Sunday, December 19, 2010

For the record, John J. O'Brien

the Commissioner of Probation, is on paid leave with fully invested pension benefits pending an investigation by the Justice Department and the State Attorney General that he routinely peddled out good paying jobs to constituents of well connected member of the Great and General Court.
The Governor hasn't even the authority to place O'Brien on unpaid leave, no, the Commissioner answers even now to the State Supreme Court, an arrangement thick with patronage possibilities with little chance for any real oversight.
It took the combined wisdom of both house of the state legislature and the sheer political courage of then  Governor Paul Cellucci to come up with a system this catastrophically bad.
And it is gonna take some real hard thinking up and down the line to get any meaningful reform imposed on the probation department and the courts as well.
Can we at least give the Governor the authority to suspend O'Brien sans pay? I mean c'mon....This is starting to make the state look ridiculous.
Maybe if the Boston Globe gets a look at some of those lists that O'Brien kept of favors done for various reps and state senators, a few names in the paper might light a fire under Beacon Hill's ass.
Might...but don't count on it.

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