# Patrick's calendar shows many empty days



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Nearly equivalent to 6-week vacation*








Governor Deval Patrick answered questions on budget cuts yesterday at Thayer Public Library in Braintree. (Globe Staff Photo / Matthew J. Lee)

By Brian C. Mooney

Globe Staff / May 12, 2009

As he often does when preparing to take time off, Governor Deval Patrick ended last Aug. 5, a Tuesday, heading west toward Sweet P Farm, his sprawling estate in the Berkshires, near the New York state line.

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After a busy day at the State House, he traveled 2 1/2 hours on the Massachusetts Turnpike to an early evening, town-hall-style meeting at the bandstand on Main Street in Great Barrington, two towns away from Richmond, site of the Patrick vacation manse.

For the next 28 days, however, Patrick maintained an extremely light schedule and did not set foot in the State House, according to his daily calendars.

That stretch includes many of the 60 weekdays when his daily calendar was empty during his first two years as governor, indicating that he had no official activities scheduled on those days, according to a Globe review of his schedule.

Patrick's staff points out that he is always on call and often makes official telephone calls or sends e-mails, even during his down time. Still, the vast majority of the blank weekdays on his calendar corresponded with the governor's known summer vacations in Richmond each year, which were described in press reports at the time or were clustered around holidays such as Christmas and long weekends.

The empty pages reflect the equivalent of almost six weeks of vacation or other days containing no official activities per year, a benefit beyond the reach of ordinary workers.

In addition, before releasing copies of his calendar to the Globe, his staff also deleted a variety of other activities that it said were "political and personal" and thus not duties that the governor is required to disclose.

Patrick's aides portrayed his Richmond home as almost an extension of his State House office and said his schedule is merely a rough sketch of all his activities. An example of official work performed on quiet days: He has signed 85 bills while staying at his Berkshires home, according to his staff.

Patrick's state salary is $140,535 a year. Massachusetts has no limit on the amount of time elected officials may take off. But previous governors have taken heat for absenteeism, William F. Weld for his many fishing vacations and Mitt Romney for spending all or part of 219 days out of state in 2006 while he was laying the groundwork for a presidential run.

"To draw conclusions solely from these schedules - without taking into account countless hours meeting with staff, talking to reporters, at his desk sending e-mails, reviewing legislation, crafting policy and remarks, and working on the phone at all hours of the day - paints an incomplete and misleading picture," Kyle Sullivan, his press secretary said in a prepared statement.
Leslie Kirwan, Patrick's secretary of administration and finance, said: "I can see morning, noon, and night where I have e-mails from the governor. He works a lot, and he is demanding a lot of us in terms of the hours we work. I don't know why anyone would have the perception that he is not on the job around the clock."
Kirwan is among a small group of top aides who occasionally travel to Richmond for meetings with Patrick, usually making the five-hour round trip on the same day, but sometimes staying overnight in one of the home's eight bedrooms.
Patrick's principal home is in Milton, but one result of his spending so much time at his Richmond retreat is that Western Massachusetts sees a lot more of Patrick than it did previous governors. A recent exception was Jane Swift, a resident of Williamstown, who also scheduled many events in the central and western parts of the state during her stint as acting governor.

For example, in Patrick's first 27 months as governor, he made as many official appearances (10) in Pittsfield as he did in Fall River and New Bedford, has been to Amherst as many times (six) as Waltham, and attended nearly as many events in Springfield (20) as Cambridge (22). Even tiny, western towns like Colrain, Goshen, and New Salem have had gubernatorial visits.

Doug Rubin, the governor's chief of staff, said the calendars offer a distorted picture of Patrick's work day.

"I'm on the 7:45 call with him every morning where we go over the issues and the schedule of the day," Rubin said. "I get calls from him all hours of the day and night, and there are days when he's in the office and doesn't have public events. I've worked with a lot of elected officials in my career, and I can't remember one who works harder than the governor."

None of Patrick's campaigning, both in and outside the state, usually on weekends, on behalf of Barack Obama's presidential campaign is noted on his calendars, nor is his trip to Chicago to celebrate Obama's historic election on Nov. 4. On his calendar, Election Day and Nov. 5 are empty.

"The political stuff is work; that's part of his job," said Rubin. Trips on behalf of Obama benefit the state, he said.

Another day with no scheduled official duties was March 20, 2008, the day Patrick's casino gambling bill was voted down by the House and he was in New York in pursuit of what would become a $1.35-million contract to write his autobiography. Patrick said last year that he planned to work on the book at night and on weekends.

Responding to the list of weekdays with no activities compiled by the Globe, Sullivan produced some events on days that were blank in copies provided to the Globe. But virtually all of the events Sullivan cited were of a personal or political nature, confirming that Patrick was not conducting official business on those days.

For specific dates, Sullivan said Patrick was attending events at his daughters' schools, the Democratic National Convention in Denver, three other Democratic Party or Obama events, a wedding in San Francisco, the Richmond firefighters' barbecue, a think-tank meeting in Colorado, travel days for Thanksgiving observances with relatives in Atlanta, and a day off before his wedding anniversary.

Globe review finds 6-week vacation for governor - The Boston Globe


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

*



Patrick's calendar shows many empty days

Click to expand...

**And in related news,*

Studies have been done and have determined that Patrick's head is more empty than his calendar!!!


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## soxrock75 (Jul 26, 2004)

kwflatbed said:


> But previous governors have taken heat for absenteeism, William F. Weld for his many fishing vacations and Mitt Romney for spending all or part of 219 days out of state in 2006 while he was laying the groundwork for a presidential run.
> "


Hmmm......I wonder why THOSE guys got criticized???? I am sure it had nothing to do with them havingan (R) next to their names, could it? Nah....


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## Cyrix142 (Jan 14, 2007)

Funny I thought that Furloughs for state employees were in place because of the economic crisis the Commonwealth is currently in. Patrick seems to be working them in reverse. Instead of working for free, he's just getting paid to not work. 

But based on his recent political agenda it might be better to have him stay in the woods a bit longer.


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## Guest (May 12, 2009)

kwflatbed said:


> Patrick's state salary is $140,535 a year. Massachusetts has no limit on the amount of time elected officials may take off. But previous governors have taken heat for absenteeism, William F. Weld for his many fishing vacations and Mitt Romney for spending all or part of 219 days out of state in 2006 while he was laying the groundwork for a presidential run.


Mitt Romney refused to take his salary.


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## NewEngland2007 (Dec 31, 2005)

Good. Six weeks out of the year he can't screw up the Commonwealth.


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## sdb29 (Jul 17, 2002)

Cyrix142 said:


> Instead of working for free, he's just getting paid to not work.


Well he's setting an example for all the welfare collectin', SSI leechin', food stamps abusin', free car drivin' people in the state that he loves!


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## union1 (Sep 18, 2002)

Odd that the Globe did this story???? Globe should be kissing his ass saying what a great job he's doing. 

How many days left?????


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