According to today’s Boston Herald State Sen. Marian Walsh will not seek re-election this fall.

The West Roxbury Democrat, 55, who had been a state senator since 1993,  announced her decision  to her  constituents in a letter yesterday afternoon, according to State House News Service.

An early supporter of  the Gov. Deval Patrick, Walsh came under fire last year when Patrick tried to appoint her to a plum $175,000-a-year post that had been vacant for a dozen years.

My friends on  Left in Lowell refer to this episode as one of the incidents that are media created and blogger driven non stories  (In LOL words “ stupidest, trivial things that when looked at factually, actually aren’t scandals)

Here is just one the many stories on this issue last year:

Outrage is sweeping Beacon Hill after Gov. Deval Patrick quietly slipped a $175,000 plum job to a political pal while squeezing taxpayers to pay more for less from the debt-ridden state government.

Asking citizens to fork over 19 cents more per gallon at the gas pump while bracing for cuts of cops and teachers, Patrick awarded supporter Marian Walsh the pricey plum as assistant executive director of the state’s Health and Educational Facilities Authority.

The job has been vacant for 12 years. The appointment of Walsh, 54, a Democratic state senator from West Roxbury, was revealed amid news of a $1 billion state deficit while Patrick continued his vacation in Jamaica.

Patrick appointed Walsh’s husband, retired District Court judge Paul Buckley, to a $113,000-a-year job as director of the state’s industrial accident board. He’s eligible to take home a $92,000 pension upon retiring.

 She has always been a bit controversial and has never backed down from a fight. In 2005 Senator   Walsh filed a bill requiring financial reports by churches. Many felt that this bill originated in an effort to enlist civil power on one side of an internal dispute within the Catholic Archdiocese over parish closings

In 2004 at the State Democratic Convention Nikki Tsongas presented a her an  award named for her husband the late Senator Paul Tsongas. It was given to Senator Marion Walsh for her work in the gay marriage debate. Considering she came from a very Catholic district she went with her beliefs that all people have the right of marriage and many expected her to lose her re-election bid especially when her opponent centered his campaign on the Gay Marriage Issue. She was Re-Elected by 65%. 

 Now that she is not running is she going to work for the re-election of the Gov. full time or will she  soon  join his revamping cabinet?

I received my Invitation today and am extending it to you…

You are invited to attend our campaign kick-off rally in Lowell!  Join Charlie Baker and Richard Tisei as we officially begin our campaign for reform on Beacon Hill and get Massachusetts working again.  The event is this Sunday, January 31, at 12:30 at the VFW Hall in Lowell. The hall is located at 190 Plain Street in Lowell.  Turning around Massachusetts starts with you!                                                     

RSVP today by clicking below, then pass this on to friends and family:

https://bakerforgov.wufoo.com/forms/lowell-event/  

Thank you for your support!

The Baker Committee

20 Years ago I worked as the In-House Monitor at the Greater Lowell Vocational School. When a student got sent to In-House he/she had to sit in a classroom, not talk, not sleep and were supposed to do their school work. My job was to make sure they came to In-House and that they did not enjoy the experience. I was called the Warden, the Jail keeper and a few other names not printable in a family friendly Blog. I started working at the school as a substitute teacher and then took the In-house job when the guy who was doing it let the students turn In-House into a friendly place you wanted to go to hang out and do nothing all day. From time to time I’ll share a real story from back then that should make you laugh or chuckle a little.

The following events are true…really I could not make this stuff up.

The 1^st day I’m subbing at the school I was a Phys. Ed teacher. Those that know me would be laughing already since I was the kid who was picked last for any team and played right field in Little league but I digress. I’m in the teachers area in the Pool when a male student walks in fully dressed and ask the other teacher if he could talk with him “privately”.

The other teacher assured him he could speak in front of me and ask the young man who was a junior why he wasn’t changed for the pool. With a straight face and all sincerity he explained that he and a “new girlfriend” had sex the previous evening and he had hurt himself and therefore he could not take gym. The other teacher was a veteran who had been at the school for many years and with the same straight face and sincerity replied to the young man “I’ve been teaching here for almost 15 years and thought I had heard every excuse, yours however is a 1^st and for no other reason than that, you are excused and may go sit in the bleachers.”….I on the other hand being a 24 year old with no experience was holding my side trying to suppress laughter and had tears coming out of my eyes.

 I would never ever in my life think of telling that to anyone let alone a gym teacher to get out of class. The fact that the other teacher never cracked a smile was amazing to me.  

I can’t imagine what the teachers hear or deal with today.