L.A. not playing games
City of Angels awash in cash for 2024 Olympics
One of the (many) questions that dogged Boston’s doomed bid for the 2024 Olympics was that of public financing. Vows not to tap the taxpayers were followed by revelations that public money could go toward infrastructure, followed by state leaders actually spending money to analyze the bid, followed by … well, you know the rest.
No such issues apparently exist in Los Angeles.
California state lawmakers last week approved a bill giving the city’s 2024 bid up to $250 million in state support. But before you drop your No Boston Olympics mug in astonishment, rest assured: that money would be tapped only if the city itself goes through its $250 million in contributions to the bid and the games’ insurance payouts also have been exhausted.
Plus, Olympic organizers were quick to remind the public, that’s only in the “unlikely event of a cost overrun.”
By the way, an Oxford study released this year found that the average Olympics goes 156 percent over budget.
Pollster to PAC leader
David Paleologos — best known in Boston and nationally as a major pollster for presidential, gubernatorial and other races — is jumping into a different side of politics with the Greek PAC, a political action committee he’s heading that’s dedicated to
boosting Greek- American candidates and promoting, according to a filing, “Hellenism in the Commonwealth.” Paleologos, who heads Suffolk University’s Political Research Center, said the idea was born with his son, Arthur, a 17-yearold Phillips Andover senior who also plans to be deeply involved in the PAC and the recruitment of younger Greek candidates.
Though likely too late to make an impact this session, David Paleologos said the goal is to potentially expand it to a federal organization or an independent expenditure PAC at some point, “if we were to have a successful cycle or two.”
“It’s a longterm idea that I would love to see grow to a national level,” said Arthur Paleologos, who serves as copresident of his school’s student body. He emphasized that the PAC is nonpartisan.
“It’s something that we hadn’t seen, some kind of umbrella organization through which Greek Americans could donate and quality candidates who might not otherwise take the initiative to run for office could use the resources that we could bring to the table.”
The elder Paleologos acknowledged it could also put him on multiple sides of the political arena — though he
stressed he would “absolutely not” poll a race the PAC became involved in.
“I never poll with Suffolk for anything that’s done privately,” said Paleologos, who has done polling with USA Today, the Boston Herald, The Boston Globe and others. “That’s why I kind of put it on the back burner (until late in the cycle). I viewed it as something I would do when I retired. … My son really kind of lit the fire for me to do something that I talked to him about over time.”
High times
A New Hampshire Attorney General’s investigation into who former Rep. Kyle Tasker sold drugs to at the Statehouse was … revealing. At least four Granite State lawmakers admitted to buying drugs from him and a fifth said he smoked marijuana in the “Statehouse anteroom,” which a couple of New Hampshire political inside rs said appeared to reference the room off the House chamber where reps sometimes gather. (Surprise, surprise: It’s a non-smoking area.)
Tasker is not only facing drug charges but also an indictment charging that he tried to lure a 14-year-old girl into a sexual encounter. So this is a serious case.
But for someone one lawmaker dubbed the “Club Med of weed” — with “kettles” of loose marijuana and “drugrelated paraphernalia” littered about his kitchen — there’s a bit of irony slipped into the AG’s five-page report: the Nottingham pol lived on, none other, than Smoke Street.
Old money
With years of name recognition on his side, former City Councilor Stephen J. Murphy won the Democratic primary last month for the obscure but well-paying position of Suffolk County Register of Deeds.
But it’s not just voter familiarity that’s helping him in his pursuit of the $124,000 seat.
There’s some very familiar names in his campaign account, too.
Francis Bellotti, the former state attorney general, gave $250 to Murphy Thursday — on top of $250 he gave him in August. On the same day, former Senate President Billy Bulger plunked down $100 for Murphy. Under occupation, he put “retired.” State House reporter Matt Stout can be reached at matthew. stout@bostonherald.com. Dan Atkinson contributed to this report.