Gov. Deval Patrick surely thinks he is quite the bold guy after unveiling his plan for a massive, $2 billion tax hike that is sure to trigger a popular backlash.

But Patrick blew his big chance to leave a real mark on our chronically corrupt state when he won office back in 2006 after campaigning as a charismatic outsider, having run the Clinton administration’s civil rights division before leaving for the private sector.

Instead of trying to truly shake things up in the Pay (Me-Off) State, Patrick revealed himself to be a born corporate backslapper. Channeling years spent as general counsel at companies like Texaco and Coca-Cola, Patrick has become adept at playing go-along-to-get-along with the corrupt political culture that dominates Beacon Hill and has infected our state government for generations.

Now, after overseeing an administration marred by bad cabinet picks, the coddling of corrupt legislative tyrants at the State House and laughably lax regulatory oversight, Patrick wants hard-pressed taxpayers to part with more of their hard-earned dollars to support that dubious institution, the Massachusetts state government.

And if his gambit fails, Patrick can claim the mantles of political courage, to cash in at a later date in his next campaign for a certain higher office that has attracted so many Massachusetts contestants over the years.

Blown Opportunity

Patrick might have had a solid case for new tax revenue for our troubled public transportation system and perpetually cash strapped schools; might, that is, if he had followed through with his early promises to shake things up on Beacon Hill.

Massachusetts taxpayers have long been reluctant to pony up, and practically ran Michael Dukakis out of town during his final act as governor in the late 1980s after he jacked up rates to help stave off a state budget meltdown.

No one likes higher tax rates. But this voter anger was, and still is, fueled by the broad realization that we are essentially being asked to subsidize a notoriously corrupt state political culture and government.

But despite blowing into office on wave of breezy rhetoric on the need for change, Patrick failed to follow through on this crucial, foundational promise.

If he had taken the hard, uncertain road of political confrontation, maybe, just maybe Patrick would be in position to today ask us all to ante up.

But as the record shows, he did anything but that.

Instead of taking on tin-pot dictators like former House Speaker – and now federal inmate Sal DiMasi – Patrick, incredibly, did his best to explain it all away.

After DiMasi was nailed for his part in a grubby kickback scheme involving a local software company, Patrick tried to pass the whole case off as “outlier.”

No matter that DiMasi was the third House speaker to be convicted on federal corruption charges of one sort or another.

And if anyone thought Massachusetts government suddenly gave up its corrupt ways after Patrick took office, the last few years must surely have been disappointing.

There was the massive probation department patronage scheme, in which the hiring system was rigged so only candidates pushed by state legislators got jobs. Federal prosecutors are on now on that case.

Nor will anyone soon forget Michael McLauglin’s Third World reign at the Chelsea Housing Authority, where he managed for years to hide a grossly inflated $360,000 salary before he was exposed and ousted.

McLaughlin also just happened to host a top fundraiser for Timothy Murray, Patrick’s lieutenant governor. State campaign finance regulators last week found evidence that Murray may have violated state law by accepting political donations from the disgraced former Chelsea housing director.

Meanwhile, Patrick’s own administration has been plagued by one oversight after another, from trying to create a cushy, $175,000 post at a state authority for a friendly state senator, to placement of a political hack with a long history of driving offenses as director of the state’s highway safety office.

That’s about as offensive a patronage deal as they come.

But arguably even worse was the Patrick Administration’s lax oversight of a Framingham drug compounding firm, now at the center of a national scandal over tainted meds that has left 39 dead across the country. Yes, as it turns out, red flags about the practices of the New England Compounding Center were being reported a decade ago, when Romney was governor, but the problems continued for years under Patrick and only came to a stop when tragedy struck.

Last but not least, there was the rogue state chemist Annie Dookhan, who put as many as 39,000 drug convictions in jeopardy after faking tests. That scandal keeps growing, with a second allegedly crooked state chemist arrested last week.

Patrick has reportedly expressed disbelief, but, once again, it all happened under his watch.

The Latest Of Many Duds

To be fair, no one has ever questioned Patrick’s honesty. And he has pushed through some useful reforms, helping rein in the power and outsized executive pay of the dozens of free-wheeling, quasi-state authorities.

Nor would it be fair to blame it all the woes of our long dysfunctional state government on Patrick. Sadly, he is just the latest in a long line of mediocrities to have filled the governor’s office over the last two decades, enabling our state’s corruption-riddled political culture and government to test new depths.

In retrospect, Massachusetts voters took a wrong turn when they picked amiable dilettante Bill Weld as governor in 1990, rejecting sharp-tongued, imperious, but brilliant reformer John Silber, who turned a sluggish and solidly average Boston University into one of the nation’s top schools.

Here was a chance to at least confront the hack culture that has plagued Massachusetts politics and governance since time immemorial.

Whether he would have been successful is anyone’s guess, but at least it’s a good bet Silber would have tried.

But Patrick had his own shot to shake things up and he blew it. And the last thing we need now is to pump more money into a hack state government overseen by a chief executive who chose to play go-along-to-get-along after promising sweeping change.

Scott Van Voorhis can be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com