(NECN: Peter Howe, Plymouth, Mass.) A wave of police picketers led Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick to a normally unthinkable decision Thursday -- skip, as a Democrat and in an election year, a long-scheduled appearance before the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
When word broke minutes before Patrick's scheduled 3 p.m. appearance here that he had decided not to cross the picketers to speak at the union conference inside the Radisson, picketers began cheering raucously, one yelling, "Nine more months!" (A reference to how much time is left in Patrick's term.)
Thomas J. Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association and of the National Association of Police Organizations, climbed on the back of a pickup truck and told the crowd, "It's time we send him packing. One and done!" The crowd took up the chant, "One and done, one and done.''
For Patrick, it would not have technically been crossing a picket line -- a mortal sin for Democratic politicians -- because the demonstrators are not members of a union that has gone on strike. In a last-minute letter to Massachusetts AFL-CIO president Robert J. Haynes, Patrick said he had been informed that the 200 union leaders attending the conference planned to step out and join the picketers at the time he was scheduled to speak.
Patrick, in a copy of the letter released to reporters, said, "I am now advised that police unions have organized a protest of our decision to use civilian flaggers on state construction sites, and that the attendees will honor the protest as though it were a picket line -- which means that if I come, there will be no one in the hall to engage. Under the circumstances, I see no value in attending and will respectfully decline the invitation. I will send under separate cover the remarks I would have offered today. Despite whatever differences we may have, you and your colleagues ought to know that my commitment to economic and social justice runs deep, is the tie that binds us, and has a longer history than any of my recent predecessors. If that is still the central focus of leadership of the labor movement in Massachusetts, my door remains open to you.''
Normally, the idea of a Democratic governor up for reelection standing up the AFL-CIP would be considered an unthinkable breach of political etiquette. Haynes, though, was muted in his response. "I'm disappointed that he's not here,'' was as strongly as Haynes would express it. "I thought you know that it was good for him to come and give his presentation and answer some questions and understand why so many people are upset at him,'' Haynes said.
Awaiting the governor in Plymouth were more than 300 people including police officers from most corners of the state, and allies from other labor unions. Police have been furious with Patrick for his moves to replace police officers with civilian flaggers at highway construction sites, and several other moves including backing legislation cutting so-called Quinn Bill extra pay for police officers who get a college or graduate degree. That bill has been praised for encouraging a more professional and better educated cadre of police officers around Massachusetts, but critics have also complained frequently about officers taking educationally marginal academic courses just to boost their paycheck.
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Johnny O'Shea of the Chicopee Police Patrolmen's Union, who led a contingent from the western Massachusetts city toting signs, said, "After the flagmen issue last year, it was to attack us on the Quinn Bill. When's it going to stop? How much more can we take?'' O'Shea said many believe Patrick has broken promises, such as one to add 1,000 police officers statewide, when in fact, layoffs have left the state with 100 fewer officers compared to when Patrick took office, according to O'Shea.
Nee warned that the governor's Thursday no-show made a bad situation much worse. "Working class people in the commonwealth are going to answer the call on November 2d, 2010,'' which is the day of the gubernatorial election, Nee said, "because I think the governor's in a lot of trouble.''
Still to be seen: How much credit Patrick gets from other voters for trying to stand up to police unions and save taxpayers some money.
