f George W. Bush wins the White House, two Massachusetts political operatives who labored for the GOP presidential candidate in New England might be sitting very pretty.
Rob Gray, political director for Governor Paul Cellucci's 1998 campaign, earned accolades from the Austin crowd - particularly Bush campaign strategist Karl Rove - for his efforts in New Hampshire and Maine. Gray later spent a few tense weeks in Florida helping observe the recount. John Brockelman, executive director of the state party, did pretty much the same.
State GOP sources say both Gray and Brockelman now hover near the top of the list of potential political appointees to a Bush White House.
... and new runway for Logan
More local repercussions should Bush be declared the new president: Massport officials believe Logan Aiport will get a new runway like that. Word is FAA chief Jane Garvey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has harbored hopes of succeeding Rodney Slater as US Transportation secretary. Garvey has been obstructing the controversial new runway in an effort to appease key members of her party. But a Bush administration would be unlikely to promote her - so she'd have little to lose by finally greasing the wheels. Moreover, with the campaign help Cellucci offered Bush, the Republican standard bearer could feel obliged to reciprocate by pushing to get the runway approved.
Marini borrows Anderson's idea on allowing tax-rollback checkoffs
House Minority Leader Fran Marini found Barbara Anderson's tax cut rollback irresistibly impish - so he appropriated it as his own. Anderson, the state's tax-cut tigress, believes opponents of the state's new $1.2 billion tax cut should put their money where their mouths are. In a bill that stands no chance of making its way through the Democratic Legislature, Anderson offered foes of Question 4 the chance to right the wrong, at least on their own income taxes.
The puckish legislation calls for a checkbox on state tax returns that would let residents volunteer to pay the pre-rollback rate of 5.85 percent. Marini, from Hanson, was so tickled he put his own name on the bill, and attracted so many cosponsors that there wasn't any room left for Anderson, the irrepressible executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, to sign on the first page. Then Marini pushed a press release touting ''his'' legislation, even while the Senate version of the bill, filed by Senator JoAnn Sprague of Walpole, listed CLT first among the sponsors.
A spokesman for Marini said the minority leader doesn't claim credit for the idea, even though it offered no acknowledgment in the press release. ''We don't deny it is Citizens for Limited Taxation's idea,'' said Darren Johnson.
Senator asked to explain Fla. vote
State Senator Stan Rosenberg, assistant majority leader and an expert on election law, was invited to the Dominican Republic to speak before a group of Latin American leaders on the democratic process. But instead of lecturing, the Amherst Democrat found himself being grilled by skeptical political figures - ranging from presidents to legislators to party leaders - who wondered whether the endless Florida recount was actually demonstrative of democracy at work.
City Council hopes to make point on employee wages and housing
Driven to distraction by their insurgent (and ever-postponed) effort to weigh in against the mayor's new Fenway Park plan, the City Council still hasn't approved the mayor's offer of $13 million from the sale of surplus properties for use toward affordable housing initiatives citywide.
Instead, the councilors on Tuesday hope to strongarm the mayor into using the money to help ease the financial burdens of city employees who are required to live within Boston's pricey boundaries. Councilor Maura Hennigan(Jamaica Plain) wants the city to link up landlords with city employees. Any grandstanding on the council's part is sure to please guilds like the Service Employees International Union in the Department of Neighborhood Development - the agency that runs housing programs, and whose contract remains in doubt. They may cite the City Council hearing to make a loud point about city wages not keeping pace with Boston's inflated housing market.
Murphy remark about Kelly misfires
Councilor at Large Stephen J. Murphy baffled some last weekend at the mayor's South Boston trolley tour by joking to the crowd: '' Jim Kelly wanted me to wish you a happy Kwanzaa.'' Kelly, a former antibusing leader in Southie, is known for defending whites' rights against affirmative action, not for celebrating the African-inspired holiday. Murphy said he was just offering holiday wishes, but some in the crowd found his tone mocking - including one of his upcoming challengers for an at-large seat, longtime activist Felix Arroyo Sr., whose son complained to the mayor about the comment. Murphy has tried to regain ground with Southie voters since he told Kelly that he was threatening his council presidency over a waterfront battle with the mayor and began hearing flak from constituents.
They'll work on New Year's Day to choose a council president
City councilors will be ringing in this New Year with a bang - of the gavel. At 10 a.m. on New Year's Day, the council will convene to elect its next president, an ugly byproduct of the calendar. The city's inflexible charter calls for the annual vote to be held on the first Monday of each year. Every eighth year, the council celebrates this way, a special irony given that the body happily cancels its weekly Wednesday meeting if a holiday falls on any other day of a given week. Still, for many council members, this New Year's meeting could be livelier than the night before since several members harbor ambitions of unseating Kelly as council president.
Globe reporters Frank Phillips, Tina Cassidy, Stephanie Ebbert and correspondent Regina Montague contributed to this report.
