"Biotech chief fined $10,000 over ethics; Pursued position while Patrick aide" by Frank Phillips and Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | December 24, 2008
The state Ethics Commission has imposed a $10,000 fine on a former top economic development aide to Governor Deval Patrick for secretly pursuing the presidency of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council last year while using his state job to help develop tax breaks and other incentives that were crucial to the industry trade group.
The commission's investigation found that Robert K. Coughlin, a former state representative, began his quest for the $350,000-a-year Mass Biotech job just a few weeks after the new governor hired him to be undersecretary of business development.
He then spent the next five months secretly seeking the private-sector position without telling his superiors in Patrick's administration and without removing himself from policy decisions affecting his future employer, as required by state law, the Ethics Commission said.
Coughlin was a key Patrick administration official involved in developing the governor's $1 billion biotechnology industry stimulus, which included tax incentives and development grants for companies in Massachusetts....
And "liberals" are always criticizing "conservatives" over this crap?
What HYPOCRITES -- and WORSE!! They pretend they have the moral high ground on corruption when they DO NOT!
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Despite the fine, the Biotechnology Council said yesterday that it would take no action against Coughlin and planned to keep him in the high-profile post, in which he serves as the public face of the state's huge and influential biopharmaceutical industry.
Of course. There are no consequences unless you are one of the little people.
The council, which has 550 members, including many large corporations, lobbies Beacon Hill on life science issues and the industry's economic needs....
And THEIRS are MET, can you believe it?
