Sunday, May 8, 2011

Sunday Globe Special: Coakley Catches Cahill

But he almost got away!

"Coakley looks into treasury job offers; Probation chief’s wife, daughter hired after Cahill fund-raiser" by  Andrea Estes and Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff / May 8, 2011 

I'm sorry I haven't been looking into this more, readers; however, with limited time and realizing that Massachusetts absolutely stinks of rancid corruption there is only so much one can digest.

 Attorney General Martha Coakley is investigating whether former state treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and former probation commissioner John O’Brien violated state ethics law by trading treasury jobs for campaign donations, according to several people briefed on the inquiry.

Cahill, who left office to run unsuccessfully for governor last year, hired O’Brien’s wife and daughter shortly after a July 2005 fund-raiser at which scores of probation employees poured at least $7,000 into his campaign fund. An independent counsel called in to investigate charges of political patronage in the Probation Department last November found that O’Brien orchestrated the donations to boost the job prospects of his wife and possibly his daughter.

If Cahill and O’Brien traded donations for jobs, they may have violated the state ethics law, which carries penalties that can include prison time and fines. But investigators would need to bring charges soon, since the statute of limitations runs out in July.... 

Separately, Coakley has been investigating whether Cahill violated state law by running taxpayer-funded state lottery ads in the weeks before the November election. Her office began that inquiry before the election and urged him to take down the ads “to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.’’ Cahill agreed.... 

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Now I could provide some links to the two; however, I'm simply going to say with all due respect to Marty Coakley, who I'm sure is a nice woman, the AG is always last in line on this stuff. FBI has to bust Boston City Council over bribes, feds have to take action against others and she piggy-backs. The only thing she has been out front on is bowing at the altar of gay marriage. 

And Cahill? Tough when you can't trust the treasurer.