote YES for your family, co-workers, neighbors – and the 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers who desperately need this tax relief?

What’s my big favor to you? A better Massachusetts for your loved ones.

If you need more reasons to vote YES, please click here:

http://www.smallgovernmentact.org

Sleazy Talk Deal Means Felon Avoids Punishment

Despite the new felony conviction of a sleazy, unpopular former Democrat Party legislator, a key WRKO / Boston manager continues to dig in her heels on a dubious programming move, seemingly without regard for the damage it will do to the station.

Meanwhile, disgust over former Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran’s felony conviction yesterday continued to generate anger today, particularly over the light “punishment” received for his guilty plea on perjury charges.

Here’s a newspaper editorial (and another here) that sums up the situation perfectly:

Somewhere in the definition of arrogance lies a propensity for saying things even the speaker knows aren’t true, a tendency to intentionally overreach, even when it’s not necessary, to remind everyone else that you can get away with anything.

That may be the best explanation for why Tom Finneran lied on the witness stand in a civil suit challenging a legislative redistricting passed by the House in 2001. Even in a town that has produced such paragons of arrogance as Billy Bulger and John Silber, Finneran’s arrogance can be breathtaking.

Everyone knew Finneran’s fingerprints were all over the redistricting map; that’s how the redistricting process works. But, when called to testify about the action, he said he had no role whatsoever in designing the map in question.

That part of Finneran’s testimony was so unbelievable that the judge questioned it in a footnote in the opinion ruling the new districts violated the civil rights of minority voters in some Boston neighborhoods. That footnote inspired an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office and an indictment of the then-house speaker for perjury. The case was closed yesterday, with Finneran pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.

If not for WRKO’s interest, however, Finneran really would take a hit, as he is losing his pension, right to vote, carry a weapon or run for office. In addition, his plum job overseeing the state’s biotech council is now said to be on shaky ground.

As a result, it’s really WRKO’s Julie Kahn who is determined to ensure that Finneran escape punishment, as she’s standing at the ready with a pot of gold to reward a notorious Beacon Hill crony.

This is despite Finneran’s lack of talk radio experience, in fact, he’s yet to do a single show on the increasingly- troubled station. Nobody knows if Finneran could last a month without realizing just how difficult it is to host a daily drivetime talk show, much less be entertaining or compelling. Most former politicians fail in talk radio for this very reason.

As an insider with many fellow crooks to protect on Beacon Hill, Finneran is the opposite of what one would consider a potentially successful host to be. Instead of taking on corruption, he’ll be there to defend it, as a convicted felon himself.

For an example of what does work, look to WRKO’s Howie Carr, (seen in this photo) who has spent decades skewering the very people Finneran protects, with the ratings to back up his rhetoric. He spent most of yesterday’s show lambasting Finneran, with callers in full support of Carr’s position.

That’s why this deal, which would pay Finneran many times more than even experienced hosts could ever expect to make, appears dirty more than anything else. At the salary level on the table now, even the best potential ratings and revenue could never hope to make up for his high cost. Finneran may very well end up making more than Carr, which smacks of shady dealing in itself.

In addition, in a concession to his clear lack of attributes for hosting a daily morning drive show in a large market, Finneran will likely be paired with a co- host. That brings the overall cost into the stratosphere, up to Air America levels.

Beyond the sleazy Finneran deal, Kahn has been busy rearranging WRKO’s schedule to fit her own liberal political beliefs, rather than maintaining the conservative programming that has served the station very well for years. That’s despite the utter failure of libtalk in the Boston market.

One WRKO host even switched his previous on- air opposition to moonbat Governor Deval Patrick to a supportive stance, which probably saved his job, at least for the short run. However, the moment his views conflict with Kahn’s, even by accident, expect him to go as well.

Clearly, at no point is there any consideration of what would build an audience or an advertising base, it’s simply one of the nation’s worst radio managers forcing her own will upon a listenership that is already scrambling for alternatives.

Due to her clear lack of programming expertise, Kahn has yet to learn what will be a painful future lesson: you can’t force an audience to listen to what are your own personal tastes.

Julie, if you have any questions about this, simply contact the many former Air America executives who are now busy clogging unemployment lines in New York City.

UPDATE: Boston Globe now reports Finneran will likely lose the biotech position:

Thomas M. Finneran, the former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives who pleaded guilty yesterday to obstruction of justice, will likely lose his $416,000 a year job as president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council after its board of directors meets Monday to decide his future, according to a person familiar with the board’s discussions.

Finneran is hoping to keep his post as the state’s top biotechnology lobbyist despite pleading guilty to a felony, said another source who is close to him. Allies and legislators have been calling board members to express their support for Finneran.

But the guilty plea makes Finneran too much of a liability to keep as spokesman for an industry dealing with important regulatory and public-relations issues, said the source familiar with the board’s discussions. The 20-member panel, which includes executives from biotechnology and drug companies with offices in Massachusetts, is ultimately expected to ask Finneran to resign.

Finneran is in discussions with the radio station WRKO to host a talk show, a job he was hoping to take while keeping his biotech post, said a person close to the former speaker.

AMAZING: Finneran hopes to “phone in” the radio job while keeping the biotech position! Apparently he has no concept of prep time or what it might take to pull off an entertaining daily show. This is already shaping up to be a major disaster.

Con Job: Crooked Politician May Be Dumped On Talk Radio

Let’s get this straight: a tired, sleazy former Massachusetts Democrat legislative leader with a notorious “insider” reputation who just pled guilty to federal perjury charges (today!) is now ready to be forced upon an unwilling conservative talk radio audience. What gives?

That’s the sad outcome likely awaiting fans of Boston’s WRKO- AM, some of whom have been holding out hope that the station’s recent self- destructive kick could somehow be stopped before it is too late.

If former House of Representatives Speaker Tom Finneran is in fact hired to take over morning drive at the station, despite having no experience holding down a daily talk show, expect WRKO’s remaining listeners to take a hike. (See important disclosure note in the comments section)

How is talk radio compatible with a career hack who has spent his life protecting and promoting the very cronies the station has successfully taken on for decades? It’s like oil and water.

If WRKO’s interest in him seems bizarre, join the club. Beyond one stubborn manager’s insistence that the inexperienced and unproven former politician take a key morning drive slot, there is virtually no public call, much less a potential audience, for a Tom Finneran talk show.

Making the situation even more hard to comprehend is the fact that Finneran reportedly wants a substantial pay package, one which would likely top the $540,000 he currently receives as head of the Bay State’s Biotechnology Council.

That is at least five times what the current morning drive host, Scott Allen Miller, is thought to make and not even in the ballpark of rational industry norms for such a position.

How is an unproven non- talker in a position to ask for this kind of money? Beyond Air America, who would be crazy enough to give it to him?

Meanwhile, the biotech council is currently weighing whether to even keep Finneran in their employ, but a new Boston Globe story indicates that he may very well hang on after all.

The very public negotiations have been a source of embarrassment for WRKO, a once- proud megatalker that has been torn to shreds in the past several months by Julie Kahn, a station executive who lacks any real talk radio programming experience whatsoever.

But the weirder Kahn’s moves appear, the more she seems to dig in her heels, despite her lack of expertise. It’s a triumph of ego over ability.

In fact, WRKO’s rapid implosion has been so unusual and shocking to watch that it will be the subject of an upcoming Radio Equalizer follow- up report. While the station’s mess has been the talk of the industry for several months, the station’s parent company has yet to intervene. But that could change at any time.

In the meantime, when will radio managers learn they simply can’t force bad programming down the throats of their soon- to- be- former listeners? When they are finally forced into the unemployment lines?

Above all, simply because they have nowhere else to go, why should sleazy criminals from the world of politics be dumped onto the talk radio business? What have we done to deserve this destructive force?

UPDATE: Stubborn as a mule, Kahn still continues to press for Finneran, despite his lack of experience or known abilities in this arena. More on the plea deal here.

UPDATE: Finneran is now officially a convicted felon and there are conflicting newspaper reports on the fate of his biotech job:

Disgraced former House Speaker Tom Finneran pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice today avoiding jail but thrusting his job, pension and future career as an attorney all into jeopardy.

Finneran admitted his guilt – and apologized for it today – in federal court. The guilty plea means:

- He must serve 10 months of unsupervised probation.

- He loses his right to vote and carry a gun.

- He agreed to not run for political office for five years.

- He must pay a $25,000 fine, which his lawyer said he would pay today.

The deal will also require a referral to the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, which will disbar him, or at least suspend the longtime lawyer’s right to practice law, a source close to Finneran said.

The felony conviction also means Finneran will lose his $2,575-a-month state pension, which he earned through 26 years of public service. Under state law, a government employee’s pension can be cut off if he is convicted of a felony connected to his job. Finneran’s admission of guilt stems from misleading testimony he gave in a civil trial over the drawing up of legislative districts in 2001 while he was House speaker.

His $500,000-a-year lobbying job with the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council also appears in jeopardy. MBC officials declined comment last night, but sources said the board was caught by surprise and is not pleased with the outcome of the case. Finneran had long maintained his innocence and vowed to fight the charges when he stepped down as House speaker and took the MBC president’s job in 2004.

Finneran, who is expected to land a plum talk-show host gig, could continue lobbying since there are no state laws barring convicted felons from being registered lobbyists, officials said.

Finneran, holding back tears, told the federal judge today he is sorry for what he did.

‚ÄúI embarrassed myself. I shamed myself. I apologize to you … I apologize to my constituents and I apologize to the people of Massachusetts,‚Äù he said.

Boston Globe says the biotech council will wait until at least Monday to decide whether to fire him.

Meanwhile, WRKO’s Howie Carr and his callers are busy blasting Finneran on the air during Friday’s show.