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Why nothing will be done about probation patronage
By adamg on Mon, 05/24/2010 - 9:55am
It's an election year, and legislators like the contributions, the Outraged Liberal concludes.
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Comments
Well something happened
The Globe reports the court system suspended John O'Brien today, following the Globe expose.
Guess how many people work in the entire state system?
7,065 people work fulltime for the trial courts in Massachusetts according to their payroll spreadsheet. That includes probation officers as well. I dunno, I just never thought there were that many people who worked in this system. 200 friends and family doesn't seem like a huge number now I guess either though!
200 too many
> 200 friends and family doesn't seem like a huge number now I guess either though!
Sounds plenty big to me.
Don't care
I don't care if it's 200 or 1. Did you read any of the examples in the Globe Spotlight? This is like some sort of above-the-table money laundering! State collects taxes, politicians running the State give Probation Department funds, Probation Department hires friends/family of politicians, friends/family of politicians donate a portion of their state paycheck back to the politicians! Why not save us the hassle and just steal the money from the State directly!?
The politicians intentionally handed an extra SIX MILLION to the Probation Department in 2008 (above and beyond what was requested!) just so they'd have more payroll to hire more cronies to send more money back up to the politicians!! UNACCEPTABLE!
Not sure what spreadsheet you
Not sure what spreadsheet you are looking at but the Trial Court has had a hiring freeze in place since 2008 (unlike the legislature and the executive branch)and the number of employees is down by more than 10%, to the low 6000s. There are slightly more than 100 courthouses in the state and I believe courts sit in about 160 locations altogether. Many courts are severely understaffed, as staff departures have hit unevenly. There will be courts closing this summer and fall, if the legislature doesn't interfere, which means that some communities will not be well-served. There are a lot of really good people in the Probation Department (including some of those who were hired with connections) but lots of bloat and incompetence, too. It's terrible to be spending money on those people...
This spreadsheet:
http://static.cbslocal.com/station/wbz/wbz/2010/ma...
And I agree that there are a lot of hard working people in the court system. Just seemed like a pretty high number for some reason.
And I stand corrected. There are some part time salaries in that spreadsheet.
It's clear:
Politics (which has always been a blood sport here in Boston and the Bay State), patronage, graft and opportunism are far, far too ingrained into the politics of Boston and the Bay State in general to be rooted out.