It’s suggested by columnist Michael Levenson in this morning’s Globe that Romney’s wanted the Katrina evacuees at Camp Edwards to give himself an “opportunity to shine” after the last 2 1/2 years of stalemates by the predominantly Democratic legislature (Romney was elected in November 2002).
Mr. Levenson describes the enormous national media exposure that Romney has received as a result of this, his first real chance to display the management skills for which he was touted as the president and CEO of the Organizing Committee for the Salt Lake Winter Games.
Well, Mr. Romney has done well in some respects, especially his own PR, but has fallen flat on his face as far as assuring the public safety of the evacuees, the families currently living on Otis, and the community as a whole.
Barnstable County Sheriff James Cummings has poo-poo’d concerns about the confirmed criminal records of 8 out of the 60 evacuees whose backgrounds have been checked. Per Sheriff Cummings, 10% of any group of 200 people randomly selected on Cape Cod’s Route 28 would have outstanding warrants, so this group is no different than anyone else.
Well, let’s look at the facts: in the year 2000, according to the Massachusetts Court System’s own website, there were 14,956 “hardcore” offenders. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2000, Massachusetts had a population of 6,349,097.
Let’s say that the criminal population has increased some outrageous amount, say 50%, in the last 5 years, and that the current population is 3% less than in 2000.
That would mean that the percentage of criminals in our population isn’t 10% – it would be less than 0.4%.
Also, we are talking about violent crime here, not some poor jamoke with an outstanding warrant for parking violations.
By the way, lest I be accused of cowardice in not challenging Romney directly about my concerns over his handling of the evacuees: I tried posting an email to his website this morning.
Consistent with our collective experience with government these days, their online application didn’t work.
By the way, where is the leadership of the Democratic Party – anywhere? Senator Kennedy and his wife showed up yesterday on Camp Edwards to distribute barbeque, which was real down-home of them.
Meanwhile, what are Kerry, Senator Clinton, and the rest of the motley crew doing about the mess in Washington, aside from calling for a study commission and exhorting the private sector to give, give, give?
As one of my politically astute friends observed, only John Edwards has made a public statement about the link between the Bush Administration’s mishandling of the Katrina disaster and the “two Americas” that were his campaign theme in 2004.
Here’s another to make your eyes roll: per Reuters, the Bush Administration has already awarded reconstruction contracts to its pals and buddies, including corporate clients of former FEMA head Joe Allbaugh; a Halliburton subsidy; and Bechtel, the folks who so thorough screwed up Boston’s massive Big Dig project with their cost overruns and lousy engineering.
Excuse this morning’s train of random thought. There has been so much to assimilate, in such a short period of time, that I’m starting to short circuit.
Before I close, though, kudos to State Senator Therese Murray (Plymouth) for her statement in the midst of a recent Romney/media love fest that consideration should be given to extending the benefits provided to the folks from Louisiana to poor and needy families right here in Massachusetts – like eligibility for Mass Health.