US District Court Judge William Young keeps telling the jurors in the trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two of his top aides that the case is not about patronage. “Patronage is not a crime,” says Young, who in the early 1970s served as legal counsel to Gov. Francis Sargent.
Outside the courtroom, no one seems to believe him. The Globe’s Jim O’Sullivan reports that Tip O’Neill, a legendary practitioner of patronage, would almost certainly be a defendant in the trial if he were alive today. O’Brien says the ideological and practical descendants of Tip are complaining that US Attorney Carmen Ortiz is trying to criminalize politics.
Yet the legal case is much more complicated than that. Ortiz’s prosecutors are alleging a highly organized and sophisticated scheme to steer jobs at Probation to those recommended by powerful lawmakers. The lawmakers, in turn, allegedly steered more money to the Probation Department so it could hire more people recommended by the lawmakers. You can call it patronage, but its scale and sophistication far surpass anything Tip O’Neill engaged in.
Young says the crux of the legal case is the cover-up. Prosecutors must prove that O’Brien and his aides knowingly violated Trial Court hiring policies and procedures through fraudulent actions and covered up their actions using the US Postal Service, thus the mail fraud charges. The mail fraud is the key component to the overarching charges of racketeering because one of the five requirements for proving a federal racketeering charge is that it affects interstate commerce. Using the mail to perpetuate the fraud fits the bill. The bribery and conspiracy charges all stem from these initial fraud charges.
Young has taken an active role in the case from the very beginning, inviting jurors to ask questions of witnesses and asking questions himself when he thinks the attorneys aren’t doing it properly. His final legal instructions to the jury will probably play a key role in the outcome of the trial. But on one point he has been absolutely clear: The trial may be focusing a lot on patronage, but patronage is not on trial. Tip O’Neill can rest in peace.
–BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
The Senate votes 35-4 for legislation that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $11 an hour over the next three years, State House News reports. The Globe reports that most economists agree that boosting the minimum wage is not an especially effective way of addressing poverty, since most of those in Massachusetts who will benefit from the increase are in households with a combined income of $40,000 or more.
The state Senate signed off on legislation authorizing a $1 billion expansion of the state convention center in South Boston. Republicans decried the move, pointing out that the convention hall has generated fewer than half the number of annual hotel night stays projected in a 1997 study.
Defense attorneys in the federal trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien go on the attack against former supervisor Fran Wall to discredit his testimony, which has been the most damning so far. There’s also an undercurrent buzzing about whether the charges against O’Brien and two top aides may be payback from state judges upset that they lost power to O’Brien. The Globe‘s Frank Phillips and Jack Sullivan of CommonWealth join Emily Rooney on Greater Boston to talk about the trial and the reverberations on Beacon Hill.
A pro-gun group sues Attorney General Martha Coakley, alleging her interpretation of state regulations makes it impossible to buy Glock handguns, the Gloucester Times reports.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
An amended complaint in a suit against officials of the Hull police union claim charge that the officers wrote checks to themselves and used the union credit cards to pay for personal expenses and proceeds from life insurance policies on members were never paid to the estates.
CASINOS
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is considering re-opening the Southeast licence bid process and extending the deadline.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
NPR’s Terry Gross tries to pin Hillary Clinton down on when she first supported marriage equality.
The House Republican plan to replace Obamacare will go down alongside Eric Cantor. Cantor’s fall will leave House Republican leadership more moderate than it has been. Paul Krugman argues that Cantor’s defeat signals the end of what he calls the bait and switch of movement conservatism — the mobilization of cultural conservatives in support of candidates who to go on to “push an elitist economic agenda.”
ELECTIONS
Scot Lehigh finds more mush than reform-minded verve in the Democratic field for governor. Meanwhile, It’s selfie time with the Fab Five.
A Globe poll shows Martha Coakley retains a huge lead in the Democratic primary for governor, even as party activists prepare to gather for their state convention tomorrow where the betting is that Steve Grossman emerges with the official party endorsement.
Joan Vennochi says unlike his stirring speech at his first Democratic state convention in 2006, when Deval Patrick electrified delegates with his hopeful rhetoric about the possibilities ahead, the outgoing governor now has a track record to be judged by, one she suggests is more than little wanting.
Mitt Romney, kingmaker?
CASINOS
The Globe reports that a co-owner of the Everett site of a proposed casino is now willing to sign a pledge stating he has no secret partners, a move the state gambling commission has said was imperative in the wake of questions about whether people with criminal backgrounds might have a secret stake in the 30-acre parcel.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Tesla makes its electric car patents available to anyone, the Los Angeles Times reports.
A third consecutive global cocoa bean shortage, the longest in 50 years, is expected to trigger a rise in coffee prices from now until at least the end of the year.
John Fish tells the Herald that his push to host the Olympics is about setting the vision for what Boston will look like in 2030.
EDUCATION
The court case upending tenure protections for California teachers has national reverberations, writes Liam Kerr, director of the Massachusetts chapter of Democrats for Education Reform, in CommonWealth.
HEALTH CARE
Teens smoke less but they text more, especially while driving.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Quincy officials have submitted their own version of a flood zone map and filed an appeal with FEMA over the new federal map which the City Council adopted by a 9-0 vote last week.
As Iraq unravels, oil prices jump.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A woman is arrested on prostitution charges at the Tewksbury Public Library, the Sun reports.
MEDIA
Jill Abramson , the ousted New York Times editor, is coming to Harvard to teach narrative nonfiction, WBUR reports.
The Christian Science Monitor sports a new look.