Keller @ Large: Biggest Local Turkeys Of 2017

BOSTON (CBS) - Are you ready for the biggest local turkeys of 2017?

The word "turkey" has come to mean much more than a sleep-inducing meal.

It can be a foolish or inept person or group, or a service or project that's an outright flop.

And all bases are covered by our picks for the top local turkeys of the year.

THE LEGISLATURE

If you're looking for a well-oiled legislative machine you won't find it up on Beacon Hill.

The legislators couldn't meet their midsummer budget deadline, didn't make the deadlines for amending the new marijuana law, and couldn't get their year-end financial reports done on time.

Actual accomplishments this year were few and far-between.

But they did move like greased lightning to jam through their pay raise last winter. Excuse me, their well-earned pay raise.

THE COMMUTER RAIL

I'm sure the folks who run the MBTA commuter rail trains try hard and mean well. But the system rated the most breakdown-prone in the nation continued to frustrate too many of its customers this year.

From jam-packed trains to schedules that are wishful thinking, France-based operator Keolis has become a dirty word to many commuters.

They say things are improving, but there was nowhere to go but up.

FREE SPEECH RALLY

The organizers of the August gathering of fringe political voices claimed their rally on Boston Common was about free speech, but coming just days after the ugly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville that left one woman dead, it seemed more like reckless publicity-seeking.

And it cost Boston taxpayers more than $235,000 in police overtime to secure the scene these turkeys provoked.

Speech, yes, but definitely not free.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

At GE's headquarters groundbreaking in the Seaport last spring it was smiles all around.

But with then-CEO Jeff Immelt gone and his replacement slashing dividends and putting some Boston expansion plans on hold, it looks like our big economic coup may be turning into an expensive turkey.

There were more also-rans than we had time for, but no worries - we'll deal with some of them later Wednesday as we plow through the leftover turkeys of the year.