If you thought convicted Beacon Hill lobbyist Richard “Dickie” McDonough couldn’t look like more of a snake than he already does, think again. Inspector General Gregory Sullivan is now alleging that McDonough arranged for one of his lobbying clients, the state-funded Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, to give him a no-show, no-work job. That job inflated McDonough’s state pension and gave him access to the state’s public employee health care system.
McDonough, the lobbyist convicted along with former House Speaker Sal DiMasi on corruption charges last week, worked a few summer jobs for the old Metropolitan District Commission in the 1960’s, and he spent nine years with the state Department of Commerce. He last pulled down a public paycheck in 1983. Based on that service, the Globe calculated that his annual pension would have topped out at $8,500.
But according to Sullivan, McDonough used the no-show job at the MSEC to inflate his service years, and to significantly boost the annual value of his pension. Since annual payments calculations are based on an employee’s highest three annual salaries, McDonough’s alleged sham job inflated his pension to $31,000 per year. According to Sullivan’s letter to the state Board of Retirement, the MSEC couldn’t find any work that the lobbyist performed on their behalf. He had no desk and no phone. The agency’s executive director didn’t know McDonough was on the agency’s payroll.
Sullivan is now asking the state Board of Retirement to examine, and presumably revoke, McDonough’s allegedly inflated pension.
McDonough’s attorney, Thomas Drechsler, told the Globe yesterday that Sullivan never interviewed his client before making the allegations about the sham MSEC job. Drechsler also wondered aloud about “the quality of the investigatory process.”
But it’s worth noting that Sullivan’s office uncovered evidence — $125,000 in Cognos payments to Steven Topazio, and $300,000 in payments to McDonough from star cooperating witness Joseph Lally — that directly led to last week’s conviction. McDonough was found guilty of two counts of honest services wire fraud, three counts of honest services mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to defraud. DiMasi faced the same fate, with an extortion conviction thrown in on top. Both men plan to appeal their convictions.
The latest allegations against McDonough are sure to make life uncomfortable for others on Beacon Hill. Secretary of State William Galvin, for one, moved to suspend McDonough’s lobbying license in late 2008, only to reverse course. McDonough remained an active lobbyist from the time of his mid-2009 indictment, through his trial and conviction. At one point, McDonough dashed from the federal courthouse to Beacon Hill to lobby on behalf of one client, Anheuser-Busch. At that hearing, McDonough traded pleasantries with multiple lawmakers, and received wishes of good luck from Rep. Robert Fennell.
The status of McDonough’s lobbying license wasn’t immediately clear. His defense at trial was that the $300,000 he pocketed from Lally was legitimate. Drechsler said McDonough and Lally had an arrangement whereby Lally, a salesman, and McDonough, a lobbyist, shared clients. They split some of McDonough’s lobbying fees, and Lally was supposed to cut McDonough in on any commissions that resulted from public contracts his clients won. Such an arrangement would appear to violate state lobbying laws that require payments to legislative sub-agents to be disclosed. State law also prohibits lobbyists from collecting success fees.
–PAUL MCMORROW
BEACON HILL
The Boston Herald fatwa on House Speaker Robert DeLeo remains in full effect. Perhaps tellingly, the paper has to go to the Senate to get a quote critical of the speaker.
A lawsuit by the family of 9/11 victim Mike Bavis exposes severe security flaws at Logan Airport. One aviation security official tells the Herald the details from the Bavis suit are uglier than anything the 9/11 Commission found.
Former House speaker Sal DiMasi is facing a steep bill for unpaid condo fees, and a foreclosure complaint to boot.
State Rep. Dan Winslow, whose district includes Plainridge Racecourse, complains that he’s been shut out of closed-door casino negotiations.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Chelmsford outsourced cleaning and maintenance work at its schools to Aramark Education Services. Aramark agreed to retain the existing custodians, but many quit when the company slashed wages from $18 an hour to $8.25 an hour and increased the employee share of health costs, the Lowell Sun reports.
There will be no lifeguards at Bourne town beaches this summer due to budget cuts.
Lenox residents are skeptical about the “Lenoxology” tourism marketing campaign.
Cheshire voters say “no” to a Prop 2.5 override. Meanwhile, North Adams voters go to the polls today to vote on a $1.2 million override.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
MIT’s Nobel laureate Peter Diamond tells Emily Rooney why he withdrew his name from consideration for the Federal Reserve board, and says politics could drive many well intentioned and talented people away from public service..
In the wake of a black comedian’s impersonation of President Obama at a Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Keller@Large ponders what jokes about the first black president are appropriate and which jokes aren’t. The Christian Science Monitor asks why the Republicans hired Reggie Brown in the first place?
Women candidates running for governor faced fewer barriers to elected office, but also have new challenges according to a Barbara Lee Family Foundation report.
Alan Blinder skewers Congressional Republicans’ hot rhetoric about “jobs-killing” government spending.
ELECTION 2012
More trouble on the right for Mitt, as a hard-line anti-abortion group rips the former Massachusetts governor for his unwillingness to sign a sweeping anti-abortion pledge.
Why Jon Huntsman is the candidate that the Democrats fear most. But he also faces the same problem that Mitt does: some people are still skeptical about the prospect of a Mormon president. The New York Times Magazine publishes Sunday’s Huntsman profile ahead of this morning’s official announcement.
Herb Robinson, a Newton musical engineer, joins the increasingly crowded Democratic race for the US Senate.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Good news/bad news: Because the state’s three-month average unemployment rate dipped below 8 percent, thousands of out of work Bay Staters will lose eligibility for longer term unemployment benefits, the Globe reports.
CHARITY
The annual tally of charitable contributions called “Giving USA” found donations increased just 2.1 percent last year with overseas charities reaping the largest increases while environmental and animal protection groups saw the largest drops.
EDUCATION
The Lawrence City Council considers legislation to increase the dropout age from 16 to 18, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Radio Boston talks with the Westborough teacher who resigned to quell the controversy over her showing of an edited music video of rapper Eminem.
The Hamilton-Wenham school budget remains in flux, with Wenham supporting the $27.1 million tab and Hamilton favoring a lower number, the Salem News reports.
The teachers union in Gloucester supports a new health insurance plan that will save the city about $628,000, the Gloucester Times reports.
Leominster weighs an innovation school.
American students still don’t know much about history.
NONPROFITS
Former state senator Jarrett Barrios left his post as head of a national gay rights organization after reports that he offered support for the proposed merger of T-Mobile and AT&T, which had had donated $50,000 to his group.
TECHNOLOGY
A study by Bridgewater State University found that 90 percent of children in the state are online by third grade, increasing the risk of cyber-bullying as early as elementary school..
FISHING
Sen. Scott Brown blasted the Commerce Department at a subcommittee hearing in Boston yesterday on what many see as overzealous enforcement and prosecution of New England fishermen compared to the rest of the country.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Climate change, and a carbon cap and trade system to address it, is a non-issue as far as the Republican candidates for president are concerned, WBUR reports. Meanwhile, Marketplace reports that the Supreme Court rejected a global warming lawsuit brought by six states and New York City.
Solar flares could affect the power grid and communications
Dartmouth officials approved a lease for a solar panel farm on a former landfill that could net the town nearly $3 million over the 20-year life of the agreement. Dartmouth is the latest town to take advantage of net metering, an issue highlighted by Bruce Mohl in last winter’s CommonWealth.
A split Supreme Court shoots down a lawsuit by states seeking tougher federal regulation of greenhouse gases.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The Patriot Ledger poses an interesting question that no one seems to know the answer to: Who has been paying the taxes and collecting the rent for the last 16 years on the Quincy home owned by Catherine Greig, the target of a new FBI effort to find her and her boyfriend, James”Whitey” Bulger? Here is the Globe account of the new FBI tack, and here is Peter Gelzinis roundly mocking said new FBI tack.
Taunton police responded to a report of a man with a gunshot wound only to find it was a scraped knee on a nearly naked man who fled a home in the midst of passion when his partner’s boyfriend came home unexpectedly from a bachelor party. Police helped him recover his clothes.
MEDIA
The Nieman Journalism Lab crunches the numbers for the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.
Even columnists need editors, writes Paul Levy, referring to a Globe column by James Carroll that suggested earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes were weather events.