Tag Archives: acting commerce secretary

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick ignores state attorney general and more than 60 lawmakers recomendations and settles for second string

Patrick urges new look at fish limits – Gov. Deval Patrick has aimed lower than the state attorney general and more than 60 lawmakers had requested in seeking an 11th-hour reprieve for the groundfishery. Instead of appealing to President Obama as Attorney General Martha Coakley and lawmakers had hoped, the governor asked the acting commerce secretary, Rebecca Blank, to “encourage” NOAA to reverse a legal position, explained in an undisclosed memorandum, and allow a second consecutive year of lesser catch reductions in Gulf of Maine cod than the 77 percent the agency is targeting now. continued