Really Deval?

It's been a while since I have been able to post here.  It took a racial claim from our clueless Governor to get my writing juices flowing.  For those of you that don't know, my wife gave birth to our second daughter a few weeks back, and I had minor surgery on my back.  It is also baseball season and as an umpire this is my busiest time.  But our Governor made comments this past week that not only got me all riled up but was borderline offensive.

I live in Massachusetts and I have grown accustom to certain things.  Massachusetts is the most liberal state in the union.  For God sake Robert F Kennedy's grandson is the favorite to win Barney Frank's vacated seat just because his name is Kennedy.  Massachusetts is also a nanny state, the government knows best, it takes care of people that not only can't take of themselves, but have no desire to.  It bans products and practices like it was a high school principal.  It all comes from the top in the Governor’s office.  Sure, Massachusetts has always been like this, but Governor Deval Patrick is extremely arrogant about his positions, taking his cues from the resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I'm not talking about the Cadillac he decided to take on the taxpayer’s dime when he became governor.  I'm not talking about the absurd amount it cost to decorate his office and I am not talking about filling no-show positions that have been vacant for years with six figure salaries.  He is a politician and this type of stuff happens on both sides of the isle.  If you don't believe that then you are much more naive than you lead on.

All I have grown to accept, what offended me this past week from Gov. Patrick was his remarks regarding a growing sensitive issue in not just Massachusetts but the United States.  It's the issue of illegal immigration.  Over the past year we have seen an illegal immigrant, or as Gov. Patrick likes to classify them, undocumented citizen, kill his girlfriend and her son and then was able to flee to his native Ecuador, where ironically he was convicted and now he can't come back to face the crime he committed before he left.  We have also seen an illegal immigrant, while driving drunk, hit a man on his motorcycle and then dragged him to his death.  So the tally is two illegal immigrants, two murder/manslaughters and three deaths.

But when Gov. Patrick was yet again asked about his opposition of the Secure Communities Act he responded "“The actions of various states to take matters into their own hands have been ham-fisted, self-defeating, and even racist,’’

I'm sorry, what???  Asking our elected leaders and local law enforcement is racist?  Is he serious?  I understand that the Governor doesn't want to be the elected official that actually does his job other than taxing the rich to give to the poor.  But to criticize the officials that risk their lives on border of the United States combatting these criminals and call them racist, shame on you Gov. Patrick.

Governor Patrick took it a step further by saying “The public discourse about immigration is as toxic today as McCarthyism or Jim Crow were in their time,........Now, like then, the debate seems to be based more on emotion than reason, more on slogan than fact.’’

Did the Governor just compare me to an anti-Communist and a Separatist???  Did he also say I don't understand the facts?  As a Naturalized Citizen who threw away his "Green Card" for a U.S. Passport, I understand the facts much better than the Governor and the fact is the Governor is absolutely clueless when it comes to this.  It's not just the Governor that is obtuse to this issue but state Attorney General Martha Coakley during her U.S. Senate bid when asked about this issue said "it's not illegal to be illegal".

Instead of bothering to come up with a solution the Governor decided to insult the people that oppose his view on the topic and deflect his inability to face the victims of crimes done by "new Americans".  As an immigrant of Italy I don't resent the F.B.I. for carrying out RICO investigations. 

So my message to Governor Patrick is this.  Mr. Patrick, you don't know me and have never met me but I am NOT a racist.  I just want a level playing field.  You think a level playing field is taxing people that had worked hard for their money and giving it to someone who has no desire to work.  You also want to reward these "Undocumented Citizens" with entitlements that not all Massachusetts residents qualify for.  

So before you judge me, learn who I am first.  You pre-judged me, I am much better than that.