Boston Herald

Howie Carr Thursday, March 03, 2016

Gov. Charlie Baker couldn’t wait to throw Donald Trump and 311,313 of his Super Tuesday voters under the bus yesterday morning, sniffing that he himself would never deign to cast a ballot for such a parvenu.

Charlie, was such a gratuitous snub of your own (nominal) party really necessary? Well, yes, it was — anything to take everybody’s minds off his six-, maybe even seven-figure effort to rid the state Republican Committee of actual Republicans.

What an amazing campaign it was — five district-wide mailings for each of his hack candidates, two of which mentioned their support for “lower taxes,” even though almost all of them were MIA from the most recent anti-tax ballot measure, Question 1, in 2014.

Two Republican candidates in special elections for state rep went down in flames yesterday. But who cares about them when you can take a few Trump and Ted Cruz supporters off the board, right, governor? Let’s go down the list of some of Charlie’s hacks, and see how they did in their State Committee fights.

Laura Rigas: $95,900 a year as “communications director,” Education Department, moved here from Virginia after the 2014 election with her husband. Hubby got his own $112,000-a-year state hack job from Charlie after the lovebirds gave $2,950 to Charlie and Karyn Polito. LOST.

Norman Orrall, husband of Rep. Keiko Orrall, $110,000 a year at the DCR. His wife bragged on her Facebook page when Stormin’ Norman won a prize at an agricultural exhibit for Best Pickle. WON.

David D’Arcangelo, Malden, ran for secretary of state in 2014, hired recently at the Mass. Office on Disability, $90,000 a year. LOST.

Scott Brinch, recent $84,480-a-year hack hire as “acting director” at the DCR. LOST.

Peter Lorenz, “communications director,” DCR, $81,600 a year. LOST.

Reed Hillman, state pension of $108,651 plus $69,950 at a state community college. WON.

Matt Sisk, “deputy commissioner of operations” at DCR (which you will be shocked to learn is run by a hack former GOP state rep making $156,363 
a year). WON.

Jon Golnik, “regional director Central” in Department of Business Development, $76,500 a year, two-time loser as congressional candidate. LOST.

Ryan Chamberland, former aide to the GOP rep in Peabody whose seat was just lost to the Democrats Tuesday, $65,000 on Gov. Baker’s staff. WON.

Angela Davis, newly hired at the Department of Public Safety, $95,500 a year. WON.

Test question: What do all of Charlie’s friends listed above who simultaneously decided to run for State Committee have in common?

Answer: They and their phony-baloney hack jobs would all be adversely affected by the “lower taxes” their employer claimed (at least twice) that they support.

Meet the new hackerama, same as the old hackerama.