Mary Beth Heffernan, the state’s outgoing public safety director, made a mistake when she signed on to the hiring of Sheila Burgess as the state’s highway safety director. In the wake of embarrassing headlines, Heffernan acknowledged the obvious: Given a lengthy driving record that included six crashes and several speeding violations, Burgess should never have gotten the job. But standing on its own, the Burgess scandal does not automatically disqualify Heffernan for consideration as a district court judge.
The hiring of Burgess illustrates all that is wrong with patronage and the power of political connections when it comes to obtaining state employment. In the case of Burgess, an unqualified person was placed in a job she did not deserve.
Comments
This kind of "protect the corrupt system at all costs" stance by the Globe is all too common, and really makes me angry.
"Supporters say" she has the qualifications? I'm sure they do. What a flmsy way to dodge having to write down whether the editors thnk so. It's enough that the Democratic machine wants here.
And this was the one time in her career that she participated in patronage? I doubt that very much.
The Globe would have restored a lot of the diminished faith in its editorial integrity if it, instead, had called for Heffernnan's nomination to be a springboard for a full and deep investigation into not only the Burgess case, but every instance of job references, cross-hiring, back-scratching, atec. that Heffernan has been involved in or knows about. Then we could more meaningfully decide whether she deserves this job and our money.
But that would disrupt the patronage system more than the Globe's nibble-around-the-edges strategy allows. God forbid, we might find out that the governor or lieutenant governor were somehow involved. That might help a Republican.
And that's where the Globe draws the line. This is not only a disappointment, but it makes the Globe's next scolding ediitorial against someone like Willie Lantigua a joke. Who cares if the Globe thinks the Latino mayor of Lawrence is a crook, when it doesn't have any interest in this corruption happening right under its nose?
OMG _ what a title chosen for this article: "Top Record," oh, puleeeze. The article could be called," "Patronage, Massachusetts Style" and we all would understand the process perfectly because this is what we see repeatedly with Democratic administrations.
The second paragraph takes this farce a step further_but fails to state the obvious, Heffernan's judicial appointment is truly 'patronage.' Heffernan signed off and agreed to hire an individual who was unqualified and unsuitable for the position. The is exactly what is happening every day in this state and results in unqualified and unsuitable individuals hired into Administration when they DO NOT have the qualifications, because people like Heffernan turn a blind eye so as not to rock the boat.
Also, what is the matter with the comment page? Why does the Globe control the "likes" and "dislikes" comments? The page frequently fails to respond to readers responses.
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She's a hack's hack. Her father was a hack too, and he botched a domestic violence case and got an innocent woman killed. But she's a Democratic Party hack so she's OK with the Globe.
Mistake yes, and an obnoxious one too.