Fresh scandals, forgotten
by Dan Kennedy
by Dan Kennedy
* The white stuff. January 19 Herald, page one, by Joe Sciacca, Jack Meyers, and Joe Battenfeld. It turned out that Weld's "fishing camp" in the Adirondacks was actually "part of an exclusive club which had apparently made no effort to recruit black members." In a follow-up the next day, Weld said he'd "feel more comfortable" if there were black members, and that if there were a policy against blacks he'd "resign in a minute." But, he added, he'd "leave it to the club" to act.
* Suffer the children. February 5 Globe, page one, by Doris Sue Wong. New state welfare rules that required mothers to identify the fathers of their children were forcing hundreds of women off the welfare rolls, even though in many cases the women had provided state officials with all the information they had. Weld later backed down.
* Out in the street. February 15 Globe, inside Metro/Region, by Wong. The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless reported that state officials were turning away nearly one of two families seeking emergency shelter because of new regulations that made it harder to qualify for emergency aid.
* Travelin' man. February 16 Globe, front of Metro/Region, by Brian Mooney and Frank Phillips. The state "has paid thousands of dollars for the travel expenses of state troopers who accompany Gov. William F. Weld on out-of-state trips to promote his political ambitions, including several recent fund-raising forays for his campaign against incumbent US Sen. John F. Kerry." Weld defended the practice in a follow-up story by Phillips.
* Going first-class. February 25 Globe, page one, by Matthew Brelis and Charles Sennott. A major investigative piece on Massport found that the authority was opening expensive offices around the world, had boosted its payroll by 30 percent over the past three years, and had spent money on questionable projects such as a reception for foreign soccer players and an eel farm. "Such spending," Brelis and Sennott wrote, "would seem to run counter to the government downsizing advocated by Gov. William F. Weld, who appointed five of the authority's seven board members."
* A lucrative charter. March 1 Herald, page five, by Connie Paige. Steven Wilson, the principal architect of Weld's government-reorganization plan, which among other things promoted charter schools as a key educational reform, departed state government to form a company that had a contract with Boston's Renaissance Charter School. The move was criticized by Common Cause's Paul Fitzgerald and by the Massachusetts Teachers Association's Bob Murphy, but Wilson said he would be scrupulous to avoid any conflicts of interest.
* Laissez-faire child care. March 3 Herald, page one, by J.M. Lawrence. Following the bust of a state-licensed Chelsea day-care center on crack-dealing charges, Lawrence reported that "inspectors can go three years without visiting most of the state's 10,864 family day-care providers and do not do spot checks."
* No place like om. March 4, Herald, page one, by Michael Lasalandra. The state had spent nearly $1 million in federal funds to teach prisoners meditation and yoga, the goal being to make them less violent. In a textbook example of how reporters sometimes let Weld get away with being a spectator to his own administration, Lasalandra wrote: "While supporters of the stress reduction program say that the cons have made great strides after taking the classes, the Weld administration says such coddling efforts have no place in the governor's get tough policies."
* High-priced rush job. March 12 Globe, page one, by Phillips. State Auditor Joe DeNucci charged that Weld and his transportation officials wasted as much as $44 million on unnecessary construction expenses to meet an arbitrary deadline for the grand opening of the Ted Williams Tunnel. A few days earlier, States News Service and Globe staffer Tom Palmer reported that the Central Artery/Tunnel Project was now officially the most expensive federally funded highway project in US history.
* Praising and burying. March 15 Globe, page one, by Grunwald. "The Weld administration launched a $150,000 `Attracting Excellence to Teaching' program last Thursday with a ringing statement hailing its commitment to quality education. . . . Just one detail was omitted: Weld wants to kill the program. The first wave of recipients may be the last."
* Slap on the wrist. March 16 Globe, inside Metro/Region, by Armstrong. The Weld Administration sent a letter to Consumer Affairs Secretary Priscilla Douglas, deeming inappropriate her use of an assistant to operate a private ski business on state time and for asking another employee for advice on real-estate matters. The letter found appropriate her spending $10,000 on a videotape that largely touts her accomplishments, copies of which she'd admitted sending to potential employers. Douglas will face no further disciplinary measures from the administration, although her case was referred to the State Ethics Commission.
* High-priced research. April 2 Globe, page one, by Kevin Cullen. A Weld-campaign request for a list of felons who've been paroled since 1991 required Parole Board employees to work overtime, at taxpayer expense. According to Michael Sullivan, director of the state's Office of Campaign and Political Finance, "In general, using political resources for political purposes is not allowed. We'll look into it."