Patrick won't change management style in wake of mounting scandals

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) – Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick is holding firm that he doesn't need to change anything about the way he runs state government, even as controversies at state agencies continue to pile up.

On Monday, FOX 25 political reporter Sharman Sacchetti asked Patrick if he would consider changing his management style. Patrick responded with a terse, "no."

Last week, Gov. Patrick called for an independent review of the Department of Children and Families in the wake of the agency's failings involving a missing five-year-old Fitchburg boy, who is now feared dead. There is also a state drug lab evidence-tampering scandal, a compounding pharmacy scandal that left 64-people dead, a state auditor's report showing welfare benefits were going to dead people, and an Early Education Commissioner who lived in Connecticut and stepped down amid questions over her enrollment in a program that trains school superintendents.

Taken together the incidents raise questions about oversight, accountability, and even competence.

"His administration has got to step up here," Scott Harshbarger, former democratic gubernatorial nominee, said on the Fox 25 Morning News. "The trouble with being in the last year of your term is, people know there's a transition going on. Who is accountable? Who is responsible? This is where I hope the Governor will do what he does so well. Stand up. Take responsibility. Say we're going to hold people accountable. And get this thing done. This children and families services thing is outrageous."

When Patrick was asked if he felt as though he hadn't stood up or taken responsibility, he told Sacchetti, "Well, I'm not going to respond to that. I think you know what the facts are."

That there have been people fired, we've been transparent, we've been responsive every time something has gone wrong and in a large organization sometimes things go wrong, but we do our work on the basis of fact, not organizing around emotion."

Recently, the Governor has spent a lot of time traveling. He just returned from a weekend trip to Alabama. Last month, he spent ten days on a trade mission to Asia.

Republican strategist Rob Gray said the scandals are starting to snowball. "Now, it's finally starting to stick to him and he has [sic] to answer," said Gray.

Next week lawmakers plan to hold hearings on what went wrong at DCF. DCF commissioner Olga Roche, State Child Advocate Gail Garinger, and union representatives are expected to testify.

Cox Media Group