Taveras Takes Off to Bean Town

Former Mayor "Angel of Debt" Taveras ran from Providence City Hall last year, content to serve one term, apparently taking Rhode Island's capital city from a Category Five fiscal storm to a . . .Category 4.5 according to one critic.

Taveras who closed down pools, who refused to push back against unions, who pandering to Big Government, Big Amnesty, and Big Labor, now wants to play it up big in Boston.

"Angel of Debt" Taveras

From The Boston Globe: 

Former Providence mayor heads to Boston

With this winter we’re having, Angel Taveras picked the right time to return to the private sector.
It wasn’t entirely by choice: The former mayor of Providence ran for governor in Rhode Island last year and lost the Democratic primary to eventual winner Gina Raimondo, then the state’s treasurer.

 

Taveras reminds me of Sarah Palin in one aspect: he ran away from an executive position to seek another one, and lost that opportunity. Why would Taveras want to be governor of Rhode Island when he refused to stay and governor the largest city in the state? There is very little executive difference between the capital city and the state capitol.

Now Taveras is settling into his new gig at law firm Greenberg Traurig’s Boston office. The attorney started last week, less than two months after leaving Providence City Hall.

Could not wait to get away. How Providential!

Taveras said he considered a number of opportunities — some at big law firms, some at small ones — before picking Greenberg Traurig because of its global reach, with 37 offices around the world. He wants to focus on municipal restructuring and public finance and hopes to eventually build a nationwide client base.

So, Taveras joined a law firm to help with public bankruptcy. Some experience, coming from a former mayor who left  his city in the lurch, and recent reports revealing that some $62 million is missing from the pension fund. A local conservative activist, deep in the details on pensions and funding liabilities, posited to me that the amount of funding for Providence lingers somewhere in the teens. For Detroit before declaring "We're Broke!", the funding was in the 30% range.

This will be his first regular commute out of Rhode Island since the summer after he graduated from Georgetown’s law school and worked at Brown Rudnick’s Boston office in 1996. He worked for Brown Rudnick until December 2004, mostly out of its Providence office, before running his own firm until he became mayor in 2011. He also had a part-time position as a housing court judge from mid-2007 through early 2010.

Rhode Islanders commuting to work out of Rhode Island is not something unusual. Even CVS started commuting, more specifically investing out of state, last year with a new office. Taveras took very few, if any, steps to ensure that Rhode Island residents could stay "in house" for work.

What a sad commentary indeed, when the mayor of the largest town in one state chooses work in another.

Leaving the mayor’s office, he said, has taken some adjusting. But Taveras said there are certain aspects of his old job that he doesn’t miss.

Oh, sure. "Took some adjusting" the same way a businessman loosens his collar and kicks-back after getting ready for the weekend. Yes, and going home from work takes some adjusting too, I promise. . .
“Given the weather this winter, I haven’t really missed the mayor’s office much,” Taveras said.

The weather is the same in Massachusetts, What's to miss? The economic climate, however, seems to be very different. Well, different enough that he would seek work in the Bay State instead. Economic recovery has been weak and beggarly, but even in New England, Massachusetts is doing better than Rhode Island. Friends of mine report that they are fixing to leave, repairing their homes to sell them then sail out of the Ocean State.

“This is a tough winter season, and I know it’s going to be pothole season. I’m glad I’m not responsible for that.” — JON CHESTO [reporting].

Too bad Chafee didn't pass "Pot for potholes".

Taveras skedaddled as soon as he could from the fiscal, moral, and legal mess that has become Providence. Now that Fox is in jail, and Cicilline in trouble with potential connections to the political malfeasance, will Taveras be next? His move to Bean Town won't protect him from Rhode Island's lawsuits, labor grievances, and financial fallouts should the bad get worse, and more elected officials fall because of mismanagement, fraud, and outright corruption.

Wicked? Wicked indeed!