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The probation patronage pit

The Globe reports on the muck. Also fills in the background on that story about state Rep. Mike Rush (D-West Roxbury) exacting some budgetary payback on a judge.

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to settle family scores using public funds.

As a state senator, he'll be in an even more powerful position to misuse government authority. You don't have to be a tea party member to be disgusted with Rush's misuse of government power and taxpayer funds.

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You wonder why the Globe is going out of business? Cause no one reads it anymore. Why? Because instead of writing the whole story they decide to write "their" story. They did the same thing by rooting against Scott Brown and were called on it. They love the liberal judges. Plain and simple.

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The Probation Department isn't a snakepit of 19th-century patronage politics backed by possibly corrupt legislators? What's really going on then?

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You blog and yet you do no work on your own. Get in the game or go away. All you do is post stuff with no real substance. What exactly do you do for real work?

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To see people wasting time complaining about how I waste my time. Still haven't answered my question, though, but that would take some actual work on your part. Say, what do you do for real work?

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Haven't answered my question first.

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Because I distinctly see that Adam asked you first what has been going on at the (re)Probation Department if not for the snakepit of corruption and patronage...which you then ignored and started calling Adam names.

The Probation Department isn't a snakepit of 19th-century patronage politics backed by possibly corrupt legislators? What's really going on then?

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What game is that? By the way, Adam does your mom for money. What exactly do you do for real work? Which State Rep's son are you?

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Pretty much what people have come to expect on this board.

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A bunch of random anons spouting off nonsense, lies, and insults...then crying when they get called on it. Damn those classless anons and their useless inanity.

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Mulligan signs off on all decisions. So either he is incompetent or he has no balls. Talk about snakes.

Judge Mulligan Is the Real Jerk in This Probation Mess
by: EB3 fka Ernie Boch III
Tue May 25, 2010 at 11:46:55 AM EDT

The SJC and Judge Mulligan went out and hired a $500.00 an hour lawyer to conduct a thorough and costly investigation so it can come back and tell them what they already knew and wanted to hear. Then, hopefully they can move their guy, an employee of Margaret Marshall, into O'Brien's slot. The guy that was bypassed years ago in favor of O'Brien. The Judge that appointed O'Brien said he wanted a streetwise experience probation commissioner rather then one that made a name by publishing academic papers on probation. That is not unreasonable.
What gets me is not that O'Brien is being ousted. Rather this fake and self-serving move by Judge Mulligan and Judge Marshall. Mulligan was born into the judgeship in the place many other hacks from political wired families get their start, The Boston Municipal Court. From the get go though Mulligan acted as if he not only came over on the Mayflower but he also built it and captained it across the Atlantic. No way could a guy that acts like this have a mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother like the rest of us that scrubbed floors for Boston's upper-class. (but he did) Talk about a self-important arrogant condescending dink. But now he has a great gig and through his political brilliance he made sure that the Globe put O'Brien's head on a plate.

For crissake he gave the Globe the story. He's quoted in it. Yet he reads the Spotlight series like he is hearing this for the first time. If they were able to suspend O'Brien yesterday why not months or years ago? When did South African apartheid beneficiary Margaret Marshall find out?

So this high priced attorney will conduct an investigation. Couldn't find someone already on the payroll Judge? Another judge perhaps? How about bringing back a retired judge for this? Much cheaper. Give an old timer something to do. Or is this so complicated that lawyers and judges within the Mass. Court system can't possibly accomplish such a Herculean task.

Anyway I can't wait to see Ware's report with deposition transcripts and subpoenaed documents. From who and where, I don't know. Politicians, judges, probation offices. All I can say Mulli is this thing is going to turn in to your worse nightmare. You are about to needlessly piss-off many many reps, senators, etc who don't give a crap about O'Brien but don't like the way you are handling this.

Judges never get questioned. They get accustomed to it. Some think they were anointed rather than appointed. Like Mulligan, although he's in for a surprise. Jack O'Brien wasn't a problem. He was a nuisance. But Mulligan didn't have the skill set to deal with him. Mulligan doesn't like push back. Hyper-arrogance does that people.

So let's see what happens. Regardless of what they do or can't do to O'Brien expect Judge Mulligan not to get re-appointed to his gig and if he's lucky he'll be sitting in courts in Suffolk and Norfolk counties and not Hampshire county. This is not because he wanted to get rid of O'Brien but the way in which he has gone about doing it. Maybe Bob DeLeo will stick around long enough to give him some payback. This is the kind of thing that breathes new life in some pols. Staying long enough for to give a fore-arm to someone that needs it. You gotta respect that.

Hey Judge Mulligan I need a court officers job. Should I call me rep? I mean that's where those hires come from, right? Maybe Attorney Ware should start looking at court employees and who their fairy godfathers are. You sign off on these hires. Are there any Mulligan friend or relatives on the state payroll? I know there are many relatives and friends of reps and senators working as court officers.

You should be ashamed of your classless effort Mulli. Very unjudicial and completely lacking in political savvy. I'm not saying the guy was at times over the top. I'm just saying crying publicly to the Boston Globe then taking action because they printed what you told them is at best disingenuous. It does show what kind of person you are amd it really shines a light on some of your many weaknesses.

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If you don't have anything of your own to contribute, don't bother posting. This isn't Blue Mass Group and their admins and users might not like that you're just copying and pasting their words verbatim. Adam may not like it either.

Besides, why hold EBIII's unsourced opinions to any validity or quality and not the Globe's researched article? Whose axe do you carry, "George"?

Also, as I've already pointed out in other comments, the article states very clearly that Chief Justice Mulligan may not have wanted to sign off on O'Brien's hiring decisions but he had no choice because the 2001 legislation arranged it so that he could ONLY object in cases of obvious discrimination (like racial or gender discrimination) and not in matters of patronage, nepotism, back-door bribery, or self-serving pay-offs...you know, like 200+ of them that went through and Mulligan legally had to approve. That's not incompetence or a "lack of balls"...it's the rules of the situation which is EXACTLY what the Globe is highlighting as a HUGE fault of the current system that allows for this sort of unethical hiring behavior by _O'Brien_!

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Well here is a start. Why is it that the Globe wrote a story and didn't include the rest of the Judiciary?
What about Judge Mulligan for instance.

Mulligan, the sanctamonious bastard, is a judge because he's from a politically connected family. (Remember Boston corporation counsel Joe Mulligan.) Judge Mulligan was interviewed for the story in which he bitched and moaned about O'Brien. It was clear from his quotes he does not like the guy. It was also clear the Judge Mulligan was aware of what the Globe reported. So again, why act now?

No one has a problem with newspapers writing stories. It is just that they don't write the whole story. Not once did the Globe report that O'brien actually reports to Mulligan. Why Not? Also Mulligan signs off on all of these decisions. Didn't write that either. An important fact don't you think?

http://www.bluemassgroup.com/diary/19856/jack-obri...

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Not once did the Globe report that O'brien actually reports to Mulligan. Why Not? Also Mulligan signs off on all of these decisions. Didn't write that either. An important fact don't you think?

From page 5 of the online article:

Finalists are selected at the local level, and the top candidate is chosen by O’Brien’s office in Boston, he said, adding that his choice then must be approved by Chief Justice Mulligan, technically his boss.

But the Legislature clearly intended to give Mulligan very limited power, declaring repeatedly in the Probation Department’s budget that the commissioner has “exclusive authority to appoint, dismiss, assign and discipline probation officers.’’ Mulligan can veto O’Brien’s decisions only for limited reasons, such as failure to follow affirmative action guidelines.

Go lie somewhere else.

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Mulligan got the job because of his family. Funny that the Globe didn't write that. Where is the rest of the story? Don't hold your breath. The Globe has an agenda as always.

No lies here. Just don't believe what the Boston Liberal Globe writes.

Another fact left out....the SJC Chief Justice is married to a New York Times columnist. NYT owns the Globe. Globe writes the story with quotes from the judges. Judges get O'Brien removed. Judges get their guy in there. Judges get their power back. Judges get to hire who they want. You've got to be pretty stupid not to see all this. I just can't wait to read the next globe spotlight on the judges and all the waste they've had over the years. You think we could read that story together when it comes out?

You are the worst liar of them all.

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I've seen Sarah Palin make more sense than you.

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Don't you find it interesting that Judge Mulligan couldn't be reached for comment? I wonder why?

http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_15267284

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This is the kind of story that should appeal to Scott Brown voters. It has nothing to do with "liberal judges" and everything to do with connected insiders using the public trough for private gain. If you fire off a comment like that whenever you see the word "Globe" instead of actually reading the story, then you're depriving yourself of some really effective ammunition, kind of like this guy in the article's comment section:

"off2233 wrote:
Just another example of why the Globe continues to lose its readers. Circulation continues to go down because people just don't read it anymore. They know exactly what the Globe is about. Case in point is their coverage of Scott Brown. Pretty much says it all. I have no doubt there is the real truth to this story like most that the Globe writes but unfortunately we'll never hear about it..."

I mean, as a conservative, don't you have an interest in this stuff? Or are you just looking for six more months of "Justice for Phoebe" headlines?

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Anon,

Where do you think this story originated? HHHMMMM.... let me see.

Not too bright are you.

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You wonder why people think conservatives are dopes? Because the GOP has a golden opportunity to run a clean republican against a democrat who looks all dirtied up in this Globe story, and its members can't articulate any course of action except "Scott Brown Good" and "Liberal Judges Bad." You've got nothing on the issue, nothing on how to fix it, and nothing of substance or value. I bet you know allllll about that Arizona boycott, though, huh?

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...what a mess. It's a shame no one seems interested in cleaning things up.

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Nice to see the Globe turning a Howie Carr column into a feature article.

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In this case. And the election-year pokes at Cahill were almost subtle.

But I still miss Walter V. Robison. More bite in the group writing.

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Something stood out to me while reading the Globe article. It was the opening paragraph.

By any measure, Deirdre I. Kennedy was an outstanding candidate for chief probation officer at West Roxbury District Court. A Wellesley College graduate with two master’s degrees, Kennedy was a streetwise veteran of the Dorchester courthouse who spoke fluent Spanish. She was also a proven leader who had run an antidomestic violence program that won nearly $8 million in federal grants.

A couple questions then came up and I did some research.

Why exactly was she an outstanding candidate? She was and still is a rank and file PO. She wasn't and still isn't even an assistant PO. Why? You don't jump from rank and file PO to Chief. That is absurd. If she is really that good she should at least be an assistant chief somewhere right?

Why did this Judge Coffey recommend her for the job? Did they know each other? Interesting enough they are neighbors. A fact omitted by the Globe in it's story. She would be in essence hiring someone out of friendship. Which if you read the story is what Judges don't want and yet it has been done by them for a very long time.

What were Rush's qualifications? The Globe never spoke to this. Why not. How long had he been a PO? Was he an assistant chief? Had he ever been a chief or acting chief?

Just a few observations and that is just from the first paragraph(s). I could go on and on about the rest of the article but I just wish they would have written an entire story. At the end of the day there are so many unanswered questions that the globe probably chose not to write about because by adding in these things wouldn't make their story any good.

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Slinging mud and crap. You "researched" what? The only "fact" you bring up (as opposed to rhetorical questions that push a set of unfounded assumptions) is that Ms. Kennedy is a neighbor of Judge Coffey. What proof is there of that? Where do you do research on something like that? "Neighbor" like next door or like in the same named region of the city? Do they even know each other exists? Does her being the Judge's neighbor also get her $8M in federal grants to manage successfully? I can tell you that the most I know about my neighbors (of 10 years) is that they're Chinese. I couldn't even give you their surname...that's how "friends" we are.

You have even less information than the SET of reporters working on this article had to write it. Then you make the bold supposition that you know better than they do and that *they're* the ones with a bias and an axe to grind...when at the very least they're held accountable to the truth of their story by their professionalism...whereas you're just a completely anonymous internet commenter.

At the end of the day there are so many unanswered questions that you probably chose to write about this because by adding in these things you wanted to muddy the story.

I'm also hardly convinced that "Charlie", "George", and "Ann" are different people.

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Where is the Globe investigation on this? KAZ, you certainly can't be in favor of this now. Talk about patronage. Talk about sleeze. Taxpayer $$ to have a lobbyist?

BlueMass Group
(Ernie's Spotlight Series. Part 1. - promoted by Bob Neer)

When Judge Mulligan needs something at the State House whom does he send? Why his Coordinator of Intergovernmental Relations (another name for lobbyist) that's who. And after a nationwide highly ethical search Judge Mulligan decided that the best person for this $93,021.40 job was a woman by the name of Elizabeth R. Cerda. And talk about a coincidence, she happens to be the wife of State Rep. and member of DeLeo's leadership team Peter Koutoujian. That's right, Mulligan is paying Cerda to do his bidding to the legislature. How conveeeeniant.
Isn't there a conflict in this. Cerda is not an uncommon site at the state house as she marches around the building on the orders of Mulligan.

Why Doesn't the Globe look into this? It stinks more than anything I read about O'Brien.

Stay tuned. More to come.

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The copy-pasta of every unsourced opinion that "Ernie Boch III" says at BlueMassGroup by this seeming cascade of mono-named "individuals" is getting pretty ridiculous.

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Fine, provide a synopsis and a link. Don't just repost every last thing EB III writes.

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When Will the Boston Globe or Universal Hub spotlight the corruption in the Judge's office?

I guess BMG will have to do it for you.

Katzzy: Quit complaining about everything.

http://www.bluemassgroup.com/diary/19934/justice-m...

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/art...

How ironic. No comment from Mully? I wonder why.

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