Charlie Baker is a businessman who wants to be governor of Massachusetts. His pitch largely revolves around jobs, education, and his private-sector experience. Jeff McCormick is also a businessman who wants to be governor of Massachusetts. Like Baker, McCormick is putting a heavy emphasis on jobs, education, and his career in business. The contest between […]
Paul McMorrow
Paul McMorrow comes to CommonWealth from Banker & Tradesman, where he covered commercial real estate and development. He previously worked as a contributing editor to Boston magazine, where he covered local politics in print and online. He got his start at the Weekly Dig, where he worked as a staff writer, and later news and features editor. Paul writes a frequent column about real estate for the Boston Globe’s Op-Ed page, and is a regular contributor to BeerAdvocate magazine. His work has been recognized by the City and Regional Magazine Association, the New England Press Association, and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. He is a Boston University graduate and a lifelong New Englander.
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
CommonWealth’s coverage of the Probation trial verdict
3 Probation defendants found guilty by jury Fraudulent hires linked to DeLeo, Murray, other lawmakers A federal jury found former state Probation Department commissioner John O’Brien guilty of mail fraud, racketeering and conspiracy Thursday, in a verdict that tied leaders of the Massachusetts House and Senate to pervasive hiring fraud within Probation. One former O’Brien […]
Posted inPolitics
Putting thumb on scale is the Beacon Hill way
The federal corruption trial of John O’Brien unfolded on two levels. It was equal parts law enforcement exercise and political soap opera. The trial of O’Brien, the former state Probation Department commissioner, and two former deputies, Elizabeth Tavares and William Burke III, ended Thursday afternoon in a torrent of guilty findings. But even before a […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo: Jury cleared me of inappropriate conduct
A chastened House Speaker Robert DeLeo responded to Thursday’s Probation Department guilty verdict by issuing a statement saying “it is a verdict that all of us have to respect.” But he then gave a legal interpretation of the jury’s verdict that suggested he had been cleared of engaging in any inappropriate conduct. “The jury concluded […]
Posted inPolitics
3 Probation defendants found guilty by jury
Defense attorneys (from left) John Amabile, William Fick, Stellio Sennis, Jeffrey Denner, and Brad Bailey A federal jury found former state Probation Department commissioner John O’Brien guilty of mail fraud, racketeering and conspiracy Thursday, in a verdict that tied leaders of the Massachusetts House and Senate to pervasive hiring fraud within Probation. One former O’Brien […]
Posted inPolitics
Coakley spinning her wheels
A new Boston Globe poll has Martha Coakley locked in a statistical dead heat with Charlie Baker, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor. Coakley’s lead in a matchup against Baker was once as high as 15 points. She enjoyed a double-digit edge over Baker as recently as last month. But as big as the evaporation […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
How DeLeo became a coconspirator
Federal prosecutors changed their view of House Speaker Robert DeLeo during the course of the trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien, largely because of the testimony of a shaky witness named Edward Ryan. Ryan, O’Brien’s former legislative liaison, testified at the trial that the commissioner had directed him to steer jobs to DeLeo so […]
Posted inPolitics
Probation closing statements: The prosecution, the defense & the judge
The prosecution: Former Probation commissioner John O’Brien wrote a January 2007 letter to his nemesis, Trial Court chief Robert Mulligan, in which he defended the way people were hired at the Probation Department. “The probation officer hiring process (as it has developed and as it exists) may be the most transparent, accountable, and tested process […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Walsh calls BRA a mess
Shoddy record-keeping and weak management inside the Boston Redevelopment Authority have cost Boston’s powerful development agency millions of dollars in unpaid fees and lease payments, an outside audit of the agency has found. The audit, commissioned by Mayor Marty Walsh earlier this year and conducted by the firm KPMG, paints a picture of an agency […]
Posted inPolitics
The defense
Former Probation commissioner John O’Brien (right) with his attorneys Stellio Sinnis (center) and William Fick. Defense attorneys for former Probation Department officials John O’Brien, Elizabeth Tavares and William Burke III devoted much of their closing arguments in their federal corruption trial on Tuesday to playing offense, assailing Robert Mulligan, the former head of the Massachusetts […]