Barack Obama called into Massachusetts Governor’s monthly radio show to call in a complaint about the Somerville neighborhood he lived in as a college student, only to be chided about his decades old unpaid parking tickets.
“Governor, this is Barack Obama, formerly of Somerville. I’ve got a few complaints about service in and around the neighborhood, but I’ve moved down south since that time,” said the President.
At first, Gov. Deval Patrick thought it was the work of a practical joker, but soon the outgoing governor came to terms with the fact that his longtime friend Barack Obama was actually on the other end of the line. The pair joked and talked about old times, and co-host Jim Braude jumped in to inquire the status of Barack Obama’s infamous unpaid parking tickets.
“You know, I think I had to before I took office, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to step into the Commonwealth without being arrested,” said Obama. Records confirm that shortly after the Globe story came to light, the president paid in full his overdue tickets in both municipalities.
In 2007, during the Obama’s first presidential campaign, The Boston Globe uncovered a slew of unpaid parking tickets from his time in Cambridge and Somerville. Of the nearly 20 tickets, only two had been paid; the rest were still overdue. Obama racked up the tickets over a three year span, which included infractions such as parking in in a bus stop and in a street sweeping zone.
Gov. Patrick got the last laugh, however, when the President fumbled the name Massachussets:
Deval Patrick: “Mr. President, you know I love you, but you still have trouble saying Massachusetts. You know that don’t you?”
Barack Obama: “You know, there’s a little lisp thing that develops when I say Massachusetts. I know how to spell it, though.”
