Driving home the patronage scandal.....
The Globe once again helps all of us understand how far this patronage cancer has effected the outcome of people's lives.
Joan Vennochi in the lead editorial shows how Chairman of the Parole Board, Mark Conrad, got to where he is now. Turns out he was one of Devals campaign drivers, after being a Milton officer for 20 years. In 2007, Deval named him to the Parole Board and in 2008 Deval named him Chairman.
Opposed by just one Governor Council's Committee memebr in 2007, "the politically connected chauffeurs are just one more slice of the patronage subculture".
The Parole Board did vote unanimously for Cinelli's release. And I honestly hope that we don't learn in the coming weeks, that patronage or favors got Cinelli out, hopefully it was incompetency and poor leadership.
The State probe into the Parole Board happening now will only be as good as the people doing the investigation. One could only surmise from the last two years of promised reforms that turned out to be no more than lip service, when all said and done, Beacon Hill will have to decide who gets life without any chance of parole. Will it be just for murders who have taken many lives or just one. I can't imagine how long that debate will last.
And if you didn't get to see Speaker DeLeo on TV today, still defending the "recommending someone policy" you have missed the poster child for what's ethically wrong in this State, laughing it up when asked about the three x speakers being recognized and honored on the first day of House business.
Perhaps after the multiple investigations lead them to DeLeo, that smirk will be wiped from his face.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 5:06 PM
11 Comments
11 Comments:
I think the parole issue is more than just who is appointed to the board. It is why are we even considering giving parole to career violent criminals?
Patronage seems to be involved in so much in this state. Time we simply outlawed the practice. If we did not allow recommendations for state payroll positions to come from elected state officials, wouldn’t that just end this practice?
When did serving your full sentence become unlikely in our justice system? Seems like everyone gets out without serving whatever their sentence was unless it was a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Maybe we should elect the Globe to a seat in the state legislature. Seems they are the only people in MA who know what is going on in state government.
Parole is a carrot to hold in front of a criminal to make him behave while in prison. Take that carrot away and you would have much more trouble in the prisons.
WE NEED STRICTER REGULATIONS ABOUT SERVING THE TIME YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO SERVE, AND LESS LEEWAY IN LETTING CRIMINALS OUT EARLY.
You are uninformed Old Blogger if you think we don’t already have lots of problems in our prisons. Drugs and gangs run rampant, we just don’t hear about it.
Cops are screaming about this guy getting out early. Time for the public to start screaming about the cop who shot that guy in Framingham being protected by the legal system. It has to go both ways.
Like it or not we are stuck with the governor and the speaker who think patronage is ok. So how do we ignite a fire under the butts of our legislators to get them to see that it is not ok with their consituents?
Hang tight everyone. Sounds like we are in for one hell of a perfect storm!
The only sensible vote on this is no unless they let you read the grant criteria.
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