"Working" for a Living

For the curious, I haven't been posting as regularly as I would like due to a particularly busy schedule at work of late. So, you'll have to forgive me if I have little sympathy for "No Show" Angelo Buonopane, who had to pay back $20,000 of his $108K salary for missing days of work as the Director of the Department of Labor. Earlier this year, a couple of Globe reporters tailed Buonopane and found:

Buonopane's work days average two hours and 51 minutes, according to Globe reporters who observed him over a series of days during February and March. On many days he does not come in at all.

Romney appointed Buonopane to the newly created job after Buonopane campaigned vigorously for him in 2002, donating generously to his campaign and helping to orchestrate an election-eve rally for Romney in the North End featuring former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Nice work if you can get it. And you can get it if you're a well-connected Republican donor. According to reports, Buonopane first entered state government as a Weld appointee in 1996. Over the years his salary grew while his responsibilities shrank. Mitt "Reform Agenda" Romney liked him so much he created a six-figure job for the politically connected Buonopane while shifting most of his responsibilities to other employees. Of course, we shouldn't really be surprised -- after all, doing nothing is somewhat of a GOP specialty in Massachusetts.

So, here is Romney creating a no-show patronage job specifically for a politically connected donor, all the while railing against politicians who "lard up the way we do business with patronage." If nothing else, No Show Angelo should be Exhibit A for Democrats as they try to convince the voters of Massachusetts that it's time to clean the Executive Branch of the Weld/Cellucci/Swift/Romney hacks that have piled up over the past fifteen years.