IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DUKAKIS

“Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.” (Romans 13:7)

I may shock many of my conservative Republican friends with this statement, but: Michael Dukakis should have been chosen as the four-month interim U.S. Senator in place of Ted Kennedy and not Paul Kirk. Today’s MetroWest Daily News has a great editorial saying exactly that, and Margery Egan had a column in yesterday’s Boston Herald also saying exactly that.

Recently I wrote “never say never” in a posting on this blog. This could be an example of that, except that technically I did not say that I’d never write a puff piece about Michael Dukakis on this blog, but if somebody had asked me the question, I’d certainly have said that I’d never write a puff piece about Michael Dukakis! Michael Dukakis and I probably disagree on 75% of the issues. I think he’s way too liberal. I think his final years as Governor were not particularly impressive ones. All that said, he deserved the honor of being named interim Senator. He WAS Governor of Massachusetts for I believe three terms. He was the Democratic candidate for President in 1988. He is a hardworking man of character. It would have been a fitting honor.

I never voted for Dukakis, but my parents did. Most of you know my father was a career state employee; most of that career was with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Dad got to see and hear a LOT of political stuff that went on behind the scenes...the kind of stuff Howie Carr often talks and writes about. It’s true that we largely owe “The Big Dig” to Michael Dukakis and his Engineer Fred Salvucci (they were the ones who first broached idea back in the mid-1980s) and it's true there was some corruption in the Dukakis administration. According to my Dad, however, the Ed King administration was MUCH more corrupt than the Dukakis administration. There’s been a lot of controversy regarding the incompetence of the current Registrar of Motor Vehicles. Shortly after he assumed office in the 1970s, Dukakis named a career RMV employee, Bob Panora, as Registrar. My father had high respect for Panora. He’d started as a Registry Inspector (later known as “Registry Police”) the same way my father did, and he’d worked his way up through the ranks. In fact, Bob Panora was the guy who in 1955 convinced my Dad (then a Boston cop) to take the Registry exam. Bob Panora knew the RMV inside and out like almost nobody else did. He was the perfect choice for Registrar. Unfortunately, there was a lot of controversy about Panora. I don’t remember the details, but I do know Dukakis was pressured to appoint someone else. The career employees at the RMV printed up bumper stickers which said, “PATRONAGE OR PANORA?” One of those stickers still graces the wall of my sister’s garage in Canton. Eventually, Dukakis did appoint someone else from outside the RMV.

My parents attended the Inauguration festivities for Dukakis back in 1975 when he was sworn in as Governor. They did NOT vote for him for President in 1988, however. They liked him as a person, but for my anti-abortion and pro-capital punishment parents, Dukakis was just too liberal to be President.

I watched Michael Dukakis interviewed on Emily Rooney’s “Greater Boston” public affairs television program a few years ago. To my surprise, I liked him! He was talking about the same things he’d been talking about for years- some of which I’d considered crazy. But I realized that society itself had become SO crazy over a twenty year period that now Dukakis actually sounded sensible! Earlier this week, Margery Egan had a column about how Michael Dukakis walks two miles to work (at Northeastern U.) and back each day and how he carries a trash bag and picks up litter on his walk. I know. What a geek! Well, don’t be too quick to say that, because sometimes I DO THAT, TOO! Anybody who is willing to walk when he can and not too proud to pick up litter has my respect.

If Dukakis were RUNNING for U.S. Senator I wouldn’t vote for him. I am strongly for Republican Scott Brown for U.S. Senate. However, I’m sad for Michael Dukakis that he didn’t get to be interim Senator. If he ever wants to come out to South Street, Framingham and help me pick up litter, he’s more than welcome to do that, and afterwards we can get a bite to eat at the Chicken Bone Restaurant!