In Memoriam: Privy Bewick
Thursday, September 30, 2010
As noted inward this obituary, he died on Christmas Day,
surrounded past times family, carols together with Christmas light. A loving together with intelligent man, amongst a nifty heart, together with a warm humor, he worked to improve the surroundings during his life, every bit good every bit to influence the security of nuclear power, together with to assist businesses inward their efforts to comply amongst complex environmental, wellness together with security regulations. He valued integrity inward government. He was Massachusetts 3rd Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, together with his mention was engraved inward granite at “Secretaries Landing” on the Charles River inward Boston piece he was endure to taste it.
Read the rest, too, because he was a remarkable together with lovely person.
At to the lowest degree ane time a year, John would write me a note, quest my sentiment on some affair of populace policy. He was ever excavation into why things worked the way they did together with how they could run better. If you lot wanted a Definition of a populace servant--even when he was no longer inward the government--he provided it.
On March 12, 1996, every bit I was doing some enquiry for a mass on the history of the Metropolitan District Commission (an means inside EOEA), he together with I talked almost his career together with thence veered into environmental together with institutional issues. In response to the query of how he became Secretary, he replied:
Actually, it was serendipitous, together with it sort of speaks to the fact that, inward a lot of ways, you lot can't innovation sure things inward life, that there's a lot of risk inward all this. It's something that I didn't seek, but it came to me inward a real interesting way.
I had gotten bored at Cabot Corporation where I was doing research, together with thence I started to larn involved politically . . . inward Paul Guzzi's exertion (for the United States Senate) together with started writing seat papers. It turned out, I establish out later, that I was the exclusively somebody on his exertion writing seat papers. We had a number of debates at his house. One of my recommendations to him was, create non larn anti-nuclear, together with he ignored that together with followed his exertion wisdom advisors. And, exactly, every bit I idea would happen, the coin thence flowed almost at ane time to [Paul] Tsongas inward the campaign. All the industrial coin went to Tsongas, thence on election day, Tsongas had a much meliorate election twenty-four lx minutes menses performance than Paul.
After the election, Guzzi was real unopen to [Governor Ed] King. And through our PR swain at Cabot, I said, "Gee, I'd similar to endure on an advisory committee," together with my resume happened past times Guzzi's eyes after they had turned downwardly almost 5 people for secretary. A diversity of people had been proposed to King, together with he had non liked whatsoever of them--to his credit--as some were political hacks. Guzzi said, "This is interesting. I know him together with nosotros come about to endure looking for someone."
So it was totally fortuitous that King bought in. The Governor called John Cabot, at Cabot Corporation, together with Zeb Alfred, at New England Electric; together with both of them knew me, thence I was blessed past times those two.
I was called inward on a Th together with appointed on Tuesday--King's green careful fashion of checking people out! I had had ane meeting, together with I pointed out to King that my begetter had built the 2d largest duet on the B&O Railroad together with was a civil engineer, together with my blood brother was commissioner of highways inward Delaware; together with I mean value that, amongst these ii things inward my background, he for certain idea I was a soul blood brother or something, a builder family, together with he was quite surprised that I ended upwardly having environmental concerns.
You mightiness mean value that an "accidental" cabinet secretarial assistant would endure politically naive together with non attuned to how to grapple inward an administration. That determination would endure broad of the grade inward this case. For example, John ever said that working amongst Ed King on environmental issues was a positive experience, notwithstanding the latter's less than stellar reputation amidst the environmental community. But the cardinal was that John had to laid upwardly the dynamics to motion things inward the direction he wanted.
We only had a nifty relationship.
We did something that was real interesting. I mean value I was the exclusively cabinet secretarial assistant who had a regular coming together amongst the Governor. We discovered early on, that if nosotros could larn the Governor's ear get-go on an issue, he would accept our frame of reference. So chop-chop I started quest for appointments ane time every week. I took all my crew in.
Here [for example] was Terry Geoghegan--BC graduate, nifty football game team, nifty football game player--who would come upwardly inward amongst the environmentalists. As thence in that place would endure this quizzical await [from King], "Here come upwardly the environmentalists together with there's Terry Geoghegan amongst them? Hm?"
We got him to sign the barrier beach protective order, which I mean value was the most extraordinary inward the nation. It was an social club that said that barrier beaches are nature's way of protecting the mainland, together with they are shifting formations, together with you lot should non laid upwardly on them. They direct maintain a life of their own. Therefore, the province volition non create anything to invest coin inward protecting them.
When [state representative] Nick Costello came downwardly from Newburyport together with said the folks on Plum Island desire to pass $1 ane chiliad m of federal coin to pick out H2O onto their properties--after they contaminated their ain H2O render past times edifice their cesspools improperly--the Governor said, "No, nosotros are non putting province or federal coin into the barrier beaches." Needless to say, Nick wasn't real happy.
That's the sort of guy I knew every bit Governor that the populace had real lilliputian concept of. When the going was tough, together with if he believed you lot were right, he would endure in that place inward the trenches amongst you lot if you lot needed support, inward contrast to another governors.
John was a street smart political scientist. We afterwards got to the primary theme of my interview, why the MDC, ane time known every bit ane of the best regional authorities agencies inward the country, had fallen to the indicate of permitting the full degradation of the sewage handling organization together with the pollution of Boston Harbor.
There's a multi-dimensional response to that. First of all, the problems were non real visible except for the summertime beach contamination problem. Even that was blamed on a rainstorm that overwhelmed the system, thence "nature is doing this to us." Other than that, the people had H2O to drink, the skating rinks worked to a greater extent than or less, the swimming worked inward the summertime. So the problems were non visible to the public.
The 2d percentage of the response goes deeply at the percentage that the political procedure plays inward Massachusetts. For many inward power, the objective of politics was to assure project for constituents, together with the means was performing that project real well. You had a chairman of Ways together with Means from Dorchester; you lot had a Senate President--or before long to endure Senate President--from South Boston; together with numerous other reps amongst influence from the greater Boston metropolitan area. In damage of the traditional watch of what politics every bit about, it was doing an first-class project of providing jobs for those constituents. So why change?
I would attribute that inward percentage to the lack of a two-party system. Even if you lot had a Republican governor, you lot nonetheless had the same legislature. One of the things that happens when in that place is tremendous political influence inward project creations is that in that place is a deep cynicism almost the character of province service together with government. Nobody is valued if everybody is viewed every bit having gotten in that place through political connections, every bit opposed to competence.
It took us 3 years to larn through a direction pay [increase] neb [to attract to a greater extent than qualified people.] [The legislators themselves] assumed they were all incompetent because "I set them there. They can't endure worth much because I know how they got their job."
While I'll missy these kinds of insights that John had of the trunk politic together with authorities service, most of all I'll missy his grin together with his distinctive laugh, his joyful viewpoint on the world, together with his irrepressible kindness. This was a genuinely skillful man.
