E-Mail This Article to a Friend HACK ATTACK? Mitt Romney, foe of patronage! BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN

Some Democrats in town are getting a good chuckle about the recent personnel shuffling at the Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment Commission (MSEC), the quasi-public state agency that brings big sports events and moviemaking business to Massachusetts. Their amusement comes from Governor Mitt Romney’s maneuvering, which looks an awful lot like the kind of back-room patronage Romney came to office promising to eradicate.

It all started on October 19, when Romney announced out of the blue that he had named Don Stirling as MSEC president and CEO. This should have been a blockbuster announcement — Stirling is a big fish in that field, having served as marketing director for NBA Properties, Inc. and the Ladies Professional Golf Association, among others. And the current MSEC president, Mark Drago, was generally not receiving high marks for his performance.

But there were two problems. First, observers could suspect favoritism upon learning that Stirling’s most recent job was as marketing director for the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee, working side by side with fellow Brigham Young University alum Mitt Romney. Second, the governor is not technically supposed to be able to appoint people to the MSEC, which is a private organization funded with $450,000 from the state. Seems that Romney called his old buddy and offered him the job without any sort of process or authority — or even bothering to inform anyone that Drago was being replaced.

Indeed, instead of giving Stirling a splashy introduction to the Hub, Romney mentioned the appointment as an afterthought during a press conference about plans for the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships — on the same day the Red Sox won game six against the Yankees. Nobody noticed. The Boston Globe didn’t even report it.

Well, Drago noticed. And Drago, who had been an assistant to Governors Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci and then put in time with the Massachusetts Port Authority, has friends of his own on Beacon Hill.

So this week, Romney appointed the guy he was firing from the MSEC ... to be vice-president of the MSEC, focusing on film projects. Legislators, including House Speaker Robert Travaglini and Senate president Salvatore DiMasi, pitched in on the announcement, praising the excellent choice of Drago for this important post — which is, in fact, a demotion for him.

Thus, Romney has given an old buddy a job while providing a lifetime pol a soft landing for not doing his job. "Mitt Romney is acting much more like the ‘Gang of Three’ he ran against than they ever did," chortles one long-time political appointee.