I'll say it again. This is the type of government Massachusetts voters ask for when they vote straight party line. It does not matter which party is in power, single party rule is never a good thing.

Well, if we take Mr. DiMasi at his word, it seems clear that simply indicting and convicting just Massachusetts House speakers is not quite enough to promote complete honesty. This is no different from what happened during the early civil rights era, when New Englanders looked down on Southern state governments that couldn't clean their own houses. I believe the answer is clear: more Federal prosecutions for corruption, more convictions, and more jail time for felon legislators who abuse trust in government here.

Bravo MBA73, this is sooo true.

Bravo for the indictment, but this kind of corruption has become almost an accepted way to do business in Massachusetts. In a mutually beneficial arrangement, the politicians and the public sector union bosses run this state. When $200,000 policemen, $100,000 half-time firemen and $75,000 toll collectors don't really raise any eyebrows, you know that our problems run a lot deeper than a view high-profile indictments would suggest.

It's a sad commentary on the state of our local politics when we need to depend upon U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz to be responsible for looking out for the interests of the people. That said, good thing she and her team are here.

Letters of recommendation from influential people should be regarded as the personal opinions of those people but unless they really know the actual qualifications of the job applicant, what, I wonder, is the value of their recommendations? The only thing that should matter (and how about this for a novel approach?)is THE APPLICANTS' ACTUAL QUALIFICATIONS.

Although they may or may not have broken the letter of the law, Murray and DeLeo have betrayed the trust of the people of the Commonwealth. They should be gone, but unfortunately I can't vote against either of them. No legislator should be able to recommend anyone for a state job because legislators approve budgets for state departments. It is a direct conflict of interest and should be against the law. Fat chance of that happening.

In a different world Murray and DeLeo would resign in shame. But in the Commonwealth they will just say "everyone is doing it". The fact that they still believe it's okay to "sponsor" people for jobs shows they clearly have no idea of what's ethical and can't be trusted to be in office.

I truly Atty Ortiz keeps going here.... (Where is Martha?) The Golden Dome needs to be rid of many self centered and deceitful public servants who claim to represent us..... This whole Probation Formula was the brainchild of none other than FINNERAN.. We have all the wrong people in all the top places here in Mass.. It just gets worse every year Seems like no one wants or can fix things