Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz is the most hated man in Republican politics. His own colleagues in the Senate can’t stand him, and so far not one of them has endorsed him in his run for the highest office in the land.
Here in Worcester most members of the City Council can’t stand Councilor Michael Gaffney. They’ve been caught rolling their eyes when he makes one of his rants at their weekly meetings, and he’s about as well-liked as Senator Cruz.
Senator Cruz declared that anyone who doesn’t begin his days on his knees in prayer isn’t fit to be president, but no matter how long or hard he beseeches god for success he doesn’t have a prayer of becoming America’s chief executive.
In a similar manner no matter how many vicious attacks Mr. Gaffney makes on people of color, he also has no chance of ever becoming mayor of the city.
The late Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, said that “All politics is local.” Halfway through the second decade of the 21st century that observation has changed to “All politics is national.”
Local political hacks like the Gaffer use racist dog whistles to rile the uneducated white urban hicks in Worcester, taking their cues from Donald Trump and the other GOP presidential candidates who blame undocumented immigrants and Arab Muslims for all the ills in the country. Mexicans are rapists, and Muslims are terrorists. In Wormtown minorities are criminals who live off welfare and have ruined public education for the white kids.
Gaffney and his BFF, the repulsive Aidan Kearney, aka “Turdleboy,” tried to accomplish a victory in the Worcester mayor’s election by playing the race card. They went after Black school superintendent Melinda Boone, the Black Lives Matter protesters who shut down Kelley Square for an entire 4 ½ minutes, and Mosaic, a tiny Black social welfare agency.
After all that effort they failed, although the word on the street is that Gaffney is in financial straits because he borrowed heavily for the campaign. In the end he lost to incumbent Mayor Joe Petty by 11 points, but he’s so pissed off he’s still going after Mosaic. Now he’s coerced the city manager into asking the attorney-general’s office to conduct an investigation.
All politics is national—Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi e-mails e-mails e-mails Mosaic Mosaic Mosaic. The pattern is clear.
Even Walter Bird, the Worcester Magazine editor, is shocked at Gaffney’s witch hunt regarding that organization.
Gaffney and Turdleboy try to convince us they’re trying to save the city money, pointing to a few thousand dollars of discrepancies here and there, but they’re as silent as clams when it comes to the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars paid out by the Worcester police department to settle police brutality claims. They use the Freedom of Information Act to get payroll records from Mosaic, but they don’t seem to be interested in using that same act to get the video from the police and the district attorney that shows a white Worcester cop kicking a Black prisoner on the floor of a jail cell while calling him a “Nigger.” The video shows four other cops looking on and laughing. That Black man has already been paid off while the case against the cop is in limbo and he still collects his paycheck.
Gaffney calls for an audit on Mosaic, but not on the police department to find out why so many cops with only high school diplomas are making more than $150 K a year—one patrolman made $176K— by manipulating overtime pay and accessing mandatory police details at construction sites and private functions.
But Gaffney and Kearney are too cowardly to go after the police department. The police union controls a lot of voters, and it’s unpatriotic to do anything but show undying love for cops. It’s much safer to attack a small Black organization in a city where 69% of the population is white and the loss of Black votes isn’t a concern.
They think they’re Woodward and Bernstein in “All the President’s Men,” but they’re really just a pathetic pair of low-rent bullies who appeal only to the worst instincts of the denizens of Worcester.
What are you gonna do?
by 
That’s a big difference between your blogs and mine – the local angle. I never got into Worcester politics too much. I guess you did because of your past employment as a public-school teacher. Informative. I guess that local angle is what put you in the crosshairs of Turtledove. I don’t envy that, seeing as how he specializes in character assassination. Well, such is the price of speaking your mind, I guess.
Being a former Worcester teacher helped, but getting involved in racial issues in the city and calling out racism where it exists is what madeTurdleboy and his trolls frantic. They want to convince themselves there’s no such thing as racism and that everyone in Worcester has equality. That’s like believing in the tooth fairy.
Let us know your take on the development at the Mosiac. In particular what you think of the bosses son and his facebook post.
The loss of Mosaic to the city means nothing. The charlatans in charge that were collecting salaries before paying the workers should be jailed. Imagine paying an outside consultant $15000.00 before paying the help too. This obvious scheme to fatten the pockets of a few is criminal. Prospect house, The Willis Center and Mosaic all failed under the same leadership members.
Mosiac claims to be being targeted when in fact they brought it on themselves. I am happy they started protests from nonprofits headquarters and unmasked themselves as frauds. Thank you.
The real victims are the workers and the members of the community not being serviced because of the 4 board members and a consultants greed.
That being said before you start claiming racism go take a look at community they failed and padded their pockets doing so. Thank you.