Since the Nov. 8 election, local Democrats have trumpeted Mayor Timothy P. Murray’s so-called decisive victory. It seems that Mr. Murray’s council colleagues, or, more aptly named, his mutual admiration society, have been working very hard to keep him smiling, or at least to convince us he is smiling.

I have to break the bad news to the Worcester Democrats, especially Mr. Murray, regarding the election results. As Mr. Murray looks forward to running for lieutenant governor, the dark cloud of the recent election results looms over his head. Detailed analysis shows that Mr. Murray actually received less than 50 percent of the votes in the mayoral race. This percentage does include blank votes; that is, people who chose not to vote for any mayoral candidate.

The speculation that Mr. Murray will run for lieutenant governor in 2006, and, more presumptuously, the question of whether or not he will stay on as mayor if elected, needs to be put into perspective.

The conditions that Mr. Murray must satisfy before getting the opportunity to become lieutenant governor are a daunting challenge: He must first raise enough money and network himself to delegates at the Democratic convention, then to Democrat voters in the primary. And finally, as if Mr. Murray had control over this final condition, the Democrat gubernatorial nominee must be victorious on election night 2006. However, to capture successfully all three conditions in his favor, especially after such a rough showing in his own home city, seems unlikely.

 UMass Memorial Medical Center opened its $129 million Lakeside Wing to the public yesterday and its top officials proclaimed it an important step in the making of a renowned medical center.
The point was illustrated by UMass Memorial Health Care President and Chief Executive Officer John G. O’Brien, who spoke of two recent letters he received from patients who offered effusive praise for the care they received at the hospital. Both letters made reference to world-class care in a Third World facility. Mr. O’Brien said he was stunned by the similarities, but not surprised that anyone would be less than happy with the overall condition of the hospital.

“Now we have world-class care in a world-class facility,” he said, as UMass showed off its new facility at the University Campus with a reception inside the not-quite-yet completed building. The new emergency department is set to open Feb. 7 with everything else following shortly thereafter.
 UMass Memorial Medical Center opened its $129 million Lakeside Wing to the public yesterday and its top officials proclaimed it an important step in the making of a renowned medical center.
The point was illustrated by UMass Memorial Health Care President and Chief Executive Officer John G. O’Brien, who spoke of two recent letters he received from patients who offered effusive praise for the care they received at the hospital. Both letters made reference to world-class care in a Third World facility. Mr. O’Brien said he was stunned by the similarities, but not surprised that anyone would be less than happy with the overall condition of the hospital.

“Now we have world-class care in a world-class facility,” he said, as UMass showed off its new facility at the University Campus with a reception inside the not-quite-yet completed building. The new emergency department is set to open Feb. 7 with everything else following shortly thereafter.
 

Over the years, Louis C. DiNatale, the Lancaster resident and Worcester native who is one of the state’s leading political pollsters, has earned a reputation as a hard-knuckled political operative in addition to his polling work for the University of Massachusetts.

Now his hard-hitting approach has come back to haunt him after the Boston Globe yesterday published a story detailing Mr. DiNatale’s outside consulting work and raising questions about conflicts of interest involved in his two roles.

The Globe, which has published many polls Mr. DiNatale has done under the auspices of UMass, reported that Mr. DiNatale arranged for a top aide of his to do a poll for Christy P. Mihos, the wealthy Cape Cod businessman who left the Republican party to run as an independent for governor, and that Mr. DiNatale consulted for Mr. Mihos.

Mr. DiNatale told the newspaper that his outside work was not inappropriate and that he did not change poll results based on consulting jobs. He said he was never paid by Mr. Mihos and “got disinvolved, once he decided to become a candidate.”

Mr. DiNatale did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

Monday, Frederick Sperounis, executive vice chancellor of UMass Lowell, where Mr. DiNatale directs the Center for Economic and Civic Opinion, said Mr. DiNatale has agreed to not accept any more private survey work.

Mr. DiNatale is also UMass Lowell’s executive director of public affairs. He earns a salary of $154,500. Before moving to the Lowell campus in 2004, he spent two decades at UMass -Boston, doing polling, research and teaching at the McCormack Institute.

Brent J. Andersen of Auburn, treasurer of the state Republican party, charged that by helping Mr. Mihos, Mr. DiNatale, a Democrat, effectively was trying to undermine the gubernatorial candidacy of Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.

“I think it’s highly improper,” Mr. Andersen said. “Whenever a pollster is working for a supposedly unbiased college and for a candidate, he can skew things to benefit their candidate directly.”

Even some Democrats questioned the wisdom of Mr. DiNatale, who is well-known in Worcester County political circles, inserting himself into the race for governor.

Most recently, Mr. DiNatale advised District 2 Worcester City Councilor Philip P. Palmieri in his re-election campaign. Mr. DiNatale, a boyhood friend of Mr. Palmieri, also co-owns the Shrewsbury Street building that houses Worcester Magazine, for which Mr. DiNatale once wrote a regular political column.

Mr. DiNatale has not always been as successful, or as accurate, in his consulting as he was with Mr. Palmieri.

In 2001, he polled for a campaign to fluoridate Worcester’s water and told backers they would win comfortably. The referendum question lost by a wide margin.

“It’s always been no great secret that Lou’s done a lot of consulting and polling on the side,” said William J. Eddy, chairman of the Worcester Democratic City Committee, who studied under Mr. DiNatale at UMass - Boston for his master’s degree in public policy. “But this time, getting involved in a governor’s race was a little too visible.

“By making himself so visible, he made himself an issue,” Mr. Eddy said. “That was a mistake.”

Jordan Levy, a Worcester radio talk show host who served with Mr. Mihos on the Massachusetts Turnpike board, said he was troubled by Mr. DiNatale doing polls as a public employee and working for hire at the same time for the politicians who presumably are the subject of his polls. An opinion poll conducted by Mr. DiNatale in February included Mr. Mihos.

The Associated Press contributed to this report