A response to Sen. Pacheco
To the Editor:
I would like to thank State Senator Marc Pacheco for responding to my open letter to him concerning the State Probation Department patronage scandal.
This scandal was characterized by the Independent Council as “pervasive fraud.” The IC investigation uncovered, according to the Boston Globe, “…what has been an open secret on Beacon Hill: State lawmakers, many of them, have hijacked probation hiring for their friends, relatives and supporters.” Senator Pacheco was named as a “frequent sponsor” of candidates of this department.
Paul F. Ware, Jr., who issued the IC report, describes it as “…a system in which probation officials raise campaign cash on state property, secret lists of legislator-backed candidates are passed along on yellow Post-It notes, and hiring on merit is a relic.”
Senator Pacheco, in his reply to my letter, admits that he received campaign contributions from some of his sponsored candidates, but does not say how much that was and needs to provide that answer, especially as it relates to those that he sponsored who were hired. Also, how much in-kind support did he get from those he sponsored in the way of political support during the Senator’s many campaigns?
In his letter, the Senator said he only sponsored “qualified candidates” and that most “possessed credentials that far exceeded the minimum standards." Given that Paul Ware said that the idea that hiring on merit “is a relic” then I ask the Senator to tell us how he determines who is a “qualified candidate” and what are those “minimum standards” to which he refers?
According to the Globe, one of his candidates, Joe Dooley, the Commissioner of the Probation Department told the Senator that Mr. Dooley would get the job of Assistant Chief Officer in Taunton District Court or the job would not be filled.
It sounds like there was an attempt to create a job that was not needed to be provided to one of the Senators highly qualified sponsored candidates.
I appreciate that the Senator, in his response to my first letter, answered some of my questions, but he still has a long way to go.
John C. Decas
Burgess Point
Editor's note: Click on the links below for previous letters on this subject.
