Who Called Us

This is who the number belongs to: Massachusetts latest entry in the race to fill Ted Kennedy’s senate seat is Steve Pagliuca. While he might have name-recognition issues in the Bay State, he is a well-known figure in the rarefied world of private equity. So if you are sitting at home in the Berkshires in Western Mass. or in your office on Boston’s Beacon Hill, here are a few things to know about your candidate.


Bloomberg News
Steve Pagliuca, at the 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Age: 54

Name: Pagliuca (pronounced “pah-lee-OOH’-kah”)

Nickname: Pags

Biographical Sketch: Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., grandson of an Italian immigrant shoemaker. Moved to Framingham, Mass., at a young age and lived there for five years. Moved to New Jersey, where he attended high school. Went to college at Duke University, where he rode the bench on the freshman hoops team. He moved to Boston in 1980 to attend Harvard Business School and never left. He lives in Weston, a leafy suburb, where he coaches his four children’s sports teams.

Vocation: Managing Director, Bain Capital. Pagliuca began his career as an accountant and then joined Bain & Co. as a management consultant. In 1989, Mitt Romney recruited him to work on private-equity deals at offshoot Bain Capital. Unlike Blackstone Group (Stephen Schwarzman) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (Henry Kravis), Bain eschews a star culture. Though more of a true partnership than at other shops, at Bain Pagliuca plays a key leadership role and has emerged as Bain’s public face, with visits to Davos, Switzerland, and CNBC appearances. The firm is known for its high-profile consumer investments, including Staples and Domino’s Pizza. Pagliuca’s current board seats include Burger King, hospital giant HCA, drug maker Warner Chilcott and tech consultancy Gartner Group.

Avocation: Managing Partner, Boston Celtics. In 2003, Pagliuca and venture capitalist Wyc Grousbeck co-led a group of financiers in purchasing the storied basketball franchise. After rough sledding the first few seasons, the Celtics put together a championship season in 2008, its first in 22 years. Pagliuca can be seen at most home games in the front row underneath the basket, where he has entertained financial power players including Goldman Sachs Group’s Lloyd Blankfein and Morgan Stanley’s John Mack.

In the News: Pagliuca has had a Zelig-like quality as of late–he is everywhere. He recently made headlines as one of three final bidders for the Boston Globe, which has been put on the block by owner New York Times Co. He and Jack Connors, a Boston businessman, submitted a bid to transform the newspaper into a not-for-profit. The Times expressed a preference for two other bidders. Upon rumors of Pagliuca’s candidacy emerging this week, he and Connors dropped out of the process.

Positives: Pagliuca will help fund his campaign against three local politicians who are scrounging for dough. Though he is a playah in the upper echelons of high finance, Pagliuca has the common touch. He can discuss a company’s after-tax weighted average cost of capital and Red Sox batting averages with equal aplomb. He has serious health-care chops from his involvement in HCA and other investments, allowing him to stake a claim on a key issue. An affable sort, he is a natural-born politician (in the positive sense), with a certain regular-guy quality that will appeal to Massachusetts voters.

Hurdles: With the election less than three months away (Dec. 8), he doesn’t have much time to charm the electorate. Though a progressive and big donor to Democrats, he has contributed to the Republican campaigns of Mitt Romney, his former boss. He will likely to be able to explain that away. More problematic are his contributions to the campaigns of George W. Bush and Bill Weld. Boston papers are already reporting that he has a rather apathetic voting record, missing numerous elections throughout the year. Also, look for opponents to exploit the negative stereotypes of private equity, just as Ted Kennedy did against Romney in their ‘94 senate race.

How Will His Candidacy Affect His Work at Bain? Pagliuca will take a leave of absence at Bain while he runs for senate. He also will step down from his board seats, which will be filled by Bain designees. “We are pleased that one of our partners would like to dedicate a portion of his career to public service, and we wish Steve well in his campaign,” said Bain in a statement. One way in which his candidacy could help his partners: Look for a flurry of “Pagliuca for Senate” radio ads on stations owned by Clear Channel Communications, giving a sorely needed revenue boost to the struggling Bain-controlled company.

I am not sure who this number is registered to but I got enough indication from web search to suspect it may be Steve Pagliuca for Senate. I have been getting calls from them once or twice a day for the past two weeks. I have the number blocked but my phone rings once when a blocked number calls. I just got two calls within a half hour. I called the Pagliuca campaign number and asked them to take me off the calling list. I'll report back if I no longer get calls, but the primary is December 8 and he'll be toast then anyway, so I suspect if the calls cease before then or that day it really was Pagliuca's campaign.

I've been called three times. Each time it's a hang up on the other end. I called back after the third time and got a voice message saying the mailbox is full and not accepting any voice messages at this time.

After several hang ups from 857-998-2184 they finally said something when I answered the phone. They asked for me by name and asked me who I was voting for in the Massachusetts US Senate Race. I told them I wasn't voting for anyone and that I had some questions for them! Who do you work for? They responded they were working for on of the Senate Candidates, but wouldn't say which one. I asked it they had a do not call list and could I be added to it. They say yes. I asked to speak to a supervisor. Was told she was in the bathroom! They asked me if I wanted her to call back...of course NOT...don't ever call me again!!

I have rec'd 3 calls.. each time I heard music like the Macarena
One time I called and got - Mailbox full

Area Code: 857
Prefix: 998
City: Cambridge
State: MA
Country: United States
Latitude: 42.3720
Longitude: -71.1137

Cambridge, MA. write to the cambridge police dept. and go to ftc.gov and fill out complaint.

It's clearly a cell phone to me. I'm going to be texting the creap.

Several calls the past 3 days from this number. This is the info from this website. NANPA: Assigned 2001-05-03 Cambridge, Massachusetts (Cellco Partnership DBA Verizon Wireless - MA). I called Verizon to report it. They cannot do anything until a report is filed with their legal department. 1-800-451-5240.

I recommend you do this also.

They call frequently, it rings three or four times and they never wait for the answerer to pick up. I haven't answered it.

Got a call from this number tonight (857-998-2184) - at 7:40 pm. Area code 857 was added as an overlay to parts of area code 617 - so not sure where exactly this call came from. Mine's an unlisted, unpublished number, so not sure how I got called. Automated dialer?

Did not leave message and just hung up.

Heard a click upon answering the phone. When I attempted to call back, I got a voicemail saying mailbox was full.

phone rang with this incoming number; when I answered there was no one on the line. when I called back I got an immediate busy signal.

we did not answer the phone

Caller asked for another member of the household who does not use my phone. This means they're looking phone numbers up by address, a no-no, so I told them they had the wrong number. Caller was polite and apologized for the inconvenience.