June 11: Patrick brought 24 top executives of fuel cell, hydrogen, solar, ethanol, and wind power companies to the State House and urged them to quickly form a new trade association basis for a state "clean energy council". The companies represented included UPC Wind of Newton, Second Wind Inc. of Somerville, Nuvera Fuel Cells Inc. of Billerica, Lilliputian Systems Inc. of Wilmington, Acumentrics Corp. of Westwood, Konarka Technologies Inc. of Lowell, Spire Corp. of Bedford, Seahorse Power Co. of Needham, RWE Schott Solar Inc. of Billerica, Bioenergy International LLC of Norwell, World Energy Alternatives LLC of Chelsea, Mascoma Corp of Cambridge, GreenFuel Technologies Corp. of Cambridge, and Celunol Corp. of Cambridge. The Governor planned 12 solar panel installations at state colleges, sewage plants, and prisons.

June 15: Foley Hoag LLP, a Boston law firm, hosted the first meeting of the clean energy council, with additional companies Solectria Renewables LLC of Lawrence, Beacon Power Corp. of Wilmington, and Wilson TurboPower Inc. of Woburn represented.

June 21: NStar CEO Thomas May cosponsored a fund-raiser breakfast at the Sheraton Boston along with Liberty Mutual Group insurance CEO Edmund "Ted" Kelly, and about 50 other executives of both companies. A Patrick spokesman said that over $25,000 was raised. NStar is the largest gas and electric utility in MA with over 1.3 million customers, and have consistently tried to raise their rates. The Governor has been criticized for working with 2 such industry giants, after he repeatedly spoke of changing the "culture of Beacon Hill" away from the "coziness" between business and public officials.

July 5: Governor Deval Patrick replaced former (1991-2007) commissioner of the state Division of Energy Resources David L. O'Connor with Philip Giudice. Giudice, 51, of Wayland, is senior VP and director of Enernoc Inc in Boston, is chairman of the Center for Effective Philanthropy in Cambridge, and was an energy consultant at Mercer Management Consulting in Lexington. Giudice said that he wants to focus on energy efficiency and "make a difference" by changing "the history of energy policy making in this country, its long periods of complacency, punctuated by a few moments of panic, followed by slipping back into complacency."

September 21: Clean energy was one of the topics of Patrick at a roundtable North Quabbin Community Coalition meeting with local officials at the Athol-Orange Elks in Orange, along with jobs and job training, North Quabbin industry, housing, education, and free community college for state residents. Patrick said his administration has set a goal of 100,000 new jobs in the state before the end of his first term. ''We're making progress,'' he said. ''We're 27,000 new jobs ahead after eight months.''

June 7: At a MassEquality fund-raiser the Governor said that he does not want the gay marriage ban referendum to be voted on until he is certain that it could be defeated. D-Holyoke Rep. Michael Kane and D-Wilbraham Sen. Gale Candaras considered changing their votes which would bring them into agreement with Deval Patrick, D-Boston House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, and the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus. In opposition are D-Ludlow Rep. Thomas Petrolati, D-Springfield Rep.

Sean Curran, D-Plymouth Senate President Therese Murray, and the Massachusetts Family Institute of Newton.

June 9: Deval Patrick became the first Governor to march in Boston's Gay Pride Parade, along with daughter Katherine and Mayor Thomas Menino. Those opposing the gay marriage ban needed 65,000 signatures minimum, by this date they had 170,000. Francis Pugliese, 60, of Boston, dressed in a Marilyn Monroe wig, eye glitter, dress and stilettos, said, "I've been walking in this parade for 30 years and plan to do it for another 30 more."

May 30: Ten Amherst-area Legislators wrote a letter to Governor Patrick indicating that they opposed President Jack Wilson's and the Board of Trustees' restructuring of UMass. They criticized both the idea of combining the President and Chancellor into one position, and the effort that ultimately and prematurely ousted Lombardi. The University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts also wrote letters to Patrick against the restructuring.

June 7: The Retired Professional Staff Association voted to support retaining Lombardi.

       Ruth Kaplan of the Brookline School Committee PTA, an Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam (MCAS) opponent, was appointed by the Governor to the state Board of Education.

June 8: D-Amherst Sen. Stanley Rosenberg said he also opposed, and wanted Patrick to name, the restructuring taskforce.

June 9: Seventeen more area Legislators signed a letter similar to the one on May 30.

June 10:

September 9: Deval Patrick visited Amherst College's Center for Community Engagement, a new office designed to connect students with public service opportunities. Patrick warned of seeking quick solutions to long-term problems.

"We govern for the next election, for the next news cycle," he said. "Community is not about instant solutions, it's about habits of mind and interactions."

September 19: Stephen Tocco was re-elected as chairman of the Board of Trustees by an 11-0 vote with 7 members abstaining. Other trustees include Henry Thomas of the Urban League of Springfield, Eileen Torchio Miller of Goshen, Laura Clausen Coelen of Leverett, John Armstrong of Amherst, Ed Collins as labor seat, Phillip Johnston of Marshfield, James Karam of Tiverton RI, Dr. Kerri Osterhaus of Marshfield as Medical School seat, Janet Pearl, and the two voting student trustees, Bharath Nath of the Worcester campus and Ruth Thompson of the Amherst campus. The trustees approved the 5 year $2.9 billion capital budget approved earlier this month by the Committee on Administration and Finance. The plan includes $1.45 billion for the flagship campus in Amherst, funding for a $52 million recreational facility and $10.5 million for a new police station to be built within three years.

June 7: The Governor fired former Romney administration official Aaron D'Elia from his 5-month post as the executive director of the Life Sciences Center, where he and his one assistant were the only staff. D'Elia had been criticized for lack of biotechnology experience. Patrick said he still wanted to increase the Center's $10 million fund to $1 billion and add many jobs to it.

June 8: Patrick asked the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT) to increase outreach to more black visitors. Massachusetts has the Black Heritage Trails and the four sites of the Museum of African American History, among many other similar attractions.

June 12: Deval Patrick's state tax commission initially proposed increasing business taxes by $100 million in fiscal year 2008, $285 million next year, and $500 million every year after. Instead, the Senate and the House proposed using some of the state's rainy day fund to close the budget shortfall.

June 21: Dozens of municipal officers and mayors went to Beacon Hill to help pass the Governor's financial aid package for cities and towns.

July 2: The Legislature approved most of Patrick's initiatives in the $26.8 billion budget for state fiscal year 2008, up 4.2% from fiscal year 2007. $600 million dollars of reserves and revenues was used to close the budget gap of June 12. Click here for specifics.

August 15: A Patrick tax commission considered cutting the 9.5 percent corporate income tax rate but only in exchange for closing loopholes and deductions.

May 19: Patrick chose James Morton of Springfield, Robert Nunes of Taunton, and Chairman Christopher Gabrieli of Boston to join the five-person Springfield Finance Control Board. They join the two elected members City Council President Kateri Walsh and Mayor Charles Ryan. Morton, the CEO and president of the YMCA of Greater Springfield, left his position as Springfield Library Search Committee chairman to join the Control Board. Morton did owe a debt to the IRS after closing after closing his law practice in 1999 which served many who could not afford to pay standard rates. Morton did inform the YMCA of his debt before it became public knowledge, and had paid his debt in full by February 7, 2007.

June 27: The Governor, his Anti-Crime Council, and about 50 regional public safety officials met at American International College, discussed battling against gang and gun violence, extent of crime beyond eastern MA, more summer jobs for at-risk youth, and several other topics. Chelan Brown of the Springfield grassroots organization Alive with Awareness, Knowledge and Empowerment (AWAKE), Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe and Springfield Police Commissioner Edward A. Flynn were all delighted with Patrick's presence and plans.

June 15:

July 3: Patrick ordered that any day any MA soldier killed in war is buried; all flags on state buildings would be lower to half-staff. Since the Iraq War began over 4 years ago, about 60 MA natives have died in it.

July 5: Staff Sgt. Daniel Newsome of Chicopee, killed in Baghdad, was laid to rest.

July 10: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the Chicago Tribune editorial board, ""I believe we're entering a period this summer of increased risk. All these things give me kind of a gut feeling, not that I have a specific threat that I have in mind right now, but we are entering a period of increased vulnerability." 

July 12: Governor Patrick criticized the "gut feeling" of Chertoff. Patrick said that Chertoff should tell us what he knows, not what he feels. Chertoff's press secretary Russ Knocke replied, "Shame on us if the secretary of Homeland Security is not going to be in a position to offer his personal belief based upon years of expertise." 

July 21: A massive mill fire erupted in Uxbridge that destroyed 65 businesses and 300 jobs.

July 26:

August 6: Deval Patrick said that "no red flags" were found on 24 MA bridges inspected, that were similar to the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed. The last inspection, of the busy Longfellow Bridge spanning the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge would be completed by August 7.

August 29: Firefighters Paul Cahill and Warren Payne of the Ladder 25/Engine 30 in West Roxbury died fighting a blaze in a Chinese restaurant.

September 3: Governor Patrick visited Ladder 25 and offered his condolences.

September 24: The new Patrick state Homeland Security strategy would expand security video surveillance at major transportation facilities, MBTA stations, and Boston's ports and airports.

July 17: Montague officials joined forces with Deerfield officials to ask Patrick and the MA Secretary of Transportation to help them settle with Pan Am Railways, formerly known as Boston & Maine Railroad. Pan Am owes Montague $55,000 in back taxes, owes Deerfield $250,000 in back taxes, and has done nothing to correct the problems that closed the 37yo Greenfield Road Bridge in 1999.

July 27: The dairy task force had its first meeting, at UMass Amherst. Members included D-Worthington Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-North Adams Rep. Daniel Bosley, D-Amherst Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, and D-Barre Sen. Stephen Brewer, D-Dalton Rep. Denis Guyer.

July 25: Patrick signed 2 bills for his Municipal Partnership Act, one that would allow the state to seize the assets (with some exemptions) of 18 badly performing pension funds in West Springfield, Chicopee and Hampshire County, and the other to permit cities and towns to sign up for the Group Insurance Commission if 70% of union leaders agree to do so. Patrick said that this will help reduce the growth rate of property taxes. 2 other bills are stalled in the Legislature, permitting municipalities to charge their own 2% tax on restaurant meals, and eliminating long-standing subsidies for telecommunications companies.

August 16: The Governor attended the 30th annual clambake at the Six Flags New England picnic grove. The clambake has long attracted the powerful and the politics-lovers. 

August 15:

August 21: Deval Patrick officially took control of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, filling the final vacancy with Thomas Stephens, director of annuity sales for MetLIfe Inc. Patrick had already named Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen and Michael P. Angelini, a Worcester lawyer, to serve on the board.

Additional: On his vacation that lasted most of August, Patrick also signed 27 bills into law, attended 4 funerals of service members, working on auto insurance reform, studied the casino gambling issue, and participating in morning briefings.

September 6: The Governor signed a bill that allows adopted people access to their birth certificates without going to court, making it easier to learn identities of biological parents. Now adopted people who were born on or before July 17, 1974, may obtain their birth certificates, people already born who are adopted in the future and those born on or after Jan. 1, 2008, will be able to obtain a copy of their birth certificates from the state after they turn 18, adoptive parents may get a birth certificate for a child born in Massachusetts after Jan. 1, 2008, and it establishes a voluntary "adoption contact information registry"  that may help some of those adoptees and their birth parents make contact. The new law does not include adopted people born between July 18, 1974, and Dec. 31 of this year because of the privacy provisions of the 1974 law for that time period. The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children supports this new law, the National Council for Adoption opposes it.

The Anti-Romney