STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Gov. Deval Patrick was insistent Wednesday that he would stay involved in public discussions after leaving office, and less direct on whether he would “rule out” a presidential run.
“Look, I’m not going to – maybe. But listen, I’m not making any news. I’m saying the same thing I’ve ever always said,” Patrick told the co-hosts on Boston Public Radio Wednesday. “I am going to finish the job I have and I am loving it, and when I finish the job I have, I am going to find a job in the private sector. And I hope there will come a time sometime later in life when I have something else I can contribute to public life, and when that time comes, we’ll see.”
The question was posed by Boston Herald columnist Margery Egan, in light of Patrick’s daughter Katherine saying last week on a Washington D.C. panel “not right now” when asked about her father seeking the presidency, though she wouldn’t “rule out” a bid in the future.
Patrick has repeatedly said he would finish out his second and final term, which ends January 2015, and then enter the private sector.
The governor, who won office in 2006 as a successful lawyer and former Justice Department official, has sometimes bristled at questions around a potential presidential candidacy.
Patrick and his daughter took the question from MSNBC anchor Melissa Harris-Perry at the Friday panel.
“The question, totally off topic, was, ‘Am I going to run for president?’ And she answered,” Patrick said.
Co-host Jim Braude asked Patrick why John Walsh, the current but outgoing Democratic Party chairman, would take a full-time position as head of Patrick’s federal political action committee if Patrick was getting out of politics.
“I still have a voice. I’m still involved. I’m still interested in candidates and campaigns that are about conviction politics and governing for the long-term instead of just the next election cycle. I think that is a change we brought to the governor’s office and to politics here,” Patrick responded. He said, “I’m involved and I want to be involved in that nationally and I will be right through the end of my time as governor.”
The remarks by Katherine Patrick took place at LPAC, a lesbian political group, where the governor’s youngest daughter described coming out as a lesbian to her parents. She said Patrick was making lunch, and his response was to ask if she wanted ham or tuna on her sandwich, thought Patrick remembered it slightly differently.
“I thought I said, ‘Will you grab the mayonnaise and let’s go out,’ ” said Patrick, who said he was getting lunch ready for the family at their home in Richmond, Mass., and there were people outside. He said, “You love your kids. You love your kids.”