The Boston Herald
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Finneran praises Senate leader-in-waiting
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and newly minted Senate President-in-waiting Robert E. Travaglini cuddled up to each other yesterday, foreshadowing a potential end to years of bitter legislative relations.
Finneran showered kind words on Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham's successor - a far cry from the well-known rancor that has characterized Birmingham and Finneran's relationship for years.
Referring repeatedly to "Bobby," Finneran praised Travaglini's ability to work well with others and the labyrinth of relationships he's cultivated on Beacon Hill.
"He has a gift," Finneran said. "We're all kind of looking forward to making sure there's a level of cooperation and compromise."
Travaglini also rushed to embrace Finneran, whom he termed "a friend" - even while pledging to push back "as forcefully and as articulately" as Finneran pushes him on legislative priorities.
"I don't know where it's written we have to be adversaries," Travaglini said. "I have a level of respect and affection for the speaker."
Travaglini said the Senate is "not fragmented anymore," and he added that Birmingham - who sacrificed his Senate seat for his failed gubernatorial run - won't be thrown overboard before January.
Finneran expressed relief that the Senate succession didn't drag on and create "paralysis" - a situation Finneran said the state can't afford when facing a gargantuan fiscal crisis.
"Everybody's aware of the problems that we face, so I think that the quicker a team is in place, the better," Finneran said.
Travaglini said it was too early for him to talk about the budget or potential tax hikes.
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Mitt Romney pounced on Travaglini's succession as more evidence of Beacon Hill nepotism - since Travaglini's brother Michael serves as first deputy treasurer for Democratic candidate Shannon O'Brien.
The coziness among O'Brien, Finneran and Travaglini could mean runaway tax hikes next year, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said.
"With Halloween fast approaching, it reminds me of a house of horrors," Fehrnstrom said.
"We need an outsider as governor to check the worst excesses of the Legislature."
O'Brien balked when asked whether it would be good for Massachusetts to have either her or her confidants installed at the head of every major branch of government.
"I've been very proud of the job that Michael has done for me in the treasurer's office and certainly he's someone who I'd like to have with me in my administration," O'Brien said.
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
A Boston Herald editorial
The Senate vs. democracy
Anywhere else on the planet, it might be considered an unmitigated act of political arrogance to be handing out presidential "pledge cards" among members of the state Senate before election day. But this is Massachusetts, after all, where if you are a Democrat - or even an incumbent Republican - victory is virtually assured and arrogance is a way of life.
Yes, there is ample reason to take Sen. Robert Travaglini (D-Boston) to task for declaring victory in his quest to succeed Senate President Tom Birmingham. But what would be the point? Legislative elections here seem to be only slightly more democratic that the recent triumphal re-election of Saddam Hussein as Iraq's president.
Even Travaglini's Republican opponent in the Nov. 5 election seems to be no more annoying than a gnat to be swatted away.
A month ago a half-dozen members of the Senate were reportedly vying for the Senate presidency. And it speaks well of Travaglini's personal skills that he has apparently put together something in excess of 20 votes from colleagues to assure his election next January.
Still, fans of real democracy - the alleged give and take that exists in states with two living, breathing political parties - might have some cause for concern at two levels. First, Bob Travaglini is the brother of Michael Travaglini, currently a top assistant to treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Shannon O'Brien. Yep, it's a really small world on Beacon Hill these days.
But the truly sad thing is that with 25 Senate races uncontested, two others contested by third-party candidates and many of the other 13 contested in name only, why shouldn't Travaglini be popping the cork on his celebratory champagne?
From his point of view all's right in the Massachusetts Senate. But it's a poor excuse for democracy.
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Crooked ex-cops get city pensions
SPECIAL REPORT
by Maggie Mulvihill, Jack Meyers and Jonathan Wells
[Second of two parts]
The Boston Retirement Board is handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in pension benefits every year to 19 disgraced Boston police officers convicted of crimes which include bribery, extortion, racketeering and obstruction of justice.
The city's five-member pension board is also cutting a monthly retirement check to Joseph F. Fisher, a former high-ranking City Hall insider who served one year in federal prison for tax evasion and pocketing more than $50,000 in illegal gratuities.
Each of the 20 pensions are being paid despite a state law which prohibits the granting of retirement benefits to public employees convicted of crimes related to their official duties.
Moreover, these payouts continue even after the state's highest court made it clear in a unanimous 2000 ruling that public retirement boards have no discretion when it comes to denying pensions to employees convicted of on-the-job crimes.
Overall, the city's retirement board will pay out $514,343 this year to former members of the Police Department who were convicted of bribery, extortion, insurance and mail fraud, racketeering, obstruction of justice, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
In some cases, the Boston Retirement Board has tried to halt pensions, only to be stymied by loopholes in the law or narrow court rulings restoring convicted employees' retirement benefits.
In 1989, the board sought to deny pensions to a group of police officers known as the "Boston 7" who were sent to federal prison in the late 1980s after being convicted of taking bribes from city bar owners in exchange for police protection.
The board argued that while the officers were convicted of violating federal corruption laws, they also violated the state's anti-bribery statute, which triggers pension forfeiture.
The state Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, which oversees public retirement boards, also recommended the officers be stripped of their pensions.
Then-PERAC Commissioner John J. McGlynn wrote to the board on March 9, 1989, saying that to give the convicted officers pensions would "be a serious dereliction of duty and an insult to all of those public employees and retirees who honestly rely on the retirement system for their present or future security."
But after three of the detectives appealed the board's ruling, a District Court judge in Dedham ordered the retirement board to reinstate the pensions, relying on a 1986 Supreme Judicial Court case.
That SJC case involved former Boston Redevelopment Authority aide and convicted extortionist George Collatos, who sued the retirement board after it tried to revoke his pension in 1983.
The SJC ruled against the retirement board, finding that the state pension statute on the books at the time of Collatos' offenses did not cover federal crimes.
Some of the detectives are now collecting tax-free accidental disability pensions such as Vincent P. Logan, who pleaded guilty in 1992 to racketeering, and Kenneth J. Nave, who admitted taking bribes and a share of $15,000 for a police detail he never worked.
Boston Retirement Board counsel Carol Nesson said that because the crimes committed by the "Boston 7" occurred before the pension forfeiture law was broadened in 1988, the board is powerless to stop their pensions.
"We are required to carry out the law. This isn't something where you can take away someone's benefits because you think they are a bad person," Nesson said.
Members of the "Boston 7" are not the only former officers who are drawing pensions despite their convictions for job-related crimes. Others include:
Former Boston police officer Michael Flemmi, who was convicted earlier this year of hiding a huge cache of weapons on behalf of his brother, Winter Hill gangster Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, and then lying about it to a federal grand jury.
Despite the jury's guilty verdict in U.S. District Court last month, Flemmi continues to collect a $2,872 monthly pension check from the Boston Retirement Board, records show. Flemmi is expected to begin serving his 10-year federal sentence next month.
Donna Mueller, the board's executive director, said last week the board had only recently been provided with an official copy of Flemmi's federal conviction and has started forfeiture proceedings to revoke his pension.
A woman answering the phone at Flemmi's Braintree home said yesterday he was not available for comment.
Robert C. Wentzell, who was found guilty in 1992 of assault with a dangerous weapon after pointing his service weapon at a teen and threatening to "blow his head off" after a pizza shop squabble. Wentzell was given a suspended one-month sentence. He retired on April 1, 1992 and collects a $2,790.98 check.
Nesson said Wentzell's crimes were "off-duty, out-of-district. He got into a personal altercation with someone. It wasn't admirable, but nonetheless it's not forfeitable."
Wentzell could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Peter J. McDonough, a Boston detective sentenced to four years in federal prison in 1991 for taking at least $160,000 in bribes from a Roxbury bookmaker, also receives a monthly pension check of $1,753.89. After being contacted by the Herald last week, Nesson said the board will be reviewing McDonough's pension.
"What happened with McDonough, well, it was an error. We will certainly look at the matter again," she said.
McDonough did not return a telephone call seeking comment yesterday.
The city's pension payouts are not limited, however, to convicted cops.
Former Mayor Raymond L. Flynn's top adviser, Joseph Fisher of South Boston, receives a pension even though he was imprisoned in 1996 after pleading guilty to taking $51,000 in illegal payoffs from developers and city contractors and to income tax evasion while working at City Hall.
Fisher's February 1996 indictment sprang from a grand jury probe of $600,000 missing from Flynn's campaign accounts. Fisher draws a $1,650 pension check each month, city retirement board records show.
The Boston Retirement Board credits Fisher with 16 years of qualifying service, a good portion of which comes from a controversial deal with New England Telephone Co. From 1984 to 1990, Fisher worked at City Hall but remained on the New England Telephone payroll in order to boost his phone company pension. He simultaneously received an hourly stipend from the city. The result was that for six years at City Hall, Fisher was earning credit toward two pensions.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino is also close to Fisher. Upon his release from prison in 1997, Fisher went to work for developer Robert F. Walsh, a longtime adviser to the mayor.
Nesson said she had no explanation for why Fisher was receiving a pension.
"I don't know. That is one that didn't come before the board," Nesson said, claiming board officials were apparently never informed of Fisher's conviction, which received widespread publicity. Asked if the board would now move to revoke Fisher's pension, Nesson said: "The board will do what it is legally required to do."
Fisher did not return a call from the Herald yesterday.
Meanwhile, two other Boston police officers released from federal prison last year after pleading guilty in 1998 to corruption charges are suing for tax-free accidental disability pensions.
Walter F. Robinson and Kenneth Acerra both pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston in 1998 to stealing more than $200,000 while working drug cases between 1990 and 1994, including falsifying search warrants and failing to report thousands in seized drug money.
They were sentenced to three years in prison, and were released in February 2001.
Robinson filed for an accidental disability in 1995, citing the "constant exposure to the hazards and stress of police work," and claimed he suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of his work, according to documents at Suffolk Superior Court.
Acerra, Robinson's longtime police partner, applied for an accidental disability after he was suspended from the department in 1996 when the federal corruption investigation was under way. Acerra claimed he was stabbed in the heart while on duty in 1979 which caused him heart problems in 1990 and rendered him disabled, according to documents filed in Newton District Court.
In December 1998, the Boston Retirement Board stripped Acerra of his pension under the forfeiture law, and Acerra sued the board. Acerra's attorney, Paul T. Hynes, argues in the suit that the pension forfeiture law is unconstitutional because it constitutes "double jeopardy," is "overly broad and vague" and violates the contracts clause of the First Amendment.
The Supreme Judicial Court rejected all of these arguments in its 2000 decision on the pension forfeiture case of convicted state Sen. William Q. "Biff" McLean.
Hynes, who also represents Robinson, did not return telephone calls last week.
But Nesson said the Boston Retirement Board remains firm that neither disgraced detective should receive the tax-free disability payments.
"They are not entitled to those benefits," Nesson said.
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Felons continue to find holes in forfeiture laws
by Maggie Mulvihill
The Massachusetts Legislature and the state's highest court have tried again and again over the past 60 years to prevent lawbreaking public employees from collecting their pensions.
But it hasn't really worked.
Even though Beacon Hill lawmakers keep closing loopholes in the state's pension forfeiture statutes and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court keeps buttressing those laws, felonious government workers continue to slip through the cracks.
This occurs even though the SJC seemed to remove all doubt two years ago, making it crystal clear that the public retirement boards which dispense pension money have no authority to allow such convicts to collect retirement benefits.
In August 2000, the court ruled unanimously that former Democratic state Sen. William Q. "Biff" MacLean of Fairhaven had to give up a state pension worth $400,000 after he pleaded guilty to violating the state's conflict-of-interest law while serving in the Legislature.
In the opinion, authored by Associate Justice Roderick Ireland, the court said that based on a new section of the pension forfeiture statutes enacted by the Legislature in 1988, the State Retirement Board had no choice but to deny MacLean his pension. "Forfeiture of pension benefits automatically flows as a consequence of conviction. That statute does not allow the board any discretion as to the revocation of pension benefits," the court wrote.
"To require the commonwealth to support for life a public employee who had violated a criminal law applicable to his office would invite disrespect for public service and government."
The MacLean case reflected a view long held by the SJC. In a 1942 pension forfeiture case, the court wrote: "It would be a strange state of the law in which an employee removed for (misconduct in office) would be given a retirement allowance for life at the expense of the city."
In 1945, the Legislature responded by adding three sections to the state's pension laws.
The new language limited payment of benefits to anyone removed from office for "moral turpitude," established that a public employee fired for violating laws "applicable to his position" must forfeit his pension, and said employees convicted of stealing from the government cannot collect their pensions until restitution is made.
Almost 40 years later, in 1982, the Legislature added another section to the laws that said public employees convicted of bribery or extortion must forfeit their pensions.
The language made a specific reference to law enforcement officials found guilty of extortion.
Despite the apparent breadth of the 1982 statute, some public employees convicted of on-the-job crimes have gone to court to keep their pensions and won.
George Collatos, a former Boston Redevelopment Authority official, was convicted in the mid-1980s of federal perjury and extortion charges. After the city revoked his pension, Collatos sued, arguing that the state's 1982 pension forfeiture law did not apply because he violated federal, not state laws.
The case went all the way to the SJC, which agreed with
Collatos.
The court said that although Collatos' crimes were "arguably equivalent" to the crimes which trigger the state's pension forfeiture law, they were still federal, not state, criminal violations. The court said it did not have the authority to rewrite state law.
The Collatos case reinvigorated lawmakers, however, who passed new legislation in 1988 which called for the stripping of pension benefits from employees who committed any crime connected with their office or position.
Since the 1988 law, there is no longer a limited list of crimes that trigger pension forfeiture, according to attorneys who've prosecuted corrupt public officials.
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
A Boston Herald editorial
The pension law violated wholesale
The news that at least 34 convicted criminals who are former public employees are getting pensions despite a law forbidding it is evidence that much government in Massachusetts has become just a conspiracy against the public.
So much for the vaunted watchdog skills of the Democratic nominee for governor, state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien. She chairs the State Retirement Board, which is paying eight of the 34. Her top deputy, Michael Travaglini, acknowledges that five of the eight probably are being paid illegally. The board will review those cases soon.
So where was the watchdog? The watchdog, it seems, doesn't watch. It just listens. And if it doesn't hear anything, it doesn't bark.
Says Travaglini: "We're at the mercy of receiving information from either the employing agency or the prosecutorial office."
Former state police Lt. John J. Mace was convicted in 1990 of trying to kill an assistant district attorney. Now 60 and out of prison, he's been getting $6,077 a month for the past year and a half. When the state police filled out the board's form, nothing was said about Mace's conviction. But the form did note that he had been suspended without pay and in 1990 was discharged.
That ought to send a clear odor of suspicion, but the watchdog appears to have no sense of smell. And why doesn't the board ask about criminal convictions? The law has been on the books since 1988. Now it appears that checks at the Criminal History Systems Board should be made for each pension applicant.
In reviewing the records of 26 of the state's 106 public employee retirement boards, Herald reporters found that the 34 employees were being paid by seven boards, many of which seem to be misinterpreting the law to justify the payments. Former state attorney general Scott Harshbarger said some boards were close to "civil disobedience."
Attorney General Tom Reilly is supposed to be a watchdog too. His task now is to prove he's not snoozing by the fireside.
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