Hard to find relief in Beacon Hill’s Bullpen
Being a Beacon Hill hotshot isn’t all glitz and glamour — just take a look at where the state’s newest reps are working these days.
It’s called “the Bullpen” — a windowless fourth-floor State House hearing room jammed to the max with 16 freshly elected reps and their aides, where personal space is only slightly more generous than a crowded T train or a coach seat on a trans-Atlantic flight.
“Not really what I was hoping,” state Rep. Frank Moran (DLawrence) admitted. “Cramped in — that’s the only worst part. But at the same time we’re so close to each other, you’re at arm’s length, you can touch your next-door neighbor if you need anything.”
He means that literally — some Bullpen dwellers sit about two feet from each other and share a desk and even a computer.
“It’s kind of like being on display at a fish market,” state Rep. Kenneth Gordon (D-Bedford) said. “It’s a little cramped, the amenities aren’t what you are used to, but there are certainly a lot of interesting companions.”
State Rep. Josh Cutler, who put together two office chairs to create a makeshift desk, was coping with an IT meltdown Thursday, but trying to make the most of his cluttered habitat.
“It kind of feels like being back in college — freshman year — we’re all in the same dorm,” said Cutler, who admitted he sometimes escapes to the Pembroke Au Bon Pain for peace and quiet and free Wi-Fi. “It’d be nice some day to have an office of my own.”
Barring House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo forgetting about their existence, the freshmen expect to be crammed together for another 3-4 weeks before getting their own office space.
But in one of the rare moments where being a Republican on Beacon Hill actually carries perks, the lone freshman GOP’er — state Rep. Leonard Mirra (R-West Newbury) — already landed his permanent digs last week.
“We gave him a little bit of a hard time,” Cutler said.
Instead of business cards — which the freshmen don’t have yet because, of course, they have no permanent contact info — Cutler handed a reporter a package of organic carrot seeds, labeled “Seeds of Change!” with his email, website and Twitter handle.
Still, there are signs of optimism their congested ordeal may eventually come to an end.
Reads a sign on the way out of the office: “Last One Out Please Lock Door.”
Gaffe lights up Revere
Red-faced Revere officials said a legal notice that said a local developer wants the city to allow medical marijuana treatment centers is all a big mistake.
“It’s a cut-and-paste error,” City Clerk Ashley E. Melnik told the Herald about the legal notice published Jan. 16 in the Revere Journal.
The notice said the Revere City Council and the Revere Planning Board are holding hearings this week “on the application of Steven R. Caruso, Trustee, R&S Realty” who reportedly wants to add medical marijuana treatment centers to the city’s zoning code.
“It’s a mistake. There is no plan,” said City Council President Ira Novoselsky, adding that Monday night’s meeting is to figure out ways to keep medicinal marijuana distribution centers out of Revere.
“We just don’t think it will be good for business or the people,” he said. “There’s probably going to be one in Boston, and maybe one in Cambridge, so we think we can get away without having one.”
Bay State voters legalized medicinal marijuana in November. The new law allows as many as 13 distribution centers by the end of 2013.
And Caruso said he wants no part of them.
“I don’t support drugs in any way, shape or form,” he said.
ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos committed an egregious betrayal of his Bay State roots this week.
His misdeed? Failure to recognize a Celtics living legend.
During the network’s coverage of President Obama’s Inauguration on Monday, Stephanopoulos made quite a mix-up.
“That’s Morgan Freeman, I think, right there on the Capitol steps,” Stephanopoulos said. “No, Bill Russell, I’m sorry.”
Making matters worse, Russell was actually wearing a Celtics hat. And Stephanopoulos was born in Fall River.
The former adviser to President Clinton now joins the infamous ranks of Tom Menino (“Wilcock,” “Gonk,” “Hondo,” “KJ” and Jason “Split the Uprights” Varitek), Martha Coakley (Curt Schilling is a Yankees fan) and John Kerry (“Manny Ortiz”) as the latest Boston-bred politico to make a big-time Hub sports flub.