DeLeo denied patronage links

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/10/27/deleo-said-knew-little-about-probation-patronage/y26G2iDAH4HhUjpReIalWL/story.html



House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (shown at an event in 2010) testified before an independent counsel on the emerging scandal concerning the state’s Probation Department.

DeLeo denied patronage links
By Andrea Estes and Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff October 28, 2015

House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, in sworn testimony before the independent counsel investigating the state Probation Department, made a series of statements in 2010 that were later contradicted by lawmakers and other state officials during the trial of former probation chief John J. O’Brien, according to a transcript obtained by the Globe.

Though he had previously served as head of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee for four years, DeLeo said he had “no clue” how much the probation budget was and said the Legislature gave no special attention to the funding requests of the agency, according to his Nov. 1, 2010, testimony.

DeLeo has repeatedly said that he did nothing wrong and accused federal prosecutors during O’Brien’s trial of making “inaccurate and scurrilous” statements about him. When asked about the 2010 statement this week, a DeLeo spokesman declined to comment further.

DeLeo provided the testimony, under oath, to Paul Ware, an independent counsel hired by the Supreme Judicial Court to investigate the Probation Department after a Globe Spotlight team detailed rampant patronage at the agency in May 2010. The details of his testimony had not been previously revealed.