Cellucci and Loscocco: Two Quitters

October 4, 2010 by DickH Posted in Election 2010 9 Comments

Earlier today I noticed that Paul Cellucci had endorsed Jon Golnik, the Republican candidate for the 5th Congressional District. I remember two things about Paul Cellucci. At the Lowell Memorial Auditorium back in 1998 during a gubernatorial debate, when Scott Harshbarger raised doubts about the “Big Dig”, Cellucci pounded the podium and bellowed “The Big Dig is on time and on budget.” Historians have difficulty judging which of those two assertions was the bigger lie. My second memory of Cellucci is how, after being elected governor, he quit on the people of Massachusetts and took the patronage position of ambassador to Canada, leaving us with Jane Swift as governor. Cellucci stayed in Canada for long enough to have a Molsen and fill his rolodex with contacts which he’s spent every moment since lobbying on behalf of corporate America. So congratulations to the Golnik campaign for snagging the support of such a – – “statesman” as Mr. Cellucci.

Cellucci’s finance guy for the Big Dig debacle, of course, was none other than current Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker. Baker learned one thing from Cellucci: if you deny involvement in the Big Dig long enough and loudly enough, people might start believing you. But Baker deserves mention today because of his embrace of another quitter: Paul Loscocco. Loscocco is a former Republican state representative who agreed long ago to be Tim Cahill’s running mate in his “independent” quest for the governorship.

Last week Loscocco quit on Cahill and columnists David Bernstein and Dan Kennedy have done a good job of outlining the nefariousness of that move. Back in 2008, Loscocco had been involved in the John McCain presidential campaign. Using his connections from that endeavor, Loscocco convinced Cahill to bring on a couple of “consultants” from the McCain juggernaut. Their performance was predictable: they milked Cahill of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees while sabotaging his campaign from within. Finally on the eve of last week’s visit by John McCain to headline a fundraiser for Charlie Baker, these consultants get Loscocco to stab Cahill in the back just in time to appear on stage at the fundraiser so McCain can label him “a man of principle.” You can’t make this stuff up. The dupe Loscocco admits to the media he’d “be open to a position in a Baker administration” which was so odious and so obviously a disclosure of the backroom deal that the Baker damage control team had to rush out a release today assuring us that there will be no place for Loscocco in a Baker administration. Of course not, who would ever trust a traitor like that.

Loyalty is an admirable trait that transcends ideology. Paul Loscocco quit on Tim Cahill. Paul Cellucci quit on the citizens of Massachusetts. It those are the kind of people Charlie Baker and Jon Golnik want endorsing them, they can have them.

9 Responses to Cellucci and Loscocco: Two Quitters

  2. kad barma says:

    There’s nothing like “politics as usual”. The only thing I count more worthless in a campaign than these sorts, are the sorts who can’t stop talking about them, as if that somehow ennobles *their” faithless racketeers, I mean candidates, as an alternative.

    Don’t you have anything better to talk about???

  4. Robby says:

    What’s the big deal over this? Here we have a man who left a campaign after realizing that Cahill has zero chance of winning. We have all known that for at least the past sixth months, at least those of us who have been paying attention.

    Both of Cahill’s top campaign managers have quite, both within mere hours of one another. What was is left in the Cahill campaign? It is a sinking ship and it has been that way for some time now. Cahill’s numbers in the polls have dropped substantially, as both Baker’s and Deval’s have gone up. People are simply not buying the faux “Im the next Scott Brown Independant Candidate!”. We The People are smarter than that. Id be suprised if Cahill ends up getting 5% of the vote come November 2nd.

    Loscocco quiting and joining the Baker campaign is not any different than one person leaving one company for another. There is NO evidence of any special deal by the Baker campaign for Loscocco, just as there isn’t any proof of a special deal between Cahill and Patrick.

    The small minded will still believe that there is some sort of secret backroom deal, but to the rest of us, its just common sense. If the company you worked for was not doing good and had a high potential of failing, wouldn’t you be loking for a new job? Of course you would.

    Who ISNT leaving the Cahill campaign?

  5. DickH says:

    Running for public office can’t be compared to holding a job that you can leave at will. As a candidate you’re asking many people to make sacrifices to support you – to donate time, money, perhaps to incur the displeasure of acquaintances who support another candidate – it’s a lot to ask. And folks step up because they believe in you. Your part of the deal is to do your utmost to win, even if it appears to be a hopeless cause. It’s especially when things look most bleak that true leaders are called upon to be leaders, to display courage and fight till the end. Whether there was a deal with Baker is not the point; the point is that Loscocco, like Cellucci, bailed on the people who he had asked to support him.

  6. joe from Lowell says:

    I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to make me feel sympathy for Tim Cahill.

    “If the company you worked for…”

    A Lieutenant Governor candidate doesn’t “work for” the gubernatorial candidate. This is more like leaving your wife and taking up with someone else than like quitting a job.

  7. Renee Aste says:

    Also when you are with a private company, there are many items connected to one’s employment such as signing an agreement not to go directly a the competitor when you leave willingly or have any contact with clients of that firm. Employees agree to such conditions or don’t get hired.

    Campaigns can’t have any of that, all there is… is trust.

  8. DickH says:

    Your comparison of Loscocco abandoning Cahill to leaving one’s wife is both apt and ironic, because Loscocco and Charlie Baker had a private one-on-one meeting at a plush waterfront hotel the day before Loscocco made the big announcement, which was reported by Brian Mooney in the Globe a few days ago. Globe columnist Brian McGrory continues the “seduction by Baker” theme in today’s column.