Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« You Probably Need to Temper Your Ex… | Join The Stranger at Havana Tonight… »

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

2012 Mitt Romney Fired a Disabled Lawyer for Disagreeing with Him

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 2:14 PM

Mitt Romney likes to talk about how he governed Massachusetts with a true go-along, get-along spirit. But this story from the right-wing Boston Herald tells a different story. It's about how Mitt Romney exploited the accidental death of a woman named Milena Del Valle to serve a longstanding political vendetta. Del Valle died in a tunnel collapse.

...then-Gov. Romney had been on an Ahab-like quest to fire the Turnpike chairman, Matt Amorello.

Romney’s efforts were thwarted at every turn by a Townie who graduated from Christopher Columbus High School and Suffolk Law. As the Pike’s chief legal counsel, [Michael] Powers prevailed in court against Mitt’s previous attempts to sack Amorello for “malfeasance.”

The morning after Del Valle’s death, Romney journeyed from Lake Winnipesaukee to conduct a personal inspection of a hole in the tunnel ceiling. At a press conference that morning, his first gleeful words were all about finally having a bulletproof reason to fire Amorello. He barely got around to mentioning Milena Del Valle.

As Mike Powers prepared for yet another court battle, he nearly cut off his right hand while trying to fix a stubborn lawn mower. If it wasn’t for a neighbor who saw Powers go into shock and applied a tourniquet, he may well have died.

Without Powers to mount a case for him, Amorello resigned. The next day, Aug. 18, 2006, a letter from Romney’s director of personnel was hand-delivered to Powers’ home. He had to accept it with his left hand because his mangled right hand was still fused to his stomach.

The letter informed Powers that he was fired, effective immediately. Eventually, Powers successfully sued the state for back pay and health insurance. But this is the Mitt Romney that Massachusetts knows: The destruction of his enemies is more important to him than the well-being of his constituents. If you have any doubts about that, you should read this earlier Herald story about the "callous" way the Romney administration handled Del Valle's family after the accident.

FacebookShare

Comments (14) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Definitely goes along with Romney's gleeful smirking after he thought he owned Obama on the Benghazi attack. How does someone like this survive in politics?

Posted by keshmeshi on October 16, 2012 at 2:23 PM

I don't think the full story lends itself well to your rather over-wrought "Rmoney is mean to the handicapped!" framing here.

As much as I dislike Rmoney, not every single assemblage of words that n a cursory glance seem somewhat negative about him deserve to be spread around.

Posted by tkc on October 16, 2012 at 2:25 PM

So someone had to die before the Governor could fire an incompetent Turnpike chairman?

Sounds like Liberal Massachusetts.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on October 16, 2012 at 2:52 PM

This just in: Mitt Romney is a dick.

Posted by Looking For a Better Read on October 16, 2012 at 2:58 PM

Powers wrote a book about what an incredible, unfeeling monster Romney is up close:

http://www.amazon.com/Mitt-Romneys-About…

Posted by podcaf on October 16, 2012 at 3:04 PM

We should all know by now, the man is amoral.

Posted by Pope Peabrain on October 16, 2012 at 3:04 PM

At least we know of one time Mitt told the truth: when he said, "I like to fire people."

Posted by Clayton on October 16, 2012 at 3:15 PM

Wow, Mitt's mean! Film at 11!

Posted by Mister G on October 16, 2012 at 3:16 PM

Romney is a sociopath. He has zero empathy for people who are not him. And, like Bush Jr., he has Daddy issues - Daddy couldn't win the presidency, but Mitt can.

God forbid that man ever becomes POTUS. Sure, I know that he won't be a dictator and that he has to go through congress - but with the congree we have, is that really an obstacle?

Posted by Schweighsr on October 16, 2012 at 3:19 PM

Thank you, 9. I've been thinking he was a sociopath for a while.

Posted by Kendra on October 16, 2012 at 3:22 PM

Please, it was not a "tunnel collapse", it was a falling ceiling tile in the tunnel that killed that poor woman. There is a difference. Mitt Romney is still a dick, however.

Posted by crone on October 16, 2012 at 3:40 PM

Speaking of the other abled...

I was surprised that I have not seen any reaction to the story Paul Ryan told about Romney helping a family who was the victim of a car accident. He referred to the two boys who survived as "crippled". I have not heard that term for decades.

He didn't say it with animosity...just a kind of antediluvian flair.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on October 16, 2012 at 4:09 PM

@11: and there's a difference between 'a ceiling tile,' and a 3 ton concrete slab. She didn't get hit by some little piece of plaster. She had a giant frigging rock crush her to death. The Big Dig was a financial boondoggle and remains a disaster. Somebody should have gotten fired for it.

Posted by NateMan on October 16, 2012 at 4:20 PM

I also feel it necessary to say the Romney coverage has really slumped lately. Look, I've lives all my 33yrs in Franklin and Hampshire counties here in MA. I'm a product of our public schools and higher education. I'm a state employee. I have as much reason to hate Romney and 4 more years experience at it than most people here. He's a jackass. But headlines that suggest that either A.) He fired someone for being handicapped or B.) That there's something inherently unethical about firing someone who's handicapped for cause is just sloppy writing. Sounds to me like the guy was doing his job, protecting someone who probably should have lost theirs. He was doing his job well, and I'm sure he was fired out of spite. Why isn't that bad enough to be the headline?

Posted by NateMan on October 16, 2012 at 4:38 PM