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 […]
Ethics and Open Government
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo: Put probation under Civil Service
House Speaker Robert DeLeo now says he wants all hires at the state’s Probation Department to be subject to Civil Service requirements, an approach he raised concerns about less than […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, The Download
The Download: Immunization exemptions
Whooping cough, an infectious bacterial disease that causes uncontrollable coughing, used to be one of the most common childhood diseases in the United States and a major cause of childhood […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics, The Download
The Download: Brownie points
Is Sen. Scott Brown the real-life personification of Bedford Fall’s Henry Potter, caring only for his rich ilk and kicking the working class to the curb at Christmastime, or is he someone who is offering a fiscally […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Was Murray playing the patronage game?
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray wasn’t mentioned in the 337-page report on probation patronage, but maybe he should have been. It’s hard to tell how deep Murray’s involvement was with probation, […]
Posted inPolitics
A shameful last act
For a guy who has long claimed the advancement of minority political power in Boston as his cause, Chuck Turner has a funny way of showing it. Turner railed yesterday […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Health Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: Dreams deferred
Last week Gov. Deval Patrick said that he wanted to facilitate undocumented immigrants’ access to college and drivers’ licenses in his overall strategy to expand opportunities for legal and illegal immigrants. Yet […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: The People’s Republic
The Cambridge City Council fired up its version of the Wayback Machine last night and transported us all the way back to the dark days of early 2009. At the […]
Posted inPolitics
Petrolati to step down, DeLeo vows changes
House Speaker Robert DeLeo issued two statements today saying he would lead the charge for changes at the state’s Probation Department and that Rep. Thomas Petrolati would be stepping down […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Teacher lessons
Another Monday, another impressive spread on the Boston Globe op-ed page devoted to the thoughts of retired Boston high school teacher Junia Yearwood. More accurately, we should say another spread […]
Posted inPolitics
Probation hiring rife with abuse, corruption
Because of a reporting error, the original version of this story attributed Edward McDermott’s testimony to the wrong person regarding retaliation and intimidation against people who did not comply with […]
Posted inPolitics
Surprise surprise: Political ties help
Independent Counsel Paul Ware’s 308-page report on hiring practices at the state’s Probation Department reads a lot like a trashy novel. It’s full of politically juicy material, but in the […]
Posted inPolitics
Power is a money magnet on Beacon Hill
Money chases power on Beacon Hill, and there may be no clearer example of that relationship than the campaign war chests of state Reps. John Rogers and Charles Murphy.Rogers used […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Raising the bar
Suzanne Bump’s campaign staff is antsy. It’s already an hour into the campaign event, a barbeque with Malden Democrats, and their candidate for state auditor is seriously lagging behind schedule. […]
Posted inPolitics
Stop pushing paper
More than 4,500 state and local officials file statements of financial interest each year with the State Ethics Commission. The ethics forms are supposed to be readily available to the […]
Posted inPolitics
Probation chief kept detailed records on who backed job applicants
The patronage probe at the state’s Probation Department has taken a startling new turn, with agency officials disclosing to investigators that they maintain a database of people who contact the […]
Posted inPolitics
SJC rules against probation applicant
The state’s highest court today ruled that the chief justice for administration and management acted appropriately in rejecting the hiring of a probation officer who failed to disclose on his […]
Posted inPolitics
Calls for access to ethics forms grow louder
The Boston Globe today weighed in on the frustration in dealing with the State Ethics Commission and all its hurdles. It is a drum we have been beating since last […]
Posted inPolitics
Ethics OK’d hiring of O’Brien’s daughter
The state Ethics Commission issued an advisory opinion in 2006 that said a subordinate of Probation Commissioner Jack O’Brien could hire O’Brien’s daughter as long as he fully disclosed the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Key information missing
The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team is the gold standard in Massachusetts journalism, but the unit’s recent reports about the state’s probation department have omitted some key information.The reports, which portrayed […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
No quick action on probation, parole
By Bruce Mohl Oversight of the state’s probation department won’t be resolved any time soon under a budget agreement worked out by House and Senate negotiators. The budget proposal calls […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Herald refuses to cover probation story
By Bruce Mohl The Boston Herald’s refusal to cover the fast-moving probation story is becoming comical. It’s one thing to not write about the Boston Globe’s two-part series on probation […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Memories of Jack O’Brien
Reading the Boston Globe’s recent stories about patronage hires, shoddy financial oversight and various other nefarious doings at the Massachusetts probation department elicited memories of a meeting I had in […]
Posted inPolitics
Probation chief put on leave; SJC appoints special counsel
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today placed state Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien on administrative leave and appointed an independent counsel to investigate patronage practices at the agency. “It has […]
