Bad Memories From the Past: Phew!

Middleboro remembers Scotty Fearsome, sounding like Paul Revere in his endless pronouncement of 'It's Coming! It's inevitable! .....' representing the Mashpee Wampanog Fiasco in its first incarnation that evaporated.  [In case you haven't noticed, Middleboro is still waiting!]

Scotty's name always provokes notice!

Dems nameless in harsh report

Bigs spared as auditor slams use of consultants

Friday, May 17, 2013

 

By:

Joe Battenfeld

Democratic State Auditor Suzanne Bump rebuked a local development agency for hiring unnecessary high-priced consultants, but omitted the names of the consultants who just happen to be top Democratic power brokers and fundraisers.

Bump’s scathing audit released this week castigated the board overseeing the redevelopment of the former U.S. Navy base in Weymouth, Abington and Rockland for lacking documentation to spend more than $1 million on nine contractors for public relations, lobbying and other services.

But the 34-page audit fails to mention the contractors who got the jobs, including Gov. Deval Patrick’s top fundraiser and two firms run by well-known Democratic consultants, Larry Rasky and Scott Ferson, who both have contributed to Bump’s campaign.

 

The Herald got the names of the consultants and the amounts of their contracts by filing a public records request with the auditor’s office.

 

A spokesman for Bump said the names of the Democratic consultants were not left off for political reasons, but because they “are not relevant” to the purpose of the audit.

 

“This is standard in audit reports,” said Christopher J. Thompson, spokesman for the state auditor.

 

The Herald first reported in April 2011 that Patrick’s fundraising co-chairman, Sean Curran, got a $30,000 contract from the South Shore Tri-Town Development Corporation even though Curran’s expertise is in software consulting.

 

But the list of Democratic consultants hired by the agency goes much deeper, according the list obtained by the Herald.

 

The top earner was O’Sullivan & Associates, a firm run by P.J. O’Sullivan, a former top aide to ex-U.S. Rep. William Delahunt and a strategist for Lt. Gov. Tim Murray’s 2006 campaign. O’Sullivan received $381,529 in consulting fees from Tri-Town from 2008-2011 and still works for the agency as a lobbyist.

 

“P.J. has been very helpful,” said Kevin Donovan, the CEO for Tri-Town. “He has a lot of connections.”

 

Donovan said he also brought on Curran because of his “connections” to the U.S. Navy secretary. Rasky’s firm landed a $10,000 contract with Tri-Town, mostly to handle bad publicity as a result of stories about Curran and the agency’s troubles signing a land deal with the Navy. Rasky donated $500 to Bump in Oct. 2010, according to records.

 

Ferson’s firm, Liberty Square Group, raked in $110,000 from Tri-Town and another firm, Gateway Strategies, run by former Liberty Square attorney Eric Kfoury, got $172,000 in consulting fees from the development agency. Ferson, who has given $250 to Bump, is a top strategist for Murray and his firm recently helped run the failed Senate primary campaign of U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch.

 

Donovan said he “got rid of” Liberty Square and Gateway Strategies when he was hired to run Tri-Town in 2009.

 

“We just didn’t have the money,” he said.

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/joe_battenfeld/2013/05/dems_nameless_in_harsh_report