STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE When the Boston Globe began publishing stories in 2008 questioning Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s role in the passage of a state contract for Cognos, the speaker met with Gov. Deval Patrick, blamed his administration for “leaking” harmful information to the newspaper and demanded that a senior administration official issue a statement distancing […]
Kyle Cheney
Posted inPolitics
Salesman, lobbyist crafted Cognos contract
Officials working to sell Cognos software to Massachusetts carefully crafted legislative language to ensure that Cognos would be virtually assured to win a $15 million software contract that lawmakers included in a 2007 bond bill, a witness testified today in the corruption trial of former Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. Bruce Major, a finance expert who partnered […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lobbyists, DiMasi met ‘all the time,’ aide says
Lobbyists constantly called the office of former Speaker Salvatore DiMasi to arrange meetings between their clients and the speaker, DiMasi’s former administrative assistant testified Monday in federal court. Katie Quinn, the former DiMasi aide, said during questioning from Thomas Drechsler, a lawyer for lobbyist Richard McDonough, that lobbyists frequently sought meetings with the speaker and […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
44 reps disclose health care conflicts
More than a quarter of the 160 members of the Massachusetts House disclosed last week that their votes on municipal health care legislation, hotly debated by unions, mayors and selectmen, would directly affect their “immediate family,” including spouses, siblings, children, and in some cases themselves. In filings with the House clerk, 35 Democrats and eight […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, State House News Service
House health vote enrages union officials
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Labor unions were in open revolt Tuesday against the Democratic leaders of the House, promising political consequences for House Speaker Robert DeLeo and other state representatives who voted during a late night session to slash the collective bargaining power of municipal workers. Calling the vote to an assault on workers’ rights […]