Gov. Deval Patrick waded back into the immigration quagmire again yesterday, saying Massachusetts won’t join a program sharing the fingerprints of arrested individuals with federal immigration agencies. Patrick said he’d initially signaled his intention to join the program because the feds had told him the program was mandatory, “not because I thought it was good policy.” Upon being told it wasn’t, he pulled out, joining the governors of Illinois and New York.
Not long after Patrick’s announcement, an unnamed Homeland Security official told the Globe that Patrick’s withdrawal wouldn’t stop Secure Communities in Massachusetts. “It might delay the statewide implementation a little bit, but I think our position is we will continue to expand it when we are ready, where we are ready,” the official said.
It’s an issue that doesn’t seem to have any easy right or wrong side. Patrick says he was swayed by mayors and law enforcement officials who said the program would fracture community relationships by funneling minor criminal offenders into the deportation pipeline, while his critics say the refusal to cooperate with federal immigration officials will encourage criminals to roam the streets.
Boston has participated since 2006, and yesterday Mayor Tom Menino and his police commissioner, Ed Davis, defended the program and dismissed concerns of racial profiling. “Up to this point, I have not been able to find someone who was completely innocent who was deported,” Davis told the Herald.
Immigration issues have served as flashpoints throughout Patrick’s time in the corner office. He began his first four-year term by rescinding an order from former Gov. Mitt Romney allowing state troopers to arrest illegal immigrants, and endorsed a proposal to give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses. He has repeatedly pushed for in-state college tuition rates for undocumented graduates of Massachusetts high schools. During last year’s gubernatorial campaign, Patrick’s two challengers, Charlie Baker and Tim Cahill, scorched him over the governor’s resistance to Secure Communities; Baker cited the federal program in calling the governor “immensely soft” on crime.
The political spotlight cast by the issue hasn’t dimmed since Patrick’s reelection. Yesterday, the state GOP said Patrick had timed the announcement to avoid election-season scrutiny, “and now they can take the side of criminal illegal aliens without fear of repercussion from law-abiding citizens.” A Boston Herald editorial called the move “shameful” and “cowardly.” Democratic state Sen. Richard Moore accused Patrick of “pandering for political points.” State Rep. Dan Winslow, possibly with an eye on the 2014 election cycle, asked last night whether the man angling to replace Patrick, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, agreed with his boss’s call. “If not,” Winslow said, “now is the time to stand up on the issue.”
The approach taken by Patrick presents an interesting contrast with his friend and political twin, President Barack Obama. Patrick won’t stand for reelection again, and that fact has freed him to invite severe blow back on his treatment of Secure Communities, and immigration in general. Obama, who is interested in keeping his job next year, is walking a finer line.
On one hand, Obama is trying to mend fences with a Latino community to whom he’d promised — and failed to deliver — a major immigration reform initiative. On the other hand, he’s trying to appease the other side of the aisle by building border fences, toughening border crossings, and running with Secure Communities, a Bush legacy program. And, when need be, he’s empowering his Homeland Security brass to go over the heads of lefty state governors who won’t toe the party line.
–PAUL MCMORROW
BEACON HILL
Former state education chief David Driscoll is the first defense witness called in the DiMasi corruption trial. To say Globe columnist Kevin Cullen is underwhelmed by the defense’s first day would be entirely accurate. Radio Boston asks if there is a “pay to play” culture on Beacon Hill. The Globe’s Joan Vennochi joins Jim Braude to discuss the DiMasi trial.
Gov. Deval Patrick plans to file a supplemental budget request money for tornado relief.
Keller@Large thinks a student-driven petition to make the quahog the state’s official shellfish doesn’t go far enough for tourism and marketing purposes.
Longtime state Rep. Antonio Cabral, confirming the worst kept secret in New Bedford, announced his candidacy for mayor.
The Springfield Republican says that the financial disclosure forms submitted by public officials are worthless and need to be updated.
Peter Gelzinis tells former House speaker Sal DiMasi, who has been prodding reporters during breaks at his federal corruption trial, that it’s time to put up or shut up.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Springfield officials decide on emergency spending measures to cope with tornado recovery. The Globe takes stock of what a setback last week’s tornado was for a city that was struggling mightily to get back on its feet.
Subpoenas have been issued by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, the Globe reports, in the investigation of Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua’s campaign fundraising activities.
Quincy officials reached an agreement with a developer for a $150,000 payment to help restore the Broad Meadows marsh in exchange for dropping a suit by residents for unfulfilled mitigation promises made by Conroy Development Company along the Neponset River.
Salem police union files a grievance in a bid to block the city from hiring a civilian harbormaster, the Salem News reports.
Signs urging people to “Vote No” on an upcoming override disappear in North Adams.
Norton town meeting voters endorse a $34 million school renovation project.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
I am not a crook: US Rep Anthony Weiner says that he did nothing illegal and won’t resign after tweeting pics of himself in his underwear. Can it get any worse? Yes. Joshua Green says too much over-analysis of Weiner’s woeful actions is taking place and that he should just resign. Period. See the video as Weiner apologizes for sending lewd photos and lying about it.
Before his indictment, John Edwards rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for six months.
The White House parts ways with another top economic advisor, as Austan Goolsbee gets shunted back to Chicago.
ELECTION 2012
Harvard historian Jill Lepore says on “Greater Boston” that Sarah Palin got “some right, some wrong” in her version of Paul Revere’s ride but she says like most Americans, Palin’s grasp on history is culled from ideology, not fact. Lepore points out that most Americans knowledge of the ride comes from the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that was actually intended as propaganda for the abolitionist movement. CommonWealth’s Michael Jonas had a Conversation interview with Lepore about the Tea Party movement in our most recent issue. Meanwhile, some of Palin’s supporters tried to edit Revere’s Wikipedia entry to be more in line with Palin’s (re)vision.
RACE
Dennis Prager at the National Review thinks “ebonics” is more of a problem for blacks than voter IDs because he watched a closed caption interview with a black NBA player that was grammatically incorrect. Not that he’s working off a stereotype or anything.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Major hacker problems for a division of Hopkinton-based data storage giant EMC.
HEALTH CARE
A Pew poll shows that that 61 percent of seniors oppose the Republican plan to privatize Medicare.
Cape Cod should do more to provide comprehensive chronic care for seniors, says The Cape Cod Times.
Think of it as Patrick Kennedy — 2.0. The former Rhode Island congressman rolls out the new cause of his life.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Eight new homes at Devens that cost $280,000 to $350,000 will produce more solar energy than they use, thanks to a downturn in solar panel prices and up to $50,000 in state and federal subsidies, the Lowell Sun reports.
Falmouth residents air their reservations about municipal wind turbines.
Attleboro residents push for an outright zoning ban on trash-to-energy gasification plants.