Former Probation commissioner John O’Brien came to see then-Ways and Means Chairman Robert DeLeo in September 2007 lobbying for legislation that would give him much greater powers, a bigger salary, and lifetime tenure. No legislation ended up being filed, but seven months later DeLeo started steering jobs at Probation to candidates recommended by his colleagues(...)

Read More »

House Speaker Robert DeLeo angrily insisted on Wednesday that the Probation jobs his office steered to candidates favored by fellow lawmakers played no role in his effort to gather enough votes to become Speaker. He said the suggestion by federal prosecutors that the jobs represented a quid pro quo for votes is false. “It’s never(...)

Read More »

The House’s former top budget official testified on Wednesday that he was ordered by House Speaker Robert DeLeo in 2009 to spare the Probation Department from the type of drastic budget cuts every other agency was facing. Charles Murphy, the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the economy had just fallen(...)

Read More »

Defense attorneys in the federal corruption trial of former Probation commission John J. O’Brien suggested on Tuesday that Robert Mulligan, the retired chief justice for administration and management at the Trial Court, had the power to deal with any hiring problems at the agency and didn’t get the job done. “Were you in a little(...)

Read More »

The judge in the federal corruption trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two top aides on Monday denied most of prosecutors’ request for additional time to draw jurors a roadmap of the bribery scheme they say ran from One Ashburton Place straight to the State House, with a primary detour through House Speaker(...)

Read More »

Robert Mulligan and John O’Brien are squaring off in federal court over hiring practices, much as they squared off when Mulligan was the chief justice of administration and management at the Trial Court and O’Brien was commissioner of the state’s Probation Department. But it’s worth remembering that the workplace battles between the two officials didn’t(...)

Read More »

US District Court Judge William Young worked out a deal on Wednesday that will allow Kathleen Petrolati, the wife of state Rep. Thomas Petrolati, to testify at the trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two of his top aides. The deal gives immunity to Petrolati, allowing her to testify about her qualifications for(...)

Read More »

An attorney for former Probation Department commissioner John O’Brien on Wednesday accused Robert Mulligan, the former chief justice of the Massachusetts Trial Court, of practicing political patronage, playing fast and loose with hiring documents, and steering jobs to favored applicants without advertising them publicly. Those are all things that prosecutors in O’Brien’s ongoing federal corruption(...)

Read More »

Defense attorneys on Tuesday raised questions about the accuracy of testimony by a top aide to former Probation commissioner John O’Brien, but legislative liaison Edward Ryan stood by his claim that Probation jobs were steered to the office of Rep. Robert DeLeo in 2007 and 2008 to help DeLeo win a fight for the speaker’s(...)

Read More »

Robert Mulligan leaving the courthouse on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors at the trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien finally got their dream witness on the stand. After weeks of trying to extract testimony from lawmakers with faulty memories, reluctant coconspirators with immunity agreements, and judges with limited knowledge of hiring policies, Robert Mulligan took the(...)

Read More »