Happy Ending Tales Part V – Baker Speaks

Koch For Quincy Facebook Photo

In the wake of the numerous hard-hitting exclusives published by Quincy Quarry as well as the recent the announcement by the Pulitzer Prize selection committee that Quincy Quarry is in finals for consideration as its 2014 winner for Best Investigative Hyper Local News Reporting, Quincy Quarry has been enjoying considerably improved access to those OUTSIDE of Quincy.
For example, Quincy Quarry enjoyed an immediate as well as gracious personal response following its request to the State Fire Marshall for a copy of his final report on the recent devastating Quincy City Hall fire.
Upon receipt of the Fire Marshall’s final report, Quincy Quarry will be reporting on the findings via its unique, no-holds barred fashion.
It was unexpectedly also offered an exclusive, on the record and all questions asked would be answered – however potentially painful and/or embarrassing – private meeting with Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Charlie Baker.
Baker further unilaterally offered to duly approve Quincy Quarry’s recording of the meeting.
Baker’s offers were unexpectedly tendered to Quincy Quarry when it called the candidate’s campaign headquarters to ask but a few background follow-up questions about his recent visit to Quincy and the endorsement then provided to him by the then putatively Democratic Mayor of Quincy Thomas P. Koch.
In attendance at this unprecedented meeting were Candidate Baker, senior Republican Party official Kristine “Ariel” Aodh – herself a Quincy resident – and Quincy Quarry.
Quincy Quarry: Mr. Baker, thank you for your gracious offer to meet with Quincy Quarry on the record.
Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Charlie Baker: Call me Charlie, everyone does – even Marcia.
Quincy Quarry: OK Charlie, but you might not be so happy with what all is to be asked.
In particular, Quincy Mayor Koch’s endorsement of your candidacy.
Charlie: Not a problem. For starters, feel free to have the following as an exclusive: he came to me begging to provide me with his endorsement – at least I thought he was begging.
He is so short that it’s hard to tell.
Quincy Quarry: Was he groveling prostrate or merely groveling?
Charlie: Again, he is so short that I couldn’t tell.
Quincy Quarry: True that.
Kirstine “Ariel” Aodh: Endorsements are endorsements and Koch was the very first to contact the Baker Campaign – first in, first out.
Quincy Quarry: Before or after the primary?
Ariel: Before – way before as a matter of fact.
Quincy Quarry: Didn’t you find that odd? After all, Koch claimed to be all in for the far more liberal Democratic primary contender and party insider favorite Steve Grossman.
Ariel: Again, endorsements are endorsements; it’s a numbers game and mistakes were made.
Please just be sure to remember that Charlie is a moderate Republican, even by Massachusetts standards.
In fact, if he were running as Republican, in say, Texas, he’d be run out of the state.
Quincy Quarry: True that. Charlie, stepping back a bit, how was your recent trip to Quincy?
Charlie: OK, but first let me interject something: I wanted to meet with Quincy Quarry during my visit to the Q as I love its hard-hitting style – but for some reason Tommy didn’t follow up on my request to set up a meeting.
As such, I jumped at the chance to meet with Quincy Quarry when it called my campaign office.
Quincy Quarry: Charlie, again, thanks for arranging this meeting. You have no idea how hard it is for Quincy Quarry to access anyone in Quincy’s City Hall.
At the same time, flattery will get you nowhere with Quincy Quarry.
Don’t ever forget that the Quarry has a vast array of sources in places both high but mostly low, excellent rapport with the Public Records Office of the Secretary of State as well as with all manner of state and federal oversight and investigatory agencies. As such, Quincy Quarry all but invariably obtains the truth eventually.
Charlie: Fair enough. That and persistence is usually rewarded. At least that’s what I am hoping happens this time around.
Quincy Quarry: Back to the Koch endorsement of your candidacy, anything horse-traded for it?
Charlie: Not really. I told him that I would certainly support his submitting – say – a $500,000.00 Community Preservation grant request to help out with building a simple new Quincy Center green after the Hancock Street realignment project might actually be completed.
As you will recall, your Washington DC Bureau Chief Chet Brinkley cited me as saying exactly that and in the public for any and all to hear.
Quincy Quarry: True that – your approach to transparency was profoundly refreshing after long covering the Quincy City Hall beat.
Even so, it did take Chet quite a while to convince everyone in the newsroom that you had really done what you did do.
Charlie: Thanks. I am trying harder this time around.
Quincy Quarry: No argument – but then again, Marcia is making it easy for you.
Charlie: I’m counting on it.
Quincy Quarry: Back to Koch.
Charlie: Let’s face the facts: both Presidents Adams and their sweethearts are buried in the Church of Presidents that will be abutting the new open space that will result once the street realignment is actually finished eventually.
As such, some help on new sod and restoring the memorial brick walkways is only appropriate for Beacon Hill to provide – especially given all of the messes of things Tommy keeps inflicting upon of Quincy Center.
However, he kept going on and on and on even more about his needing $30 million for all kinds of fountains and heroic statues for the green.
Quincy Quarry: Sorry to hear that you had to hear that you had to suffer the Koch Edifice Complex.
Charlie: It could have been worse. In all honesty, I feel sorry for Ariel as she has to deal with it all the time.
Ariel: Thanks for feeling my pain.
Charlie: No problem.
Moving along, I finally enough already and that was not going to happen during a Baker Administration no matter how much Ron might huff and puff.
After all, key platforms of my campaign are striving for fiscal prudence as well as fighting against waste, fraud and monkey business as usual.
Quincy Quarry: Good luck with those goals.
Now, back to Quincy – and especially Mayor Koch. Anything else you might care to add?
Charlie: Well, a couple of things. He offered to let me play with that giant lego model left behind by Street-Works, but I declined. After all, toy models are for kids and vacation time share grifters.
Then again, Koch does look like he is only around 17 or so from certain angles – least when he is not stressed out to the max.
Anyway, he just kept on pestering me. I finally put my foot done and almost stepped on his.
Fortunately, they are so tiny that I missed.
Quincy Quarry: Such is typically the result of repeatedly shooting oneself in the foot.
Charlie: True that.
In any event, I told him that should he be able to line up sufficient private investment in place – no fairy dust this time – for some major redevelopment projects in Quincy Center that would actually qualify for consideration for a state grant for $10 million to build a new bridge over tracks near the Burger King on Burgin Parkway, I won’t stand in the way.
I told him to figure on something around $400 million or so in new commercial and retail space with tenants who are truly new to Massachusetts – but that he can forget about it if the proposal was primarily residential as this state grant program doesn’t work that way.
If he can meet the clear and specific requirements for such funding, who am I to stop him from applying even if he has betrayed his own political party?
After all, I am not petty like Marsha is rumored to be. I am also not a Democrat.
Quincy Quarry: Fair enough, but how did Koch react to your stand?
Charlie: Not well.
Ariel: More like not well at all.
Quincy Quarry: Then why did Koch still opt to endorse you?
Charlie: I have two theories.
One is that he may have perhaps finally realized that perhaps obtaining something is better than an assured nothing – if not also suffering multiple indictments.
The other is that he is even more spiteful than Martha is widely purported to be.
Either way, I’m clean. Play by rules and things might work out. Don’t and they usually won’t.
Quincy Quarry: True that.
Charlie: I have also instructed my staff to return any and ALL contributions from Quincy from anyone who is already on any of Koch’s oft-audited by the Office of Campaign & Political Finance campaign fund reports.
One can never be too careful. After all, look what happened to Tommy’s buddy Tim.
Quincy Quarry: True that.
Now, let’s move on to your plans for law enforcement and public safety? After all, crime is a huge concern in Quincy these days.
For example, just the other day Ariel’s neighborhood was hit with serious gunfire by a suspected Boston gang member.
Charlie: Yes, I heard about that. If elected, my plans are to . . .
Ariel: Charlie – sorry to interrupt, but you have to head out right now if you are going to make your 2 pm meeting in Springfield by perhaps no later than 3 pm.
I will see to that Quincy Quarry is provided with all of your campaign’s white papers. After all, we have plenty of them on hand as none of the other media care to bother with reading them.
Quincy Quarry: Well, thank you Ariel – it’s refreshing to be offered documents without having to file yet another complaint to the Secretary of State’s office, but . . .
Charlie: Gee, I really am sorry but time does flies. Just ask Sal.
Tell you want, here’s my private cell number. Ariel, have someone check my calendar and see when a full hour can be booked for a call with the Quarry AND that it be by no later than the end of this week.
Ariel: A full hour? You only gave the Boston Globe half an hour.
Charlie: Have you compared Quincy Quarry’s Google metrics with the Globe’s?
Disclaimer
Here is the video. Ok, so where is the ‘Tommy endorsement’?
 
http://youtu.be/NMWFxgep1TM
 
 
 
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