"High-pay housing director resigns; Chelsea official agrees to Patrick's demand; $360,000 salary drew wide criticism" by Andrea Estes and Sean P. Murphy Globe Staff / November 3, 2011
The head of the Chelsea Housing Authority abruptly resigned his $360,000-a-year position last evening, hours after Governor Deval Patrick lambasted his salary as outrageous and demanded that he step down.
“If the governor feels that strongly about it, my effectiveness would have been seriously compromised,’’ Michael E. McLaughlin said.
Patrick also called on the five members of the board that approved McLaughlin’s contract and massive pay increases to step down. The governor temporarily froze state funding to the housing agency because McLaughlin allegedly deliberately underreported his pay to the state.
“Boiling is the word,’’ Patrick said in an interview. “It’s an outrage. Here we are flat-funding public housing, trying to hold on through the worst economy in living memory, and not only is the executive director feathering his nest, but he’s misrepresenting to us what he’s doing. That just can’t stand.’’
And not only that, the state is funneling hundreds of millions to banks and corporations every month.
Patrick joined a chorus of senior public officials condemning the salary paid McLaughlin, which skyrocketed from $77,500 since 2000. The Globe reported Sunday that McLaughlin had told state housing officials he made only $160,000, less than half his true salary, something he chalked up to “the rebel in me.’’
What an arrogant sack of shit.
Last night, McLaughlin continued to insist that “I more than earned my salary,’’ which is almost twice as large as that of his counterpart in New York City, but said he was wrong to not report the full amount to the state.
If he had the chance to do it over, “I would put down the full salary,’’ he said.
Attorney General Martha Coakley said she is “actively reviewing this matter’’ to see if McLaughlin broke any state law.
On the federal level, meanwhile, a US senator has asked the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate.
“What we’re seeing is an unprecedented coordinated effort by virtually every relevant agency going at this at the same time with one mission, to protect the taxpayers and try to prevent this abuse from being carried out,’’ said state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan, who is also investigating.
Not to excuse this cretin; however, one wonders where all the whirling is in regard to the Wall Street banks that ripped us all off while fraudulently seizing homes and sinking the world economy.
McLaughlin, 66, a former state legislator and Middlesex County commissioner who has deftly escaped trouble over his nearly 50-year career, initially declined to comment on the governor’s call for his resignation, saying he had not heard anything directly. But later in the evening, he contacted the Globe to announce his resignation.
“I have been a supporter of the governor since day one, and I feel this is the right thing to do,’’ McLaughlin said.
Henry Cordero - the longtime chairman of the Chelsea Housing Authority, who has said that McLaughlin was “worth every penny’’ of his pay - said he was surprised to learn that the governor who reappointed him to the job now wants him to resign. But Cordero said he had no intention of stepping down from the post that paid him $5,000 last year.
“Resign? Why would I resign? I’ve done nothing wrong,’’ Cordero said in an interview.
It is getting to the point where the scum that rise to the top of politics need to be tarred and feathered and then given a bath in the harbor.
McLaughlin is preparing to retire and collect perhaps the largest pension in Massachusetts history. Based on his total compensation and years of service, McLaughlin could qualify for a pension of $278,842 for life.
That's a YEAR! How many cops, teachers, and firefighters would that pay for?
McLaughlin defended his hefty paycheck, saying he is well paid because he turned around the troubled housing agency. He compared his performance running the housing agency to the achievements of his idol, Joe Montana, on the football field....
Well, what do you know, an IMMATURE as well as ARROGANT ASSHOLE!
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He can forget about Super Joe saving him with a miraculous comeback:
"HUD examines Chelsea agency; Investigators question housing employees; State looks at cutting pension for director" November 04, 2011|By Andrea Estes and Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff
Three federal agents questioned employees of the Chelsea Housing Authority yesterday, one day after their boss abruptly resigned amid an uproar over his $360,000 pay package, which he had concealed from state officials.
The investigators from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides much of the Chelsea agency’s funding, stopped employees at the door of the Locke Street administrative offices, asking their names and positions and whether anyone had asked them to shred documents.
Oh, so ALL AMERICAN TAXPAYERS got RIPPED OFF by this scum, 'eh?
The federal investigators’ visit was part of a flurry of government actions in response to reports that Michael E. McLaughlin had become perhaps the highest-paid public housing official in the country.
Yes, a flurry of government action! They sure can get after it when the mood strikes!
Also yesterday, the state inspector general urged retirement officials to slash McLaughlin’s pension by more than half, saying the state never approved the $360,000 in pay that the benefit would be based on....
Why is he getting one at all?
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Related: Lies, exorbitant salary raise fears of wider corruption in Chelsea
Some fear Chelsea slipping back
Add IN$ULTING to the immature arrogance:
"On way out, housing chief cashed in; State orders Chelsea agency to halt payment on $200,000 in checks" November 05, 2011|By Andrea Estes and Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff
Former Chelsea Housing Authority executive director Michael E. McLaughlin instructed the office accountant to write him checks for more than $200,000 Thursday, just an hour before he left the office for good amid an uproar over his $360,000 annual pay package.
Incensed, state officials ordered the Chelsea Housing Authority to stop payments on the checks, but McLaughlin had already cashed one for more than $80,000.
McLaughlin said he was owed the money for unused sick, vacation and personal time during his 12 years at the authority, but state officials believe that McLaughlin’s entire contract may be invalid because he concealed his full pay from the state. Governor Deval Patrick demanded McLaughlin’s resignation Wednesday, saying he was “boiling’’ mad.
“When my investigator found these checks, he couldn’t believe his eyes,’’ said Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan. “The idea that he would be riding off into the sunset with a bag of cash is completely contrary to the interests of taxpayers.’’
The Chelsea Housing Authority offices at 54 Locke Ave. were swarming yesterday with nearly a dozen state and federal investigators, who found newly shredded documents. The agents from several agencies including Sullivan’s office and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, seized computer hard drives and paperwork and quizzed employees....
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"Housing chief looked to friend to cut checks; McLaughlin put former bouncer in charge of finances" by Sean P. Murphy and Andrea Estes | Globe Staff, November 06, 2011
The office accountant who wrote former Chelsea Housing Authority executive director Michael McLaughlin checks for more than $200,000 on his way out the door is a longtime family friend who also helped him remove boxes from the housing authority after the office closed Wednesday night.
And you wonder why I am so down on politics?
James McNichols, who worked as a nightclub bouncer in Boston for nine years before he was hired to handle the finances of the Housing Authority in 2000, issued three checks totaling $200,948 to McLaughlin, who quit abruptly after Governor Deval Patrick demanded his resignation amid the furor over his $360,000 pay package.
Yeah, that qualifies him to run the finances of the housing authority.
The checkwriting incensed state officials, who immediately ordered Chelsea Housing Authority’s new interim director to stop payment. But McLaughlin had already cashed one for more than $80,000. Officials said they will try to get the money back....
I notice they have no such problem when you owe them taxes.
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Maybe he should be sentenced to live in the projects:
"Pay at top riles Chelsea tenants; Public housing residents say complaints ignored" November 07, 2011|By Travis Andersen and Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff
CHELSEA - Residents of the Scrivano Apartments, one of several managed by the Chelsea Housing Authority, say they already had plenty to complain about, from rodent infestations to cracked walls. Then news broke that the authority’s executive director, Michael E. McLaughlin, had concealed his real salary: $360,000.
“I think it’s outrageous,’’ said Danielle Gallant.
That was the view yesterday among tenants interviewed in the aftermath of McLaughlin’s resignation last week, and the public outcry following a series of Globe reports on his income.
Gallant and her boyfriend, Gene Vose, who are both 26, said during an interview yesterday in their two-bedroom apartment that McLaughlin’s lavish pay was especially jarring considering that the authority raised their monthly rent earlier this year from $485 to about $635, after accusing them of underreporting their federal disability benefits, a charge they deny.
Who do you think was paying that salary?
“They’re so fast to go after the tenants,’’ said Gallant, who has a young son and is due to give birth to another child next month.
Maria Gonzalez, 41, said she learned about McLaughlin’s salary Saturday from a neighbor. She said she was surprised, because workers have told her funding is not available to pay for certain repairs, including drafty windows, or to exterminate cockroaches and mice.
“And now they said they want to charge [tenants] for anything they fix,’’ said Gonzalez, a tenant for 14 years....
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"Housing receiver requested for Chelsea" by Maria Sacchetti | Globe Staff, November 08, 2011
CHELSEA - Several City Council members and community leaders urged Governor Deval Patrick yesterday to place the Chelsea Housing Authority in state receivership amid intensifying outrage over the ousted director’s $360,000 a year pay package.
In a letter, City Council president Marilyn Vega-Torres and others called for a full investigation of the agency, one that would go beyond former director Michael E. McLaughlin, whose pay, perhaps the highest for any public housing official in the United States, had been approved by the authority’s five-member board.
Many residents have complained about the authority’s maintenance record and sometimes harsh rent-collection policies, and some are now mulling a rent strike on Dec. 1, according to Vega-Torres and the other councilors....
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