Suspended Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien issued a press release today saying he is resigning his post immediately because he won’t receive a fair hearing on charges that hiring and promotion processes at his agency were “fraudulently orchestrated” in favor of politically connected candidates.
The stunning New Year’s Eve press release was emailed to CommonWealth by O’Brien’s attorney, Paul Flavin. In a telephone interview, Flavin said O’Brien decided to resign after the Supreme Judicial Court rejected his request for a postponement of the hearing, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. Flavin said the SJC also rejected his request for access to transcripts that he needed to prepare for the hearing.
A spokeswoman for the Supreme Judicial Court, which has been seeking O’Brien’s removal, was on vacation and unavailable for comment.
In his press release, O’Brien denied any criminal wrongdoing, said he is caught in a power struggle for control of the Probation Department, and emphatically stated that hiring politically connected people is standard operating procedure on Beacon Hill.
“It is readily apparent that Commissioner O’Brien is being made a scapegoat for a process that is systemic in the culture of state government, i.e., the consideration of recommendations from people of influence in the Legislature, executive, and judicial branches of government in the hiring or promotion of employees for public employment.”
The press release went on to say that “numerous individuals from every branch of government involved in the investigation make, receive, and take into consideration recommendations from influential sectors in regarding to the hiring, appointment, and promotion of state governmental employees. The singling out of Commissioner O’Brien is a travesty.”
According to the press release, O’Brien provided significant evidence to independent counsel Paul Ware of how political influence pervades the hiring process on Beacon Hill. The press release said Ware ignored that evidence in preparing his report for the Supreme Judicial Court.
Ware’s report characterized the Probation Department as rife with “systemic abuse and corruption,” a place where top officials falsified scores for politically connected candidates to ensure they would get hired. “Hiring and promotion processes have been fraudulently orchestrated from beginning to end in favor of connected candidates,” Ware said in his Nov. 9 report.
O’Brien was placed on paid leave in May following a report on the agency by The Boston Globe Spotlight Team and the appointment of Ware. After Ware released his report, the SJC began termination proceedings against O’Brien and several of his top aides. Numerous state and federal agencies have launched their own probes and several task forces have been formed to revamp the agency and decide whether it should remain within the judicial branch of government or be transferred to the executive branch, as Gov. Deval Patrick has requested.
O’Brien’s press release said the embattled commissioner and his employees did not violate any state or federal criminal statutes in connection with the hiring or promotion of employees. The press release also said O’Brien neither requested nor was promised anything of value from individuals making job recommendations to his agency.
As evidence that he won’t receive a fair termination hearing, the press release noted that Ware concluded the Probation Department’s hiring process was rigged before O’Brien had a chance to offer any testimony, that the SJC ordered O’Brien’s termination before any type of due process hearing, and that Gov. Patrick told reporters that a process should be followed in removing O’Brien “but there is no doubt what the outcome ought to be.”
The press release raised numerous concerns about Robert Mulligan, the state’s chief justice for administration and management and the judge scheduled to oversee O’Brien’s termination hearing. The press release said Mulligan has a clear conflict of interest because he approved all the hires and promotions within the Probation Department during O’Brien’s tenure and because of “his personal involvement in making recommendations on behalf of family members.”
O’Brien, in the press release, also accused Mulligan of misrepresenting his role in the hiring of O’Brien’s daughter. Mulligan told The Boston Globe that O’Brien had “sidestepped” him after being warned that the hiring of his daughter would violate state ethics laws. But CommonWealth reported that Mulligan approved the hiring of O’Brien’s daughter and even sought two Ethics Commissions rulings on its legality. Both rulings suggested a subordinate of O’Brien could hire the commissioner’s daughter as long as he fully disclosed the hiring and supervised the daughter “in an objective and impartial manner.”
Flavin, O’Brien’s attorney, sought transcripts of Mulligan’s testimony before Ware but the SJC rejected his request. In his report, Ware indicated that Mulligan acknowledged he could have overturned many of the hirings made by O’Brien.
