CLT UPDATE
Thursday, November 1, 2012
We don't hear "Where would you cut?" any more
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Citizens for Limited Taxation is
warning its members of a “tax hike onslaught that will ...
follow when the new Legislature is seated in January.”
CLT’s Chip Ford, a Marblehead resident, says
there are already signs that the Democratic leadership’s opposition
to tax increases of any kind is waning. Indeed, a sweep by the
majority party in next month’s election could embolden legislators
to consider initiatives like an increase in the gas tax and a hike
in the income-tax rate.
According to Ford, “State tax collections for
this current fiscal year (which ends next June 30) are greater than
the previous fiscal year’s state revenue haul — but for the Gimme
Lobby and tax-borrow-and-spend Bacon Hill pols, more is never enough
and never will be.”
The Salem News
Friday, October 19, 2012
[Excerpt] Weekly Political Column
By Nelson Benton, Editor Emeritus
A report released Wednesday by State Auditor
Suzanne Bump found thousands of out-of-state residents could be
wrongfully receiving state health care benefits because MassHealth
fails to verify their residency while others may be receiving
benefits despite exceeding income qualifications.
The state Medicaid program, has spent millions of
dollars on services for people who were later removed from the
program because they were not Massachusetts residents, the audit
found. The audit also found lottery winners received health care
without any changes to their benefits. MassHealth does not have
procedures to check for unearned income, such as pension payments,
rental income, and lottery winnings.
Gov. Deval Patrick, who also attended the event
in Winthrop, said he had conversations with the head of the Medicaid
program and with Secretary of Health and Human Service JudyAnn Bigby
about the issue. Those in charge of the program have legitimate
differences on some of the conclusions drawn by the auditor’s
report, Patrick said....
In 2010, MassHealth spent approximately $6.5
million on services for 4,643 individuals who were later removed
from the program because they were not Massachusetts residents,
received benefits from another state, or state officials could not
determine where the enrollees lived....
Patrick said administration officials will look
at the report, and “reflect” on it.
State House News Service
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Disturbed by audit, DeLeo calls for changes at Medicaid
Once again, a state program aimed at helping the
less fortunate has been exposed as a fraud free-for-all.
MassHealth is the Bay State’s version of
Medicaid. State Auditor Suzanne Bump released an audit of MassHealth
that found the program is losing millions of dollars to fraud....
The failure to maintain eligibility standards
could be costing the state millions. MassHealth is an enormous
program serving 1.3 million enrollees — or about 1 in 5
Massachusetts residents. In fiscal year 2011, the program paid
health care providers more than $12.2 billion, of which 35 percent
came from state funds. The program’s costs are growing on average
8.7 percent annually, Bump’s audit found....
Given MassHealth’s weak eligibility standards,
fraud is inevitable.
In 2010, MassHealth spent approximately $6.5
million on services for 4,643 individuals who were later removed
from the program because they were not Massachusetts residents,
received benefits from another state, or state officials could not
determine where the enrollees lived, the news service reported.
A Salem News editorial
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Fear of barriers leaves MassHealth open to fraud
Lawmakers have only themselves to blame now that
a judge has put the state on the hook for overtime pay racked up by
Suffolk County city workers who punch in on so-called hack holidays,
said a state senator who tried to scrap Bunker Hill Day and
Evacuation Day from the calendar.
“It’s nonsense, it’s ridiculous, and we ought to
be ashamed of ourselves. It’s the gang that can’t shoot straight.
Public service at its worst,” said state Sen. Michael R. Knapik
(R-Westfield). “We tried to make some beneficial changes in the
public benefits structure, but for these two holidays, we’ve not
been able to strike them from the books and save the taxpayers that
money.” ...
“The day of reckoning is coming. The public
sector can’t afford all these special deals and benefits that exist
across state government,” Knapik said.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Pol: Paying OT to workers on hack holidays ‘nonsense’
State lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick knew the
instant they enacted a “repeal” of the state’s two notorious hack
holidays two years ago that it was really no such thing. But hey, it
was an election year and they got to portray themselves as big-time
reformers in their campaign literature.
But the holidays remain legal holidays, and as
such they’re paid days off for those unionized employees whose
contracts still include them. Those who are required to show up on
March 17 (Evacuation Day) and June 17 (Bunker Hill Day) are now paid
overtime for doing so....
Doing away with the hack holidays was never going
to be a short-term proposition, not with those paid days off already
baked into so many union contracts. But removing the dates from the
state’s list of legal holidays would have been a major step toward
untying that collective bargaining knot. Beacon Hill refused to do
so.
“It’s nonsense, it’s ridiculous and we ought to
be ashamed of ourselves,” Sen. Michael R. Knapik (R-Westfield) told
the Herald after Giles’ ruling. It is all of that and it is
now a burden on state taxpayers who were sold a bill of goods.
The powers-that-be on Beacon Hill have had two
years to fix what they broke. That they have expressed zero interest
in doing so tells us how much “reform” means to them.
A Boston Herald editorial
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The ‘reform’ that wasn’t
The 105 state and local public employee pension
systems covering 500,000 Massachusetts workers and retirees are too
optimistic about what their investments will earn, a new study
unsurprisingly reports.
Massachusetts requires public pension systems to
close gaps between future earnings and future payments with annual
payments through 2040. However, it lets pension boards assume
whatever rates of return on investment they like. The
report from the Pioneer Institute calling attention to this
loophole should not be ignored....
No board assumes less than a 7.75 percent return.
The average is 8.2 percent. When did you last hear of a mutual fund
earning that much? A hedge fund that doesn’t need immediate cash
might earn that on exotic investments like Siberian timber, Moroccan
truckers or Patagonian cellphone companies. But municipal pension
boards cannot command the expertise needed for that.
Interest rates tanked four years ago....
If pension funds earn 2 percent, the total of
annual payments in 2040 would have to be 2.5 times as much as is
assumed now. Pioneer recommends assuming a 5 percent return, which
would — if earned — mean 2040 payments 63 percent higher.
Five percent is a good idea — but should be part
of a transition to a system designed around self-financed pensions
using things like 401(k) accounts. Some states have switched new
employees to such plans; Massachusetts should learn from them.
A Boston Herald editorial
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Close pension loophole
Gov. Deval Patrick plans to file a $30 million
budget request with the Legislature on Thursday to cover costs for
“the next few months” related to the evidence tainting debacle at a
state drug lab, and Patrick has agreed to appoint an independent
investigator to conduct a broader probe of the lab.
Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez
said Wednesday that the spending request would be filed with the
House on Thursday. He’ll seek $30 million to be deposited into a
special fund under the control of his office.
The request underscores the magnitude of the
evidence tainting problems, which are forcing public officials and
defense attorneys to revisit and reopen thousands of criminal cases
to determine whether justice was served.
The administration plans to dispense the funds to
state agencies impacted by investigations or ongoing legal
proceedings based on requests filed monthly, Gonzalez said, and the
request will propose to pay for the expense with future one-time tax
and legal settlements. The administration earlier in the day
announced a $116 million surplus from fiscal 2012 that it plans to
deposit in the state’s “rainy day” fund....
Gonzalez said the $30 million should cover state
expenses “through the next few months” after which the
administration will have a “better understanding of the extent to
which any further funding requests might be needed.” Democratic
House and Senate leaders have been briefed on their plans, Gonzalez
said.
“We need to be prepared for the possibility that
we do need more, and based on worst case scenarios we may need a lot
more,” Gonzalez said....
House Minority Leader Brad Jones, however, said
he wasn’t so sure the Legislature should be willing to hand over a
check to the administration.
Disappointed that Republican leadership had not
been briefed on the administration’s plan as well, Jones said, “I
think this is certainly a request that should come with a tremendous
amount of string because I want to know who knew what and when.”
The North Reading Republican suggested that an
independent authority might be placed in charge of disbursing funds
until the Legislature can properly investigate the administration’s
handling of the drug lab crisis. “I’m going to want to have my say
in how this addressed,” Jones said....
The courts alone requested $8.7 million,
including $2.96 million this fiscal year and $5.8 million in fiscal
2014 to handle cases stemming from breaches of protocol at the
Hinton Drug Lab. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has asked the state for
$15 million to pay for increased police patrols and released-inmate
supervision.
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Patrick seeking $30 Mil to start paying for drug lab fallout
Patrick will file an appropriations bill with
the Legislature on Thursday to cover costs associated with the
scandal for at least the next several months for the state’s
court system, prosecutors, public defenders and other agencies,
Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez said in a
conference call....
Gonzalez said it was too early to pin down
the ultimate cost of the scandal and said additional
appropriations could be necessary in the future.
Associated Press
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Gov seeks $30M for costs of Mass. drug lab scandal
We’re disturbed by the plodding pace of
investigation and information-sharing related to the two
health-related crises that will cost the taxpayers of the
commonwealth millions and have cost some individuals their
lives.
After a month-long investigation Gov. Deval
Patrick last week announced plans to step up unannounced
inspections at compounding pharmacies like the New England
Compounding Center, the apparent source of a national meningitis
outbreak that has sickened more than 300 people and killed 24.
So that’s great news. The same folks who
missed the signs of possible contamination at NECC are on the
case. Are we supposed to feel better? ...
In a radio interview last week Patrick
pointed out that, like the problems at the state crime lab — the
other costly, life-threatening crisis that his team is managing
at the moment — problems with the pharmacy inspection process
pre-date his tenure.
“It’s a little like the Annie Dookhan stuff,
yeah, a lot of this stuff dates from before my time but we’re
dealing with it right now,” he said on WTKK, referring to the
chemist at the center of the drug lab scandal.
But this governor is halfway through his
second term. No more blaming the team that came before, however
politically useful....
By our count the only people to pay for these
preventable scandals with their jobs so far are the public health
commissioner and a few middle managers. ... And why haven’t we heard
more about Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby’s
management responsibility in these matters?
Last week some lawmakers finally looked up
from their voter lists long enough to realize we have a
situation on our hands. Senate leaders on Thursday announced
oversight hearings into the pharmacy board issues.
In the meantime hard-bitten criminals are
being allowed simply to stroll out the prison door thanks to the
crime lab debacle and people are quite literally dropping dead
from meningitis, all because this state failed to perform
adequately some of its most basic duties. Where is the outrage?
A Boston Herald editorial
Monday, October 29, 2012
Hello? Anybody home?
Massachusetts lawmakers are planning to
announce a series of public hearings looking into the state
Department of Public Health’s handling of two recent crises.
Associated Press
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Mass. to hold hearings on state health department
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
We don't hear "Where would you cut?" any
more — it hasn't been demanded of us in
a very long time in fact.
An answer to that rhetorical question was once
demanded de rigueur by the tax-borrow-and-spend acolytes
whenever taxpayers sought lower or opposed higher taxes. We spent
considerable time and effort in 2005 to provide obvious answers.
When we presented our detailed response it was ignored, so we ceased
that exercise in futility.
Then they gave up asking.
The reason for that becomes more obvious day
after day.
The replacement mantra against even the smallest
tax cut has become, "The state can't afford it."
No wonder talk of more tax hikes is circulating.
Bacon Hill is throwing away our money faster than we can earn it
— even faster than they can take it
from us.
As we keep asserting: More Is Never
Enough (MINE) and never will be. Especially at the burn-rate of
these malfeasant, incapable hacks.
Bankrupt "green energy investments" funded by Gov. Patrick have
wasted millions of taxpayer dollars; millions more are blown on
taxpayer-provided health care for illegal aliens and out-of-staters;
basic government responsibilities like crime labs are corrupted by
gross negligence, failed state inspection and oversight of
pharmaceutical companies have led to scores of deaths across the
nation — is Massachusetts government
capable of doing anything right?
But why would it make an effort when it can just
charge taxpayers for its ineptitudes.
Gov. Deval Patrick's Secretary of Health and
Human Service, JudyAnn Bigby, has oversight and responsibility over
many of the worst dysfunctions — yet
she still holds her position and, one must assume, his confidence. I
hope the governor will be "reflecting" on her as he
"reflects" on his administration's too numerous and ongoing failures
and scandals.
It's a shame he's not on the ballot next Tuesday,
but we can still vote for change — and
we need that desperately, now more than ever before.
Remember on Tuesday when you vote:
CLT's 2˝
PAC
CLT's 2˝ PAC-endorsed
legislative candidates for the 2012 election
CLICK HERE
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Chip Ford |
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State House News Service
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Disturbed by audit, DeLeo calls for changes at Medicaid
By Colleen Quinn
The state Medicaid program needs to do a better job verifying the
residency and income claims of those who receive health care
benefits, according to House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who said state
officials need to look at tweaking procedures in light of a new
audit showing the system vulnerable to fraud and abuse.
“To say that I am deeply concerned and disturbed would be an
understatement,” DeLeo told the News Service after attending an
event to mark the refurbishment of Winthrop Beach.
A report released Wednesday by State Auditor Suzanne Bump found
thousands of out-of-state residents could be wrongfully receiving
state health care benefits because MassHealth fails to verify their
residency while others may be receiving benefits despite exceeding
income qualifications.
The state Medicaid program, has spent millions of dollars on
services for people who were later removed from the program because
they were not Massachusetts residents, the audit found. The audit
also found lottery winners received health care without any changes
to their benefits. MassHealth does not have procedures to check for
unearned income, such as pension payments, rental income, and
lottery winnings.
Gov. Deval Patrick, who also attended the event in Winthrop, said he
had conversations with the head of the Medicaid program and with
Secretary of Health and Human Service JudyAnn Bigby about the issue.
Those in charge of the program have legitimate differences on some
of the conclusions drawn by the auditor’s report, Patrick said.
“But I don’t think this administration should take a backseat to
anybody in terms of addressing fraud and waste. And if there is more
that we should do, we will do it,” Patrick told the News Service.
DeLeo said it is something state officials need to “get right on top
of” to find better ways to screen applicants and remove those
abusing the system. He added he wants to ensure people who should
receive health care benefits do, “but to get those who are not
qualified, get them off our rolls. We shouldn’t be paying for them.”
MassHealth has 1.3 million recipients, and in fiscal year 2011 paid
health care providers more than $12.2 billion, according to the
report.
Bump's office found MassHealth does not verify an applicant's state
residency, relying solely on self-declaration. MassHealth checks
someone's address only when there are conflicts in an applicant's
information. While complying with legal obligations, the policy
leaves MassHealth vulnerable to fraud, the audit concluded.
In 2010, MassHealth spent approximately $6.5 million on services for
4,643 individuals who were later removed from the program because
they were not Massachusetts residents, received benefits from
another state, or state officials could not determine where the
enrollees lived.
DeLeo said one of his goals as speaker is to curb waste and abuse of
publicly-funded programs.
“I will tell you that for the last couple of years, actually since I
have been speaker, the things I have been trying to do is protect
public money, in particular whether it is not raising taxes or fees
or making sure that people who are on EBT are those folks who are
truly in need of services and to stop the abuse from those who
shouldn’t be getting those monies,” DeLeo said.
Patrick said administration officials will look at the report, and
“reflect” on it.
“But I think it is fair to say the folks who are managing the
program on a day-to-day basis come to very, very different
conclusions than some of those in the auditor’s report” he added.
Dr. Julian Harris, the state's Medicaid director, said Wednesday the
report raised important issues, with some already being addressed.
He added MassHealth officials disagree with some of the policy
recommendations made by Bump around ways to verify residency. Her
report suggested requiring applicants to show a driver’s license,
utility bill, or some other proof of residency. Harris said that
could create barriers to people accessing health care benefits,
citing homeless people and others in transient living situations who
would find it difficult to prove they are Massachusetts residents.
DeLeo said not requiring residency proof is the first thing that
needs to be looked at.
“Obviously we have got to do a better job of that. We just can’t
have people walk in off the street and, you know, as much as want to
be helpful, the Commonwealth has limited resources,” DeLeo said.
The Salem News
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
A Salem News editorial
Fear of barriers leaves MassHealth open to fraud
Once again, a state program aimed at helping the less fortunate has
been exposed as a fraud free-for-all.
MassHealth is the Bay State’s version of Medicaid. State Auditor
Suzanne Bump released an audit of MassHealth that found the program
is losing millions of dollars to fraud.
That should be a warning to the rest of the nation. The Affordable
Care Act, better known as “Obamacare,” is expected to funnel
millions of the nation’s citizens into their states’ Medicaid plans.
The level of fraud found here could be magnified across the country.
Thousands of out-of-state residents could be taking advantage of the
program to provide health care benefits to low- and moderate-income
individuals living in Massachusetts, according to the report.
Bump’s audit found that MassHealth fails to verify the residency of
benefits recipients. The audit also found that others may be
receiving benefits while not meeting income qualifications, the
State House News Service reported.
The failure to maintain eligibility standards could be costing the
state millions. MassHealth is an enormous program serving 1.3
million enrollees — or about 1 in 5 Massachusetts residents. In
fiscal year 2011, the program paid health care providers more than
$12.2 billion, of which 35 percent came from state funds. The
program’s costs are growing on average 8.7 percent annually, Bump’s
audit found.
Bump’s office found that MassHealth does not verify an applicant’s
state residency, relying solely on self-declaration, the State House
News Service reported. MassHealth only checks someone’s address when
there are conflicts in an applicant’s information. The policy leaves
MassHealth vulnerable to fraud, according to the auditor’s report.
Given MassHealth’s weak eligibility standards, fraud is inevitable.
In 2010, MassHealth spent approximately $6.5 million on services for
4,643 individuals who were later removed from the program because
they were not Massachusetts residents, received benefits from
another state, or state officials could not determine where the
enrollees lived, the news service reported.
“I realize that MassHealth has a very difficult job to do to
maintain access to folks that experience a lot of job and residency
instability. At the same time, you’ve got to weigh that against the
finite number of public dollars that support this program,” Bump
told the news service. “I urge MassHealth to find a better balance.”
For defenders of the status quo, there’s always good reason to do
little. When it comes to stopping fraudulent use of state benefits,
the concern is “barriers.”
Bump’s audit suggested that MassHealth officials should ask for
driver’s licenses, utility bills or other proof of residence for
applicants for benefits.
But according to Dr. Julian Harris, the state’s Medicaid director,
such requirements might raise barriers for some of the state’s most
vulnerable residents.
So the fear that someone, somewhere might be denied benefits means
the entire program must remain open and vulnerable to waste and
fraud.
That’s ridiculous.
A driver’s license, utility bill or other proof of residency is not
too much to ask for the privilege of having your health care
provided by the state’s taxpayers.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Pol: Paying OT to workers on hack holidays ‘nonsense’
By John Zaremba
Lawmakers have only themselves to blame now that a judge has put the
state on the hook for overtime pay racked up by Suffolk County city
workers who punch in on so-called hack holidays, said a state
senator who tried to scrap Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day from
the calendar.
“It’s nonsense, it’s ridiculous, and we ought to be ashamed of
ourselves. It’s the gang that can’t shoot straight. Public service
at its worst,” said state Sen. Michael R. Knapik (R-Westfield). “We
tried to make some beneficial changes in the public benefits
structure, but for these two holidays, we’ve not been able to strike
them from the books and save the taxpayers that money.”
Knapik persuaded the Senate to nix the holidays in 2010, but a
compromise between the House and Gov. Deval Patrick kept them on the
calendar while requiring Suffolk County state and city offices to
stay open and staffed — a pact that meant holiday overtime pay for
city workers who have long had Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day
off in their contracts.
Revere, where hack-holiday OT costs are estimated at $40,000 over
three years, sued and won, with Judge Linda Giles calling the
requirement an “unfunded mandate” and giving the city the chance to
opt out. Mayor Dan Rizzo plans to do just that, saying City Hall was
a ghost town on the holidays and that paying anyone to work those
days was a waste.
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo would not say whether he thinks the
state should pay the OT costs, with a spokesman saying the House is
reviewing the judge’s decision.
Knapik said the judge’s ruling will stoke new efforts to kill the
seemingly invincible holidays.
“The day of reckoning is coming. The public sector can’t afford all
these special deals and benefits that exist across state
government,” Knapik said.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
A Boston Herald editorial
The ‘reform’ that wasn’t
State lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick knew the instant they enacted
a “repeal” of the state’s two notorious hack holidays two years ago
that it was really no such thing. But hey, it was an election year
and they got to portray themselves as big-time reformers in their
campaign literature.
But the holidays remain legal holidays, and as such they’re paid
days off for those unionized employees whose contracts still include
them. Those who are required to show up on March 17 (Evacuation Day)
and June 17 (Bunker Hill Day) are now paid overtime for doing so.
And now a judge has ruled that by requiring those communities where
the two holidays are observed to keep their government offices open
the state has established what amounts to an unfunded mandate on
cities and towns — and so the state ought to be picking up the tab.
What a mess!
An entirely foreseeable mess that Beacon Hill has refused to
clean up.
Mayor Daniel Rizzo of Revere, the city that brought suit against the
state, is pleased as punch with Suffolk Superior Court Judge Linda
Giles. But in truth Giles simply affirmed what Auditor Suzanne Bump
suggested more than a year ago — that as long as the state
requires open government offices on the holiday that is indeed
an unfunded mandate.
Doing away with the hack holidays was never going to be a short-term
proposition, not with those paid days off already baked into so many
union contracts. But removing the dates from the state’s list of
legal holidays would have been a major step toward untying that
collective bargaining knot. Beacon Hill refused to do so.
“It’s nonsense, it’s ridiculous and we ought to be ashamed of
ourselves,” Sen. Michael R. Knapik (R-Westfield) told the Herald
after Giles’ ruling. It is all of that and it is now a burden
on state taxpayers who were sold a bill of goods.
The powers-that-be on Beacon Hill have had two years to fix what
they broke. That they have expressed zero interest in doing so tells
us how much “reform” means to them.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, October 28, 2012
A Boston Herald editorial
Close pension loophole
The 105 state and local public employee pension systems covering
500,000 Massachusetts workers and retirees are too optimistic about
what their investments will earn, a new study unsurprisingly
reports.
Massachusetts requires public pension systems to close gaps between
future earnings and future payments with annual payments through
2040. However, it lets pension boards assume whatever rates of
return on investment they like. The
report from the Pioneer Institute calling attention to this
loophole should not be ignored.
The 105 boards have assets covering two-thirds of future payouts —
if they actually earn what they assume.
No board assumes less than a 7.75 percent return. The average is 8.2
percent. When did you last hear of a mutual fund earning that much?
A hedge fund that doesn’t need immediate cash might earn that on
exotic investments like Siberian timber, Moroccan truckers or
Patagonian cellphone companies. But municipal pension boards cannot
command the expertise needed for that.
Interest rates tanked four years ago. There is no sign of anything
like inflation that would raise them.
Thirty-year Treasury bonds yield 2.93 percent; the average yield on
a dividend-paying stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index is 2.61
percent. Capital gains? The S&P peaked in 2000.
If pension funds earn 2 percent, the total of annual payments in
2040 would have to be 2.5 times as much as is assumed now. Pioneer
recommends assuming a 5 percent return, which would — if earned —
mean 2040 payments 63 percent higher.
Five percent is a good idea — but should be part of a transition to
a system designed around self-financed pensions using things like
401(k) accounts. Some states have switched new employees to such
plans; Massachusetts should learn from them.
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Patrick seeking $30 Mil to start paying for drug lab fallout
By Matt Murphy
Gov. Deval Patrick plans to file a $30 million budget request with
the Legislature on Thursday to cover costs for “the next few months”
related to the evidence tainting debacle at a state drug lab, and
Patrick has agreed to appoint an independent investigator to conduct
a broader probe of the lab.
Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez said Wednesday
that the spending request would be filed with the House on Thursday.
He’ll seek $30 million to be deposited into a special fund under the
control of his office.
The request underscores the magnitude of the evidence tainting
problems, which are forcing public officials and defense attorneys
to revisit and reopen thousands of criminal cases to determine
whether justice was served.
The administration plans to dispense the funds to state agencies
impacted by investigations or ongoing legal proceedings based on
requests filed monthly, Gonzalez said, and the request will propose
to pay for the expense with future one-time tax and legal
settlements. The administration earlier in the day announced a $116
million surplus from fiscal 2012 that it plans to deposit in the
state’s “rainy day” fund.
Patrick also said Wednesday he would “waste no time” naming an
independent investigator to review operations at the Hinton
Laboratory after Attorney General Martha Coakley, facing pressure
from legal groups to step aside because of potential conflicts of
interest, asked the governor to replace her.
“The Attorney General was well suited to lead this impartial review
of the lab's overall operations but we understand and accept her
decision. Combined with David Meier’s work to identify cases handled
by Annie Dookhan and the ongoing criminal investigation, this
broader review is critical to assessing the integrity of the entire
lab and ensuring the criminal justice system meets its obligations
to fairness. We will waste no time identifying a new person to take
up this important responsibility,” Patrick press secretary Kim
Haberlin said in a statement.
Gonzalez said the $30 million should cover state expenses “through
the next few months” after which the administration will have a
“better understanding of the extent to which any further funding
requests might be needed.” Democratic House and Senate leaders have
been briefed on their plans, Gonzalez said.
“We need to be prepared for the possibility that we do need more,
and based on worst case scenarios we may need a lot more,” Gonzalez
said.
House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey told the News Service
that lawmakers would make a decision in the next week or two whether
it is feasible to put forward a budget bill during informal
sessions, when any lawmaker can block its passage. Formal
legislative sessions are scheduled to resume in January.
“We’re going to look at it. It’s always a challenge in informal
sessions to bring something of this magnitude up because it’s a supp
and there’s always a request for additional items. We’ll look at it
to see if it’s doable and makes sense and that’s a conversation
we’ll have with the speaker,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey said the idea of reimbursing agencies as they incur costs
“makes a lot of sense” and he also agreed with the idea of a
short-term funding plan so that officials can get a better sense of
the overall cost. He also said he supported the funding mechanism to
use one-time settlements that are typically put into reserves.
“It’s for use for those expenses we would deem an emergency or one
time and this certainly falls into that,” Dempsey said.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones, however, said he wasn’t so sure
the Legislature should be willing to hand over a check to the
administration.
Disappointed that Republican leadership had not been briefed on the
administration’s plan as well, Jones said, “I think this is
certainly a request that should come with a tremendous amount of
string because I want to know who knew what and when.”
The North Reading Republican suggested that an independent authority
might be placed in charge of disbursing funds until the Legislature
can properly investigate the administration’s handling of the drug
lab crisis. “I’m going to want to have my say in how this
addressed,” Jones said.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Reps. Jeffrey Sanchez (D-Jamaica Plain),
David Linsky (D-Natick) and Harold Naughton (D-Clinton) announced
plans for three legislative hearings into the Department of Public
Health’s oversight of the lab and state pharmacies.
“Oh, they tore themselves away from the Obama trail,” Jones quipped,
referring to their travels on behalf of President Barack Obama’s
re-election campaign.
Though the legislative recess could become an impediment to passage
of a budget bill during informal sessions, Gonzalez said waiting
until January when the new Legislature is sworn in puts “more
pressure” on the budgets of those agencies impacted by chemist Annie
Dookhan’s mishandling of evidence.
“The sooner we have this in place, the better,” Gonzalez said.
The administration requested that state agencies file estimates of
their expenses related to the drug lab by last week, but Gonzalez
said it is premature to have a full understanding of the number of
cases and increased workload that will fall to agencies such as the
Committee for Public Counsel Services, district attorneys, probation
and the courts.
The courts alone requested $8.7 million, including $2.96 million
this fiscal year and $5.8 million in fiscal 2014 to handle cases
stemming from breaches of protocol at the Hinton Drug Lab. Boston
Mayor Thomas Menino has asked the state for $15 million to pay for
increased police patrols and released-inmate supervision.
Associated Press
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Gov seeks $30M for costs of Mass. drug lab scandal
By Bob Salsberg
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick planned to seek $30 million to
cover the initial costs stemming from a testing scandal at a state
drug lab that threatens to unravel thousands of criminal cases.
The governor separately agreed Wednesday to a request from the
state’s attorney general to name an independent investigator to
examine broader issues surrounding the now-closed lab.
Annie Dookhan, a former chemist at the Boston lab, is accused of
skirting protocols and faking drug test results. She has pleaded not
guilty to obstructing justice. Officials said she tested more than
60,000 drug samples involving about 34,000 individuals over a
nine-year period at the lab.
Patrick will file an appropriations bill with the Legislature on
Thursday to cover costs associated with the scandal for at least the
next several months for the state’s court system, prosecutors,
public defenders and other agencies, Secretary of Administration and
Finance Jay Gonzalez said in a conference call.
The money would come from one-time tax and legal settlements
exceeding $10 million that are normally deposited into the state’s
stabilization fund, commonly known as the ‘‘rainy day’’ fund. If
settlements fall short of the $30 million needed, the remainder
would be drawn from money already in the reserve account.
Gonzalez said it was too early to pin down the ultimate cost of the
scandal and said additional appropriations could be necessary in the
future.
‘‘This is a very unique situation,’’ he said. ‘‘I think we have an
obligation to address the issues associated with this and to fund
the costs that agencies are going to incur.’’
‘‘In so doing, we also have an obligation to the taxpayers to ensure
that we aren’t funding anything other than that,’’ he added.
Coakley, who is conducting the criminal investigation into the
alleged mishandling of drug evidence, asked earlier Wednesday for
the appointment of an independent investigator to look into broader
issues surrounding the testing scandal.
‘‘The failure at the Hinton Lab represents a major breakdown of the
criminal justice system, and I know your office shares our
commitment to fixing it and restoring faith in our system,’’ her top
deputy wrote in a letter to Patrick’s chief-of-staff, calling for
the outside review of the policies, practices and oversight at the
lab.
The governor had originally requested that Coakley, in addition to
her prosecution of Dookhan, conduct the broader review of the lab to
determine if failures may have impacted other cases beyond those
handled by a single chemist.
Kimberly Haberlin, a spokeswoman for Patrick, said the governor felt
the attorney general was capable of an impartial review of the lab’s
operations but nevertheless agreed to the request for the outside
probe. The review would be ‘‘critical to assessing the integrity of
the entire lab and ensuring the criminal justice system meets its
obligations to fairness,’’ Haberlin said.
The governor will work quickly to identify and appoint the
independent investigator, she added.
Coakley will continue to handle the criminal investigation.
The call for an outside review was initially made in a letter sent
to Coakley last week by several legal groups, including the
Massachusetts Bar Association and the state chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
The groups, which stressed that the request was not intended as
criticism of the attorney general, said it was important that the
probe be perceived as fully independent so that public confidence
could be restored in the criminal justice system.
Carol Rose, executive director of the Massachusetts ACLU, applauded
Coakley’s decision.
‘‘An independent investigator must be unencumbered by any real or
potential conflict of interest, with complete control over the
investigation’s scope, taking it wherever the facts lead,’’ Rose
said in a statement Wednesday.
Beyond the allegations against Dookhan, Rose said the scandal raised
questions about whether others violated protocol, including lab
employees, prosecutors and members of law enforcement.
The state’s trial court has been holding special sessions to
consider challenges from defense attorneys who are seeking to have
sentences for clients put on hold and bail granted to defendants
already serving prison time in cases in which Dookhan tested
suspected drugs. Many such requests have already been granted.
Gonzalez said the $30 million, if approved by lawmakers, would go
into a fund maintained by his office. Agencies seeking to draw from
the fund would have to submit documentation showing the request was
directly related to the drug lab crisis.
The Legislature has ended formal sessions for the year, complicating
the process of passing the bill. The measure could be approved
during an informal session, but a single objection from any lawmaker
would scuttle such a plan and force the measure to wait for
resumption of formal sessions in January.
Gonzalez said he had spoken Wednesday with the leaders of the House
and Senate Ways and Means committees and was hoping for speedy
action.
The Boston Herald
Monday, October 29, 2012
A Boston Herald editorial
Hello? Anybody home?
We’re disturbed by the plodding pace of investigation and
information-sharing related to the two health-related crises that
will cost the taxpayers of the commonwealth millions and have cost
some individuals their lives.
After a month-long investigation Gov. Deval Patrick last week
announced plans to step up unannounced inspections at compounding
pharmacies like the New England Compounding Center, the apparent
source of a national meningitis outbreak that has sickened more than
300 people and killed 24.
So that’s great news. The same folks who missed the signs of
possible contamination at NECC are on the case. Are we supposed to
feel better?
Meanwhile it has taken weeks for Patrick’s staff just to pull
together meeting minutes for the state board of pharmacy, which the
Herald requested Oct. 10. That’s basic information for a regulatory
body that ought to be available to the public with the click of a
mouse. It comes as no surprise then that there are problems with
broader oversight.
In a radio interview last week Patrick pointed out that, like the
problems at the state crime lab — the other costly, life-threatening
crisis that his team is managing at the moment — problems with the
pharmacy inspection process pre-date his tenure.
“It’s a little like the Annie Dookhan stuff, yeah, a lot of this
stuff dates from before my time but we’re dealing with it right
now,” he said on WTKK, referring to the chemist at the center of the
drug lab scandal.
But this governor is halfway through his second term. No more
blaming the team that came before, however politically useful.
By our count the only people to pay for these preventable scandals
with their jobs so far are the public health commissioner and a few
middle managers. But if the pharmacy board is as closely tied to the
industry as reporting suggests, Patrick ought to clean house. And
why haven’t we heard more about Secretary of Health and Human
Services JudyAnn Bigby’s management responsibility in these matters?
Last week some lawmakers finally looked up from their voter lists
long enough to realize we have a situation on our hands. Senate
leaders on Thursday announced oversight hearings into the pharmacy
board issues.
In the meantime hard-bitten criminals are being allowed simply to
stroll out the prison door thanks to the crime lab debacle and
people are quite literally dropping dead from meningitis, all
because this state failed to perform adequately some of its most
basic duties. Where is the outrage?
Associated Press
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Mass. to hold hearings on state health department
Massachusetts lawmakers are planning to announce a series of public
hearings looking into the state Department of Public Health’s
handling of two recent crises.
The first hearing will look at the department’s oversight of
pharmacies in Massachusetts.
The hearing comes in the wake of a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak
linked to a compounding pharmacy in Framingham that has sickened 377
nationwide, 29 of whom have died.
The second public hearing will look at the department’s supervision
of the state drug laboratory following the testing scandal at the
drug lab.
A third public hearing will look at the state’s role in overseeing
the department and the need for increased transparency at the
department.
State Reps. Jeffrey Sánchez, David Linsky, and Harold Naughton plan
to announce the hearing schedule Thursday at the Statehouse.
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