Walsh pulls out amid uproar

Senator will not pursue $120,000-a-year state post

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff  |  April 1, 2009

State Senator Marian Walsh abandoned her appointment yesterday to a $120,000-a-year position at a state authority, a decision that follows two tumultuous weeks for Governor Deval Patrick and was made amid what Walsh described as a “tsunami” of public outrage.

“I feel I have become the issue,” said Walsh, appearing at Patrick’s side after meeting privately with the governor in his office.

Walsh said she reached the decision to decline the job as assistant executive director at the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority on her own, with no push from the governor or his aides. She said she called Patrick’s chief of staff, Doug Rubin, on Monday night and informed him of the choice.

“This is my decision,” said Walsh, a six-term West Roxbury Democrat and one of Patrick’s earliest political supporters.

“This was not going any place that was healthy. I feel this is the best outcome,” she said. “I don’t want to be a distraction. I want to be a leader.”

Patrick’s push to get Walsh hired at the authority would have faced another potential hurdle, and fur ther media scrutiny and public anger, when the agency’s board meets April 17 to confirm the details of her employment.

Patrick said he had “mixed feelings” about the lawmaker’s decision and said, “I wish we had handled it differently.”

The governor has endured intense criticism from the public and political foes alike, and the administration’s repeated attempts at damage control have only added to the negative fallout.

Walsh said last week that she would accept $120,000 a year for the job, instead of the originally planned $175,000, a concession that spurred more anger and criticism. The administration absorbed more criticism over the last three days after a Globe story, quoting internal e-mails, showed Walsh’s appointment had been carefully orchestrated by Patrick’s top aides – despite the administration’s denials.

“I am relieved because we’ve been hammered,” Patrick said yesterday, speaking to reporters. “I also feel disappointed about the harm that has come to the senator, who is a wonderful and capable person and, I am absolutely convinced, was the right person for this assignment.”

He then put his arm around Walsh to demonstrate his support for her. “It’s been painful for me, the senator, for a whole lot of people.”

After the announcement, Patrick escorted Walsh back to the Senate, where a debate was taking place on pension reform.

The assistant executive director job at the authority had been vacant for 12 years, and Patrick and Walsh were never able to put forth an argument that convinced critics that it needed to be filled now, at a time when the state and Massachusetts residents are reeling from the recession.

Walsh insisted yesterday that she had wanted the position in order to work on the governor’s plans for reorganizing the authority and other quasi-public authorities by, among other things, “changing the culture so we can be more open.”

“There’s a whole theme here, which is why the reorganization was so central to having more economic development that is more fruitful in the near future and not waiting,” Walsh said.

But the way the appointment was handled belied her call for open government. The position had not been advertised and no search firm had been hired to compile a list of candidates. It was also not listed on an agenda for the March 12 meeting where it was unanimously approved.

Walsh’s appointment was immediately slammed by opponents as a behind-the-scenes patronage move by Patrick to force the board of an independent authority to hire a political ally with very little notice.

The state’s Republican Party said yesterday that the episode undercut Patrick’s claim to be a reformer.

“Senator Walsh has done the right thing by refusing the appointment,” said Jennifer Nassour, GOP chairwoman. “This absurd process has taught us, once again, that we cannot rely on the Patrick administration to seek real, meaningful reform on Beacon Hill.”

Patrick continued yesterday to press the issue of reform, however. He insisted that Walsh was the right person to make his case that the authority’s operations should merge some of its operations with the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, contending that their duplicate efforts cost taxpayers “millions of dollars.”

He warned the authority that he would intervene again if it did not implement the changes he is seeking.

“If they don’t, we will be right back at it, inserting a change agent in there,” Patrick said.

The authority, however, released a statement rebutting the governor’s portrayal that it is inefficient. The agency issues government bonds to raise money for hospital and education construction projects in Massachusetts.

“A true model of efficiency, last year HEFA’s dedicated team worked to provide more than $4.4 billion in low-cost financing for important projects by nonprofit organizations across Massachusetts – becoming the largest issuer of tax-exempt bonds in the state and sixth largest in the nation,” the statement said. 

Sal DiMasi ally goes public with ethical concerns

BOSTON — A key ally of Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi says he will not back DiMasi’s bid for another two-year term because of ethics questions hanging over the Boston Democrat.

Rep. David Torrisi tells The Boston Globe that he agonized over the decision, and has decided to vote “present” at next week’s vote.

The North Andover Democrat says it’s time for a House leadership change.

Torrisi, House chairman of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, is the first Democrat to break with DiMasi and go public with concerns that ethical investigations regarding DiMasi make it difficult for him to be effective.

Authorities are investigating payments made to DiMasi’s friends and associates by special interest groups seeking favors on Beacon Hill.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1142054

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