DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE Jay Gonzalez on Wednesday accused the State Police of attempting to cover up corruption within the agency by destroying payroll and attendance records and urged the inspector general to investigate.
“This takes this scandal to a whole different level,” Gonzalez said at a press conference in front of the State House. He held his Republican rival, Gov. Charlie Baker, responsible.
“This is a management failure of epic proportions,” Gonzalez said. “Enough is enough. The governor needs to take charge.”
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
Gonzalez pounced on news reports indicating that State Police officials had sought permission to destroy boxes and boxes of employee payroll, attendance, and benefits records. The request
was put on hold by a Records Conservation Board.
Baker said the records should not have been designated for destruction. “It’s my understanding that based on all the existing protocols, what the State Police proposed to do fit within those protocols,” Baker told reporters at a Wednesday morning event. “But the simple truth of the matter is, they shouldn’t be destroying any payroll records and they won’t be.”
David Procopio, a spokesman for the State Police, took a similar tack in an email to CommonWealth on Tuesday. “The recent requests made to the board are in compliance with the [secretary of state’s] retention schedule and the records, due to their age, are not currently the subject of any outside investigation or audit,” he said. “None of the records in question have been destroyed and in light of current ongoing investigations pertaining to similar records, the State Police will retain past payroll records until further notice.”
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