My Prayers Are Answered: Deval Resigned from Ameriquest!

In a recent blog, I publically called for Deval Patrick to step down from his Ameriquest Board position. Today, when I checked my email, my prayers were answered! He's leaving Ameriquest.

Mass Revolution Now posts the entire email I read and says it's an example of Deval Patrick being a leader. Talking Politics says it's a political victory for Reilly.

People can call it whatever they want, but from a campaign supporter of Deval Patrick, here's what I think. He heard the call by supporters to step down, and answered them. He answered my calls when I said this:

I think you've served that company with the best intentions, helping clean up its bad ways. However, they're gutting jobs in Massachusetts - and what better way to support Bay State jobs than refusing to be a part of a company practicing a very bad Massachusetts trend of cutting jobs here? Don't profit from a company that would do Bay State citizens harm.

And I mean every word of it. By stepping down, Patrick takes away the one broken-record attack Tom Reilly continually made: Deval worked for a bad company. It didn't matter that Deval helped clean up that company, Tom Reilly is a well-practiced politician. He saw an opening and continually took it. Now that opening is gone.

Deval didn't elaborate on why he left Ameriquest. In the email, he talked about his work with them. He talked about their layoffs in Massachusetts. However, he never said "this is why I'm leaving Ameriquest."

I can only deduce he left because his supporters were calling for him to leave. He didn't use any populist trickery when leaving - like I suggested - claiming he couldn't support a company willing to cut even more Massachusetts jobs. For better or worse, he's too good for that.

In the end, I'll have to side against Talk Politics: Deval did show leadership. Sometimes, Governor's have to make tough decisions that voters won't support. However, other times they have to do the opposite and make goofy decisions that shouldn't matter.

How Does it Show Leadership?

It reminds me of when I was a class officer in high school: the Swampscott High Class of 2002 wanted a prom in Boston; the Class President and other officers wanted something a little more realistic. I agreed with the other officers: a prom nearby made more sense and would cost less. However, in the end I told them we should do what the people who elected us wanted in such a petty matter. It didn't matter where we had the prom. After all, who in 2 years would care? Alas, the gals I worked with didn't see the light. And it didn't matter much anyway; like I said, it was a petty issue.

Deval Patrick listened to the people. When health insurance, civil rights, tax rates or other important issues are at stake, sometimes Governors are called to make the tough, unpopular choice.

But an Ameriquest paycheck wasn't that kind of choice. It was the "where are we going to have prom" kind of choice. If Deval Patrick displayed any leadership today, it's this: Deval Patrick knows when it's right to dig in for something he believes in - and when it's right to appease the people on an issue that by all rights shouldn't be an issue to begin with.