Both Senator Stanley Rosenberg, Chief Casino Cheerleader and Secretary Bialecki, Governor Slot Barns point man on Casinos, profited from Gambling stock ownership, receiving the State Ethics Commission's stamp of approval.
Both Senator Petrucelli and outgoing Boston Mayor Tom Menino maintain 'charities' that received contributions from Richard Fieds, owner of Suffolk Downs. Those charities avoid public disclosure, avoid campaign finance limits and pose the risk of undue influence.
Recently, Gam[bl]ing Commission Chairman Steven Crosby revealed his business connection to a casino land owner.
There is much to be corrected with Ethics Reform, but decisions regarding receiving state permits that don't involve influence or bids raises serious questions about logic.
Wolf delivers sole testimony at hearing on ethics exemption
Daniel WolfCAPE COD TIMES FILE
BARNSTABLE — Seated in a room of empty chairs, Marcia Finley waited from the second-to-last row Friday for a public hearing to begin inside Barnstable District Court.
But the longtime Osterville resident had no intention of testifying on the State Ethics Commission's proposed regulation — a new conflict-of-interest exemption, prompted by state Sen. Daniel Wolf, that would allow public employees to have an interest in certain state contracts. Instead, she was there to see her daughter, Paula Finley Mangum, the commission's vice chairwoman.
"I just decided to keep her company," Finley said.
The mother and daughter would have plenty of quality time.
Wolf gave the only testimony on the proposed exemption, which would exempt non-negotiable state contracts that predate a public employee's time in office.
For Wolf, the founder of Cape Air, the exemption would come as a political lifeline. In August, the commission informed the Cape and Islands senator that Cape Air's long-standing agreements with the Massachusetts Port Authority, along with his 20 percent stake in the Hyannis-based airline, left him with a prohibited interest in a state contract.
In his testimony Friday, Wolf, a Harwich Democrat, envisioned a scenario with a "Cape Cod flavor to it" in which a commercial fisherman leasing space at a town pier was disqualified from a school committee election. He repeated his argument that Cape Air's agreements leave no room for influence, praising the commission's proposal for clearing "a serious impediment" to entrepreneurs seeking public office.
"These are people who have had careers and relationships in the private sector," he said, "who can bring great experience and capacity to public life, and whose prior work or business relationships do not truly constitute any kind of conflict that would violate the public trust."
After suspending his gubernatorial campaign, Wolf joined with judges and high-profile lawyers to propose a new exemption. Rather than adopt Wolf's petition, the commission decided to draft a proposal of its own and to gather further input in public hearings.
"The main concern we were hearing was that businessmen and businesswomen should not be foreclosed from public service because of their existing business interests," Mangum said Friday.
"We think that is a problem worth solving."
The commission will hold a second hearing Tuesday in Boston and might vote to approve the exemption as early as Thursday. The exemption would take effect only after the secretary of state's office reviews it and publishes it on the central register.
Speaking to a room occupied only by a couple of local reporters, commission staff, Wolf aides and her mother Mangum said the exemption would still require public employees to disclose their business interests.
"We think that is the appropriate balance to strike," she said.
The commission had scheduled the first hearing in Barnstable out of a belief that interest would be highest in the region Wolf serves. In an interview after his testimony, Wolf said he viewed the low turnout as a testament to the support for the proposed exemption.
"People feel they were heard and their desires were met," Wolf said.
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