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CLT UPDATE
Thursday, November 9, 2017Beacon Hill greed has no limits, only getting worse
Last week, in a MassLive interview, McGee . . . says, it’s not “fair and equitable” that only some highway use involves tolls. If commuters from the North Shore must pay to drive into Boston, why should those from the South Shore be exempt?
He has a point. It isn’t equitable for Massachusetts to levy tolls on just one highway (plus two tunnels and a bridge)....
But McGee isn’t the only one who has a valid point. So does Citizens for Limited Taxation, which testified against McGee’s bill at a recent hearing, and listed all the ways in which motorists are already forced to pay for the privilege of driving in Massachusetts.
First and foremost, there is the state’s gasoline tax, which adds 26.5 cents to the price of each gallon of gasoline, for a total of $766 million in 2016. There is also the auto excise tax, the sales tax on cars, and the fees charged for automobile registration, driver’s licenses, and annual inspections. On top of all that, the state collects some $400 million per year in Turnpike, tunnel, and Tobin Bridge tolls. And McGee now wants motorists to disgorge another billion dollars? Not a chance.
There might be a plausible case for raising toll revenue if Massachusetts were making prudent use of the revenues it already gets. But it isn’t. As the Reason Foundation documents in a comprehensive analysis of the 50 state highway systems, Massachusetts has one of the nation’s most wasteful highway operations....
In the abstract, there is much to be said for turning all of the state’s major highways into toll roads. In the real world, that isn’t the priority. Let Massachusetts first stop squandering the transportation funds it already collects, and enact a phase-out of the gasoline tax. Then the hour will be right to impose tolls on the other highways.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Impose tolls on the state’s other highways? Yes, but first things first
By Jeff Jacoby
Massachusetts on Tuesday again missed its statutory deadline to file its annual financial report, and the Legislature, which has shouldered a relatively light workload in 2017, is once again to blame.
State financial reporting authorities have been urging lawmakers for years to reverse their habit of leaving the state's books open well after fiscal years end, reminding Beacon Hill that August - the end of the accounts payable and receivable period - should be the target to wrap up loose ends after fiscal years end on June 30.
But the pattern has continued.
"Final fiscal year-end supplemental appropriations bill enactment has trended late in recent years," Acting Comptroller Jeffrey Shapiro wrote in a letter Tuesday to Gov. Charlie Baker and the House and Senate budget chiefs, Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and Sen. Karen Spilka. "In the past twelve years alone, enactment has been late ten times. This is a troubling pattern and puts the accuracy and integrity of the Commonwealth's accounting and audit responsibilities at risk when compressed against strict statutory filing deadlines." ...
There's no financial penalty for filing late, but Shapiro said the state's ability to secure financial reporting integrity certificates is at risk. A late filing could affect the timely filing of a year-end Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, which Shapiro wrote is of "known interest to rating agencies and the investment community."
In June, S&P Global Ratings downgraded the state's bond rating with an admonishment for its approach to rebuilding its savings reserve.
Just two years ago, the comptroller's office was unable to file its fiscal 2015 financial report until Nov. 11.
It wasn't always this way.
Not long ago, Beacon Hill lawmakers routinely wrapped up closeout budgets in the summertime. Between 1995 and 2005, final supplemental budgets needed to complete the annual financial report were enacted each year in either August or September, with budgets enacted in August during six of those years.
State House News Service
Wednesday, November 4, 2017
"Troubling pattern" cited as state misses financial report deadline
State lawmakers have charged taxpayers for their commutes to the State House when they never even made the trip to Beacon Hill, according to a 25 Investigates review that had one politician running from our camera....
Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen found several legislators cheating the system after he spent the entire week of Thanksgiving 2016 at the State House – taking attendance on every lawmaker who showed up and later checking that against their daily commuting logs.
25 Investigates found state representatives Sean Garballey of Arlington, Paul McMurtry of Dedham and John Mahoney of Worcester all collected tax dollars for commutes to the State House that they never made under the per diem program.
The program paid lawmakers for every day they drove from their homes to the State House – payments ranging from $10 to $100 a day based on how far they had to travel.
Taxpayers have shelled out more than $1 million for the commutes since 2014.
Arlington, Worcester reps claim questionable commutes
No one has charged taxpayers for more days traveling to the State House in the last two years than state Rep. Sean Garballey, who raked in more than $4,000 in commuting expenses at a price tag of $10 per day.
Garballey, 32, reported he was somehow at the State House all five days the week of Thanksgiving.
But staff for the Arlington representative told us he was “in district” that Monday and on Friday Garballey’s office was even locked up.
Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen previously reported two dozen lawmakers, including Garballey, continued billing taxpayers for their commutes even after the plum perk ended earlier this year.
Garballey was among the Beacon Hill legislators who voted to approve the new law ending the per diem program as of Jan. 4, while giving lawmakers a multimillion dollar raise.
Garballey, who declined multiple requests for an interview, told 25 Investigates he did everything “within the law.”
Garballey isn’t the only one racking up questionable commutes on the public’s dime....
25 Investigates asked nearly 40 lawmakers to who claimed they commuted to the State House at least one day that week to voluntarily share their office calendars for November 2016 so we could verify their logs, but not one agreed.
Internal emails obtained by 25 Investigates show Beacon Hill lawyers told House members not to respond to our requests and instead get in touch Seth Gitell – the top public relations manager for House Speaker Robert DeLeo.
WFXT-TV Boston 25 / Fox 25
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
25 Investigates: Lawmakers billed taxpayers for bogus commutes
The state is taking action after 25 Investigates uncovered a little-known money grab by Beacon Hill lawmakers.
Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen discovered Massachusetts legislators still charging taxpayers for their commute to the State House even after they agreed to give up that plum perk.
Lawmakers said they were unaware of the problem until 25 Investigates brought it to their attention....
It’s all part of a larger problem the Treasurer’s Office admits it didn’t know about until 25 Investigates uncovered it.
But officials at the state Treasurer’s Office could not say why they were still paying out per diems after the law had changed.
WFXT-TV Boston 25 / Fox 25
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
25 Investigates: Lawmakers charge taxpayers for commutes after perk ended
The piggishness on Beacon Hill seems to know no bounds. It appears that some lawmakers thought they could keep right on collecting per diem payments for weeks, even months, after those payments were supposed to stop at the end of last year.
And why were the payments supposed to stop? Well, because lawmakers had voted themselves a massive pay raise — justifying it by agreeing to eliminate the money they previously collected just for commuting to the State House....
We allow for the possibility of an honest mistake. But that’s only because the sense of entitlement is so ingrained — and some lawmakers are so unaware of what they’re voting on at any given time — that it’s entirely possible they were clueless about the deadlines, or even thought they might still be entitled to per diem payments after the pay raise took effect.
Cheaters, on the other hand, don’t have ignorance as an excuse....
Placing that kind of trust in people who would cheat taxpayers for a few bucks was clearly misguided. Now with extra pay padded right into their paychecks lawmakers don’t even have to keep up the pretense.
A Boston Herald editorial
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Double dipping on the Hill
Attleboro's mayor-elect, Democrat Rep. Paul Heroux, plans to serve out the remaining 14 months of his term in the House even after taking over at City Hall, in part to give his party a better chance at holding the House seat.
After hearing about his plans, House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Wednesday said a conversation with Heroux is likely, but the decision would ultimately be up to the three-term lawmaker.
During the campaign, Heroux criticized Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas as overpaid at a salary of $122,000 a year and said if elected he would commission a study to determine how much he should earn as mayor, the Attleboro Sun Chronicle reported in August. As a state rep, Heroux receives base pay of $62,548 and is entitled to an additional $15,000 for office expenses....
More importantly, according to Heroux, he wants to "finish some of the projects I started" in the Legislature and doesn't want his city to have to pay the $50,000 he said it would cost to hold a special election.
"I know people are going to criticize me, 'Oh, he's getting two salaries.' That's true, but I'm also doing two jobs," Heroux said in a phone interview.
The Sun Chronicle reported on Heroux's plans to hold down both jobs Wednesday morning. North Attleborough Republican Rep. Elizabeth Poirier, who represents part of Attleboro, was surprised to hear he plans to remain in the Legislature through 2018, calling it an "incredible revelation."
State House News Service
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Attleboro mayor-elect Heroux says he's not resigning from House
Chip Ford's CLT Commentary
The fat-and-happy pols on Beacon Hill know only one thing: How to grab for more of our money.
Whether it's endlessly robbing taxpayers of more of our hard-earned money, or stuffing more it into their pockets, More Is Never Enough (MINE) and never will be for "The Best Legislature Money Can Buy."
They robbed us blind in January with their obscene $18 million pay grab — part of which allegedly was for exchanging the per diem travel allowance with a flat "undocumented expense payment."
CommonWealth Magazine
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Lawmakers: Hike everyone’s pay"The measure eliminates the per diem payments to rank and file lawmakers for traveling to and from the State House, while more than doubling or tripling the undocumented expense payment each lawmaker receives, depending on how far from Beacon Hill they live.
"The measure is constructed in such a way that it bypasses the state Constitution, which was amended by voters to set the legislative base salary and the process for raising it. By defining the compensation increases as stipends instead of raises, lawmakers can boost their salaries and the pay of other state officials through regular legislation."
See: History of the Legislators' Obscene Pay Grab
Still that was not enough for some — so they kept cashing in on both the old per diem and the new "undocumented expense" payments. More Is Never Enough!
Until they got caught red-handed. If their scam hadn't been exposed, they'd still be gaming the system and pocketing all that cash — our money. What a display of — literally — "take the money and run" state Rep. Paul McMurtry (D-Dedham) put on for Fox 25's intrepid sleuths, Eric Rasmussen and Erin Smith! McMurtry looked like a perpetrator caught in the headlights at a crime scene. Oh wait, he was the perp at the scene!
Next, c'mon down Attleboro State Rep. Paul Heroux (D-Double-Dipper). Rep. Heroux just can't pull his snout out of one trough even after being elected to a second trough and second pension-providing position. He wants to be a state representative and a mayor too, simultaneously — and paid for both. He says he can hold two jobs at the same time, which tells me he has way too much time on his hands in the ghostly Legislature, which tells me that they all do. But then we already knew that after their many extended vacations, long weekends, and very limited productivity.
Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tom McGee, Jr. — author of the controversial toll expansion scheme he recently proposed — on Tuesday also got himself elected as a mayor, of Lynn. In January McGee voted to jack up his salary from $77,247 to $107,547 a year, a 39.2% pay raise in one fell swoop. Do you suppose he's going to give that up when he becomes mayor in a couple months — or will he follow Heroux's lead and fatten himself on both?
Beware the "off-year" election phenomenon — when ambitious pols can run for a higher office while keeping the current one with nothing to lose. Beacon Hill greed and ambition have no limits.
Chip Ford
Executive Director
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Impose tolls on the state’s other highways? Yes, but first things first
By Jeff Jacoby
All-electronic tolling came to the Massachusetts Turnpike late last fall, liberating drivers at long last from the hassle of toll booths and collectors.
In a column 16 years ago, I explained what toll-collection could be like if only Massachusetts would modernize its system. “As cars enter and exit the highway, they’ll pass under a span that will communicate with the transponder on their windshield and automatically assess the applicable toll,” I wrote. That wasn’t far-seeing clairvoyance, it was merely description: Such a system was already in place on Ontario’s Highway 407.
It may have taken an inordinately long time to switch the Turnpike to all-electronic tolling, but Democrats on Beacon Hill have been quick to realize that extending the system to the state’s other highways — currently toll-free — could bring a gusher of funds to the state treasury. Hence S.1959, a measure introduced by state Senator Thomas McGee, cochairman of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, which would create a “comprehensive system of tolling” in eastern Massachusetts, turning large sections of I-93, I-95, Route 1, and Route 2 into toll roads.
Last week, in a MassLive interview, McGee argued that the Bay State’s transportation needs are underfunded by at least $1 billion, and that expanding tolls to all the major highways surrounding Greater Boston would be a good way to close the gap. Besides, he says, it’s not “fair and equitable” that only some highway use involves tolls. If commuters from the North Shore must pay to drive into Boston, why should those from the South Shore be exempt?
He has a point. It isn’t equitable for Massachusetts to levy tolls on just one highway (plus two tunnels and a bridge). What’s more, major highways ought to be tolled as a matter of practical transportation policy. Highway tolls are straightforward user fees, which are almost always preferable to indirect or hidden payment schemes. Highways should be paid for with funds that are plainly linked to the service they finance and plainly visible to those making the payments. And tolls provide another valuable benefit: They can reduce congestion. Higher tolls for peak-period trips encourage drivers to reduce the total miles they drive, or to shift some travel to off-peak hours.
But McGee isn’t the only one who has a valid point. So does Citizens for Limited Taxation, which testified against McGee’s bill at a recent hearing, and listed all the ways in which motorists are already forced to pay for the privilege of driving in Massachusetts.
First and foremost, there is the state’s gasoline tax, which adds 26.5 cents to the price of each gallon of gasoline, for a total of $766 million in 2016. There is also the auto excise tax, the sales tax on cars, and the fees charged for automobile registration, driver’s licenses, and annual inspections. On top of all that, the state collects some $400 million per year in Turnpike, tunnel, and Tobin Bridge tolls. And McGee now wants motorists to disgorge another billion dollars? Not a chance.
There might be a plausible case for raising toll revenue if Massachusetts were making prudent use of the revenues it already gets. But it isn’t. As the Reason Foundation documents in a comprehensive analysis of the 50 state highway systems, Massachusetts has one of the nation’s most wasteful highway operations.
For example, Massachusetts spends more than $78,000 on maintenance costs per mile of state highway — three times the national average. Even more egregious is the state’s spending on administrative costs: nearly $75,000 per highway mile, more than seven times the US average. In terms of overall highway cost-effectiveness, only four states ranked lower than Massachusetts: Alaska, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Rhode Island.
In the abstract, there is much to be said for turning all of the state’s major highways into toll roads. In the real world, that isn’t the priority. Let Massachusetts first stop squandering the transportation funds it already collects, and enact a phase-out of the gasoline tax. Then the hour will be right to impose tolls on the other highways.
And maybe this time it won’t take another 16 years.
State House News Service
Wednesday, November 4, 2017
"Troubling pattern" cited as state misses financial report deadline
By Michael P. Norton
Massachusetts on Tuesday again missed its statutory deadline to file its annual financial report, and the Legislature, which has shouldered a relatively light workload in 2017, is once again to blame.
State financial reporting authorities have been urging lawmakers for years to reverse their habit of leaving the state's books open well after fiscal years end, reminding Beacon Hill that August - the end of the accounts payable and receivable period - should be the target to wrap up loose ends after fiscal years end on June 30.
But the pattern has continued.
"Final fiscal year-end supplemental appropriations bill enactment has trended late in recent years," Acting Comptroller Jeffrey Shapiro wrote in a letter Tuesday to Gov. Charlie Baker and the House and Senate budget chiefs, Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and Sen. Karen Spilka. "In the past twelve years alone, enactment has been late ten times. This is a troubling pattern and puts the accuracy and integrity of the Commonwealth's accounting and audit responsibilities at risk when compressed against strict statutory filing deadlines."
Comptroller Thomas Shack was unable to file the state's Statutory Basis Financial Report on Tuesday, the annual Oct. 31 deadline, and it's anyone's guess when he will be able to file it. In connection with that problem, he was also unable to meet his requirement to report the state's consolidated net surplus, which determines if the state budget is balanced and if there is any amount transferred to the state's rainy day, or stabilization fund.
Instead of filing the report, which is viewed as the most complete look at annual state revenues, fund balances and spending, Shapiro on Tuesday filed a status report with the Legislature and Gov. Baker. Shack is on an unexpected medical leave, but Shapiro said he's expected to make a full recovery.
House and Senate Democrats who run the branches have let this year's roughly $130 million closeout budget bill get bogged down in procedural disputes, internal debates of budget line items, and different approaches to restricting or banning bump stocks that accelerate the rate at which firearms discharge. The situation has again stirred internal debate about the ability or willingness of Democrats on Beacon Hill to work together and compromise.
The House and Senate gaveled in sessions Tuesday in case a closeout budget accord was reached, but adjourned for the day without an agreement. The fiscal 2017 budget deliberations will now extend into November and could even run into the fiscal 2019 budget discussions scheduled to kick up in December.
In an interview, Shapiro said he was optimistic a final closeout budget will be agreed to soon, but noted the need for subsequent staff work and reviews by outside auditors before the report can be filed.
There's no financial penalty for filing late, but Shapiro said the state's ability to secure financial reporting integrity certificates is at risk. A late filing could affect the timely filing of a year-end Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, which Shapiro wrote is of "known interest to rating agencies and the investment community."
In June, S&P Global Ratings downgraded the state's bond rating with an admonishment for its approach to rebuilding its savings reserve.
Just two years ago, the comptroller's office was unable to file its fiscal 2015 financial report until Nov. 11.
It wasn't always this way.
Not long ago, Beacon Hill lawmakers routinely wrapped up closeout budgets in the summertime. Between 1995 and 2005, final supplemental budgets needed to complete the annual financial report were enacted each year in either August or September, with budgets enacted in August during six of those years.
WFXT-TV Boston 25 / Fox 25
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
25 Investigates: Lawmakers billed taxpayers for bogus commutes
By Eric Rasmussen and Erin Smith
BOSTON -- State lawmakers have charged taxpayers for their commutes to the State House when they never even made the trip to Beacon Hill, according to a 25 Investigates review that had one politician running from our camera.Watch video: One state rep takes off when 25 Investigates tries to get answers
Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen found several legislators cheating the system after he spent the entire week of Thanksgiving 2016 at the State House – taking attendance on every lawmaker who showed up and later checking that against their daily commuting logs.
25 Investigates found state representatives Sean Garballey of Arlington, Paul McMurtry of Dedham and John Mahoney of Worcester all collected tax dollars for commutes to the State House that they never made under the per diem program.
The program paid lawmakers for every day they drove from their homes to the State House – payments ranging from $10 to $100 a day based on how far they had to travel.
Taxpayers have shelled out more than $1 million for the commutes since 2014.
Arlington, Worcester reps claim questionable commutes
No one has charged taxpayers for more days traveling to the State House in the last two years than state Rep. Sean Garballey, who raked in more than $4,000 in commuting expenses at a price tag of $10 per day.
Garballey, 32, reported he was somehow at the State House all five days the week of Thanksgiving.
But staff for the Arlington representative told us he was “in district” that Monday and on Friday Garballey’s office was even locked up.
Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen previously reported two dozen lawmakers, including Garballey, continued billing taxpayers for their commutes even after the plum perk ended earlier this year.
Garballey was among the Beacon Hill legislators who voted to approve the new law ending the per diem program as of Jan. 4, while giving lawmakers a multimillion dollar raise.
Garballey, who declined multiple requests for an interview, told 25 Investigates he did everything “within the law.”
Garballey isn’t the only one racking up questionable commutes on the public’s dime.
When 25 Investigates tried to find state Rep. John Mahoney at the State House Thanksgiving week last year, his staff said he was “out all week.”
Yet the Worcester Democrat claimed he commuted to the State House two days that week on a per diem form signed “under the pains and penalties of perjury.”
Mahoney has yet to respond to any emails or calls for comment – including one message left with his father.
At $36 per day, he’s charged taxpayers more than $12,000 for his commutes since 2014.
Dedham lawmaker flees from 25 Investigates
When 25 Investigates tried to ask state Rep. Paul McMurtry why he claimed to have driven to the State House two days the week of Thanksgiving 2016, the Dedham Democrat fled from Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen.
25 Investigates emailed, called and visited McMurtry’s State House office several times to ask for an interview before tracking him down in Westwood.
McMurtry was standing outside the fire station after a public party for the retiring fire chief had already ended.
When Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen walked up to ask McMurtry about his per diem files outside the station, the fire chief stepped in to demand 25 Investigates turned off the camera and later physically shoved the camera away.
25 Investigates agreed to wait on the sidewalk for a few minutes to speak with McMurtry and the camera was still rolling when the state representative made a dash for the back exit at the fire station.
McMurtry left his own car in the parking lot and fled in another vehicle – driven by Westwood Town Administrator Michael Jaillet – all to avoid answering questions about his commuting records.
25 Investigates later spoke with McMurtry by phone and offered him another chance to explain himself.
McMurtry has yet to respond to the offer. His chief of staff later emailed 25 Investigates confirming McMurtry only went to the State House one day the week of Thanksgiving, but insisted when it comes to his November and December commuting logs “all per diems are accounted for accurately.”
House lawyers: Don’t respond to 25 Investigates
25 Investigates asked nearly 40 lawmakers to who claimed they commuted to the State House at least one day that week to voluntarily share their office calendars for November 2016 so we could verify their logs, but not one agreed.
Internal emails obtained by 25 Investigates show Beacon Hill lawyers told House members not to respond to our requests and instead get in touch Seth Gitell – the top public relations manager for House Speaker Robert DeLeo.
“We will either not respond (because the reporter acknowledges that the public records law is inapplicable) or we will send one response on behalf of the multiple members who received the request,” House lawyer Jennifer Mathews emailed one House staffer late last month.
Two weeks later, House lawyer James Kennedy emailed 25 Investigates an email denying the calendar request on behalf of “multiple members of the House of Representatives” and noting the legislature is exempt from public records laws.
Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment.
Watchdog calls for State House probe
“I think that this calls for an investigation by state officials,” said David Tuerck of the taxpayer watchdog Beacon Hill Institute.
“What does it tell you that they won’t share their calendars with us?” Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen asked Tuerck.
“Well, it sure looks like a cover up,” said Tuerck. “Their constituents should demand that they return these per diems unless they're willing to account for their presence on those days they were claiming to come into the State House.”
House Speaker DeLeo confirmed he asked House lawyers to get involved.
“Whatever response they gave, they gave,” DeLeo told 25 Investigates.
But DeLeo wouldn’t say much more than that and walked away at the end of a press conference when Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen asked, “Are you concerned your members are putting in per diems for days they weren’t here?”
On the week of Thanksgiving 2016, the House and Senate held sessions on Monday and Wednesday, but only a handful of lawmakers showed up.
There were also only four public events at the State House that week – all scheduled on Monday or Tuesday. By Wednesday of that week, the building was a practically deserted and only six lawmakers attended informal House and Senate sessions – lasting less than 20 minutes – that morning.
The day after Thanksgiving, 25 Investigates found empty hallways at the State House.
Lawmakers on ‘honor system’
Not every lawmaker raised red flags.
25 Investigates found several who were at the State House when they said they were, including State Rep. Frank Smizik of Brookline.
“They could've done something to me if I put my name down and I wasn't there,” said Smizik.
But that’s not exactly true.
State Treasurer Deb Goldberg said her office cuts the per diem checks to lawmakers but admitted no one in her office verifies their claims.
“We issue a check. It's an honor system,” said Goldberg.
UPDATE:State Rep. Aaron M. Vega (D-Holyoke) responded in an email to 25 Investigates:
“In all honesty I thought I was in the letter of the law filing these 9 days prior to the per diem change. I am working with the treasurers office to reconcile this error and the 9 days of per diem will be paid back in my next pay check. As you I take the financial responsibility of this position very seriously and am always concerned about the use of tax payers funds when paying for the State Budget which includes our own pay as legislators.”
Here is an incomplete list of lawmakers' commuting records. Click here to search and filter the full database dating back to 2014.
Calling all internet detectives:
25 Investigates tried to track down as many lawmakers as possible, but our team could only be in so many places at once and now we need your help.
We’ve created a searchable database online of every lawmaker who collected tax dollars for commutes since 2014. If you know of a lawmaker who was out of the state, on vacation or working at another job while claiming commuting expenses, let us know.
WFXT-TV Boston 25 / Fox 25
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
25 Investigates: Lawmakers charge taxpayers for commutes after perk ended
By Eric Rasmussen and Erin Smith
BOSTON - The state is taking action after 25 Investigates uncovered a little-known money grab by Beacon Hill lawmakers.
Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen discovered Massachusetts legislators still charging taxpayers for their commute to the State House even after they agreed to give up that plum perk.
Lawmakers said they were unaware of the problem until 25 Investigates brought it to their attention.
But they were also the ones who wrote the new law that ended the so-called per diem program in exchange for a multimillion dollar raise earlier this year.
For years state lawmakers have collected cash for their State House commutes – between $10 and $100 a day depending on how far they had to go. All that was supposed to end on Jan. 4, according to the new law.
Yet 25 Investigates found two dozen lawmakers still billing taxpayers for their daily commute through the month of January and the state Treasurer Deb Goldberg kept paying them.
Now, after 25 Investigates revealed the improper payouts, the Treasurer’s Office is moving to take back more than $8,000 it never should have paid out to lawmakers.
Records show state Rep. Kay Khan charged taxpayers for 11 commuting days in January.
She didn’t send her commuting log to the Treasurer’s Office until late April – months after the new law went into effect – and she never signed it, but the Newton representative still got paid.
It’s all part of a larger problem the Treasurer’s Office admits it didn’t know about until 25 Investigates uncovered it.
But officials at the state Treasurer’s Office could not say why they were still paying out per diems after the law had changed.
“So, when I come in the door, I would literally just take a pen and check it to say, ‘I'm here,’” said state Rep. Russell Holmes of Boston, who agreed to go on camera to show his commute record keeping system – a check mark on his office wall calendar.
Holmes told 25 Investigates he has nothing to hide and will pay back any money he wasn’t owed. Holmes said he thought he could continue filing for his commuting expenses through January.
“I kept track up until February because that’s when I think I was told that you could no longer put per diems in,” said Holmes.
Late Monday afternoon, Khan emailed 25 Investigates and called the money she received this year for commutes a “potential error.”
Khan and several other lawmakers said they are taking steps to pay back taxpayers.
Here are the responses 25 Investigates received from lawmakers who took the commuting perk after it had already ended Jan. 4:
State Rep. Kay Khan (D-Newton)
Khan emailed 25 Investigates, saying, “I am checking with the Treasurer’s office to confirm whether or not I was incorrectly reimbursed for the dates in question. If in fact I was paid, I will certainly reimburse the Commonwealth.”
State Rep. Mathew Muratore (R-Plymouth)
Muratore pledged to pay back the money from this year, writing, “I have a call into the Treasurer's office to return the $252.”
State Sen. Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport)
Rodrigues said he would pay the money back, saying, “After reviewing my records, I realized that the per diem items for travel after January 4, 2017 were inappropriate. I will be in immediate contact with the Treasurer’s Office and will work with them to reimburse the Commonwealth for those items.”
State Sen. Donald Humason (R-Westfield)
A Humason staffer told 25 Investigates the state senator offered to pay back the money and was told the Treasurer’s Office would “rectify through the payroll system.”
State Rep. Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick)
Rep. Boldyga told 25 Investigates, “If my office inadvertently filed for any during the month of January I will absolutely donate that amount to a local charity.”
He did not respond to further questions about whether he would return the money to taxpayers.
State Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D-Marblehead)
Rep. Ehrlich said, “Yes, I am aware of this situation and have already rectified it. The treasury made a clerical error that has since been resolved. Thank you for raising this issue and I am happy that we were able to settle this account.”
State Rep. Chris Walsh (D-Framingham)
Rep. Walsh blamed an issue with the cutoff date being backdated after the law was passed but declined further comment when asked why he submitted the forms to be reimbursed for his commute even after the new law went into effect.
State Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville)
Rep. Provost said she spoke to Treasurer’s Office and offered to pay back any money she wasn’t owed. She told 25 Investigates saying they would deduct $80 from her next paycheck.
Lawmakers who did not respond to requests for comment by Monday evening:State Rep. Diana F. DiZoglio (D-Methuen)
State Rep. Paul J. Donato (D-Medford)
State Rep. Shawn C. Dooley (R-Norfolk)
State Rep. Patricia Farley-Bouvier (D-Pittsfield)
State Rep. Dylan A. Fernandes (D-Falmouth)
State Rep. Sean P. Garballey (D-Arlington)
State Rep. Susan Williams Gifford (R-Wareham)
State Rep. Mary S. Keefe (D-Worcester)
State Rep. James M. Kelcourse (R-Amesbury)
State Rep. Peter V. Kocot (D-Northampton)
State Rep. Juana B. Matias (D-Lawrence)
State Rep. William Smitty Pignatelli (D-Lenox)
State Rep. Todd Smola (R-Warren)
State Rep. Chynah Tyler (D-Boston)
State Rep. Aaron M. Vega (D-Holyoke)
The Boston Herald
Sunday, November 5, 2017
A Boston Herald editorial
Double dipping on the Hill
The piggishness on Beacon Hill seems to know no bounds. It appears that some lawmakers thought they could keep right on collecting per diem payments for weeks, even months, after those payments were supposed to stop at the end of last year.
And why were the payments supposed to stop? Well, because lawmakers had voted themselves a massive pay raise — justifying it by agreeing to eliminate the money they previously collected just for commuting to the State House.
We’re talking about relatively short dollars here, and the taxpayers will be made whole. But that’s only because a local television station, Boston 25, uncovered the continuing payments — and those lawmakers who kept cashing in on their daily commutes have been shamed into making it right.
We allow for the possibility of an honest mistake. But that’s only because the sense of entitlement is so ingrained — and some lawmakers are so unaware of what they’re voting on at any given time — that it’s entirely possible they were clueless about the deadlines, or even thought they might still be entitled to per diem payments after the pay raise took effect.
Cheaters, on the other hand, don’t have ignorance as an excuse.
In a second report on per diems, “25 Investigates” monitored the activity of lawmakers during a traditionally low-key week at the State House — Thanksgiving week last year. The team then matched up those who actually showed up at the State House that week with those who later filed for per diems for the days in question. Surprise, surprise — there were quite a few mismatches.
As if this weren’t infuriating enough, we were reminded by this report that the now-halted per diem payments were made by the state treasurer based on an honor system. Lawmakers simply told the treasurer’s office how much they were owed.
Placing that kind of trust in people who would cheat taxpayers for a few bucks was clearly misguided. Now with extra pay padded right into their paychecks lawmakers don’t even have to keep up the pretense.
State House News Service
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Attleboro mayor-elect Heroux says he's not resigning from House
By Andy Metzger
Attleboro's mayor-elect, Democrat Rep. Paul Heroux, plans to serve out the remaining 14 months of his term in the House even after taking over at City Hall, in part to give his party a better chance at holding the House seat.
After hearing about his plans, House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Wednesday said a conversation with Heroux is likely, but the decision would ultimately be up to the three-term lawmaker.
During the campaign, Heroux criticized Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas as overpaid at a salary of $122,000 a year and said if elected he would commission a study to determine how much he should earn as mayor, the Attleboro Sun Chronicle reported in August. As a state rep, Heroux receives base pay of $62,548 and is entitled to an additional $15,000 for office expenses.
If his city were to hold a special election – the traditional course of action after a lawmaker takes another office – Heroux believes a particular Republican, whom he declined to name, is primed to win his state rep seat.
"She is very popular and I think she has a very strong chance. In fact I would say she would win if we went into a special election and only had 60 days. I don't think there's a single Democrat in the city that could beat her," Heroux told the News Service.
The potential Republican candidate Heroux described appears to match the resume of City Councilor Julie Hall, according to a party official.
"I'm just very, very flattered that he thinks I could win this thing hands down," Hall told the News Service.
A retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Hall said it "wasn't a secret to anybody" that she was thinking about running for the House seat but she said others would also likely vie for the office.
"I would definitely have to work hard like anybody else," Hall said. Saying the people of Attleboro deserve Heroux's "full attention and full focus," Hall said, "I think that when people voted for him, they voted for him to be a fulltime mayor."
If Heroux serves out his term and the election is held next year, the Democrats would have a "fair shot," he said.
More importantly, according to Heroux, he wants to "finish some of the projects I started" in the Legislature and doesn't want his city to have to pay the $50,000 he said it would cost to hold a special election.
"I know people are going to criticize me, 'Oh, he's getting two salaries.' That's true, but I'm also doing two jobs," Heroux said in a phone interview.
The Sun Chronicle reported on Heroux's plans to hold down both jobs Wednesday morning. North Attleborough Republican Rep. Elizabeth Poirier, who represents part of Attleboro, was surprised to hear he plans to remain in the Legislature through 2018, calling it an "incredible revelation."
"I think we can carry on once he leaves until the special election takes place, which is the normal procedure," Poirier told the News Service. She said, "He has no idea what kind of a schedule he's facing as mayor of a city."
After winning election in 2009 as mayor of Lawrence, William Lantigua initially retained his House seat, but under pressure from fellow Democrats he bowed out of his state House seat in February 2010. The controversy was fueled, in part, by the Legislature's consideration of legislation at the time that would have allowed Lawrence to borrow $35 million to pay its debts, and put the city's finances under the control of a state receiver.
Lantigua, who lost a bid Tuesday to reclaim the mayoralty in Lawrence, ultimately resigned in 2010 but only after his colleagues filed legislation to ban municipal executives from serving in the Legislature.
Leominster City Councilor Sue Chalifoux Zephir, the Democratic nominee for an open Senate seat, on Wednesday challenged her Republican opponent, Fitchburg City Councilor Dean Tran, to "follow her lead" and vow to "not to serve in more than one public office at the same time" and to turn down the pay raise lawmakers enacted for themselves earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Heroux defeated Dumas, a Republican and longtime mayor of the city on the Rhode Island border.
Heroux said he was open about his intentions to finish out his House term when voters asked him about it, and he said that Democratic officials in Attleboro agree with his course of action. First elected in 2012, Heroux does not hold any committee chairmanships or vice-chairmanships, the type of posts that often help lawmakers advance agendas in the Legislature.
Heroux informed the speaker of his intent to serve in both positions during the Democrats caucus on Wednesday, and DeLeo said it was "too early in the process" to say whether he might ask Heroux to choose between the two jobs.
"As I told him, I think it's something we need to have further discussion on, but as long as it's within the legalities of the system then that would be up to the representative to choose. If he feels he can do both and do both jobs, then I would leave that up to the representative," DeLeo said.
Asked if that would be a double standard compared to the pressure brought by House leadership and then Gov. Deval Patrick on Lantigua to resign, DeLeo said, "Ultimately it became Representative Lantigua's decision what to do and I would say it would be the same with Representative Heroux."
The two-year legislative session will likely reach a climax next summer when the House and Senate rush bills to the governor's desk by July 31, the last day of roll call votes under the rules. The second year of the legislative session is usually "kind of a slow year," because the bulk of the lawmaking takes place in the first seven months, Heroux said, with the final five months mostly devoted to constituent services.
Saying he hasn't taken a vacation since a 2015 trip to Turkey, Heroux said the position of state rep is a "fulltime job that fluctuates" and he said there is overlap between his duties as state rep and the duties he will assume as mayor. He said, "I don't have a family so I can do it."
"How can he assume that he can take care of all those duties while at the same time take on the state representative duties?" Poirier asked.
Lantigua's resignation should have set a "precedent," Poirier said, but she said she would leave the matter to the speaker and other Democrats. She said, "It's not up to me. He's not a member of my party."
Matt Murphy contributed reporting
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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