POLITICAL CAPITAL

Gore Proves He's A Stand-Up Guy

Globe Staff, April 4, 1999

For anyone who ever complained that Vice President Al Gore is dull, stilted, and boring, they should have seen him loosen up before the annual Grover Cleveland dinner in North Conway last weekend.

Alison King, a reporter for New England Cable News, had just finished interviewing Gore about his presidential prospects. And then she decided to ask a little favor -- a happy 70th birthday wish for her father, Jackson King.

Gore did that and more.

He grabbed the microphone and began interviewing King:

"Tell me about your dad, has he been a good dad?" he asked. The answer, of course, was yes.

Then Gore asked what Jackson King's favorite meal is. The answer: steak.

"Will you serve it on his birthday?" he inquired. Yes, said King.

Gore, a former journalist, continued to press for more information. What kind of cake will you serve? he asked. King said her father would be getting chocolate cake.

A loose and relaxed Gore turned to the camera. "Jackson, there you have it. Live from Carroll County, New Hampshire, a preview of your birthday," he said in a deep, mock television voice.

"That was awesome," said King.

Another former City Hall official finds a comfy home in real estate

Rack up another ex-official from City Hall who's gone into the lucrative building and real estate consulting business. Former City Council president Joseph Tierney has joined R.F. Walsh Co., run by former Boston Redevelopment Authority director Robert F. Walsh. The company is readying the Red Sox announcement of a new stadium next to Fenway Park, and city councilors are being courted; their approval will be needed for any street reconfigurations in the area. Tierney follows in the footsteps of dozens of others who have parlayed their City Hall experience into well-paying jobs shepherding real estate deals. Among those who've done just that: former chief of staff David Passafaro, former Menino aide Joseph Fisher, and former city councilors Larry DiCara, Mike McCormack, Terry McDermott and Diane Modica.

Federal prosecutor to step down to take post in private practice

Assistant US Attorney Brien T. O'Connor, head of the public corruption and special prosecutions unit for the federal prosecutor's office in Massachusetts, is stepping down to enter private practice at the end of the month.

A federal prosecutor for 10 years and head of the nine-person unit that pursues allegations of public corruption for the last 2 1/2 years, O'Connor is joining the Boston firm Ropes & Gray.

Among the cases he successfully prosecuted during his tenure were Nicholas Rizzo for abuses in fund-raising for Paul Tsongas's 1992 presidential campaign, municipal bond financier Mark Ferber for maintaining a $1 million-a-year, confidential contract with Merrill Lynch & Co. at the same time he was helping the giant underwriter secure business from public agencies he was advising, and State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a Democrat from Roxbury, for failing to pay federal income taxes from 1991 to 1994. US Attorney Donald K. Stern has yet to choose a successor for O'Connor.

Cablevision plan gets panned

Councilor at large Steve Murphy, seeking to block Cablevision from reducing the number of public access channels in Boston from three to two, settled comfortably into the role of TV critic last week, bemoaning the lack of community-based programming on the public access channels that exist today.

"It's all mayor, all the time," said Murphy, referring to the round-the-clock tapings of various appearances by Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "I must have seen the State of the City address 50 times. I turn on the TV now to go to sleep."

Menino has his own videotaping crew that follows him around, and Cablevision allows the moments in Menino administration history to be played over and over on channels like A-22. Not that Cablevision needs much convincing to give his honor air time. No one wants anything bad to happen with Cablevision's lucrative agreement with City Hall to operate in Boston, and it just so happens that top political strategist, Ed Jesser, is a hired gun for Cablevision as well.

Governor's clout has its limits

So why, you're wondering, did Governor Cellucci have his heart procedure done at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester? It was not because of his central-Massachusetts orientation. Fallon is his health insurer. And he had no choice.

Voters willing, a familiar name may be returning to State House

Another Atkins is poised to run for office. Corey Atkins, wife of former Democratic US Representative Chester Atkins, has decided to run for the state representative seat that Pam Resor, a Democrat from Acton, will vacate if she wins the special election for state Senate. Atkins has already cleared the field to be the only Concord candidate in the race for the seat that also represents Acton and Boxborough. Atkins' husband, the former state party chairman, began his political career in 1970 when, as a 22-year-old, he captured the House seat.