Walsh insider was high-ranking Patrick aide
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2015/10/walsh_insider_was_high_ranking_patrick_aide
IDENTIFIED: Kenneth Brissette was a high-ranking aide under former Gov. Deval Patrick and now is the tourism chief under Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
Walsh insider was high-ranking Patrick aide
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Joe Battenfeld
The City Hall official in the middle of a federal extortion case against Teamsters union workers was a high-ranking aide in former Gov. Deval Patrick’s tourism office who helped funnel millions of tax dollars into tourism and trade mission funds.
Kenneth Brissette served in the Patrick administration starting in 2007 and rose to become chief operating officer of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism before leaving to become Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s first tourism chief last year.
According to a federal indictment, an unnamed Walsh representative — identified by the Herald as Brissette — called two restaurants to tell them Teamsters would picket their businesses if they allowed Bravo’s “Top Chef” to film there. The restaurants pulled out of the show.
Brissette was hailed by a Boston Globe columnist as a “Minister of Fun” for his efforts in leading the Patriots Super Bowl parade earlier this year. He has also been involved in Walsh’s efforts to bring a Boston Grand Prix race to the Seaport District next year.
--
I wonder if Brissette was involved with the failed Boston2024 effort.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Whether it's the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the City of Boston, I don't really know how many millions we have to keep funneling into attracting tourists.
Massachusetts, and especially Boston, is the birthplace/bakery of the Revolution, and has so much more to offer, including Plymouth Rock/Plimoth Plantation*, Cape Cod and the Berkshires.
Even if we do need to spend a lot to attract tourists, at some point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in.
Also, at what point will what we spend to attract tourists exceed the revenues the state actually gets as a result of tourism?** Has anyone without skin in that game even bothered to try to find out?
*http://www.plimoth.org/?gclid=CLj9rbKVpsgCFQmPHwodmKcFwQ I am the only one in my family who wants to have dinner there on Thanksgiving Day. 
**How many tourist dollars actually find their way into the coffers of the state or city.