The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Media -- Dont Quote Me  |  News Features  |  Talking Politics
bmp_2009

She who controls the purse

Terry Murray gave away $11 million of state money. Will anyone call her on it?
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN  |  February 9, 2007

070209_murray_main2

The rumor mill has been buzzing with speculation that Massachusetts senate president Robert Travaglini might leave the legislature to take a position with the Massachusetts Hospital Association or the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. This comes after rampant speculation last fall of Trav’s imminent departure.

True or not, the rumor has put a spotlight on one of Beacon Hill’s most powerful — and most feared — legislators: Senator Therese Murray of Plymouth, chair of the senate Ways and Means Committee, who many senators and staff believe has the support to succeed Travaglini.

That’s if a brewing scandal doesn’t explode in her face. According to some state employees, Murray appears to have personally directed $11 million of taxpayer money to a man who had been caught bilking the state before.

That contractor, William MacDougall, was supposed to be boosting international tourism to Massachusetts, a task at which he seems to have failed, according to Commerce Department data that shows a steady loss in the state’s international-tourist market share — and a surprising drop last year — since he received funding.

What MacDougall actually did is a mystery, because, according to state employees who oversaw his contract, he refuses to fully account for how he has spent the $6 million he received during the past two fiscal years. Now, MacDougall appears to have pushed the state beyond the limits of its patience. After weeks of closed-door meetings between Patrick administration officials and legislators, the state made the extraordinary decision to rescind the money already allotted to MacDougall in the current budget — $5 million that officials had been withholding because MacDougall refused to adequately account for his spending — and leave him out of the next fiscal year’s budget all together.

Still, the greater mystery to many in the tourism industry is why MacDougall received the budget earmarks in the first place, and why every attempt by the Romney administration to stop the waste was thwarted.

The answer, insiders insist, lies with First Berkshire representative Democrat Daniel Bosley and, more importantly, with Therese Murray. As a top Travaglini lieutenant who plays bad cop to his good cop, Murray controls the state budget as Ways and Means chair — and uses the power of the purse to reward and punish as she pleases, say Beacon Hill observers.

“The Romney people thought this kind of thing only happened in books like Black Mass, not in real life,” says one political insider — who, like many others, asked not to be named for fear of revenge from Murray.

The power of the purse has thus far insulated Murray from criticism, say her detractors, because Murray controls the budgets of the offices that should be investigating her actions. Meanwhile, the state auditor’s office has recently been handed reams of documents about the MacDougall fiasco, but a spokesperson there claims it is beyond that agency’s scope to investigate. (Others argue that because the money was a direct earmark, the office could perform a vendor audit of MacDougall.) And while the state Inspector General’s office received complaints about MacDougall more than a year ago, no inquiry has yet been made. Arguments that the MacDougall arrangement violates the “Pacheco Law” against privatizing a state function have fallen on deaf ears at senator Marc Pacheco’s own Post Audit and Oversight Committee.

By finally agreeing to stop the MacDougall money train, Murray may hope to put the mess behind her. But, as sources and documents show, she still has a lot to explain about why this happened in the first place.

“If your average taxpayer knew that you can take $11 million, give it to a couple of friends, with no oversight or supervision, and get away with it, they would go crazy,” says one individual who was directly involved in the bidding process for the state grant. “But that’s what happened.”

Was the fix in?
In late 2003, Murray slipped a $2 million expenditure for marketing international tourism into an economic-stimulus package. The function had previously been handled by state agencies, primarily the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT).

But instead of simply giving the $2 million to MOTT to increase international tourism, or authorizing that office to award the contract, Murray’s legislation privatized the function and assigned a tiny, obscure, quasi-public office to select an outside vendor, through a competitive-bid process, to receive the funds. That office, the Massachusetts International Trade Council, had no tourism experience, and had never been responsible for such a large contract, but agreed to handle it, according to those who were there at the time, because the process included an “administrative fee” that would allow the office to stay open, in spite of its recent loss of state funding.

The Trade Council, however, was never really intended to choose the vendor. Instead, in the same stimulus bill, Murray created a 17-member “advisory board” to assist the Trade Council — which Murray believed would select the vendor, as documents and correspondence from the process show. Murray placed herself on that advisory board, along with Bosley, who had become co-chair of the Economic Development committee; the two of them also stacked the advisory board with tourism-industry friends — from her base on the Cape and Bosley’s base in the Berkshires.

1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |   next >
Related: Healey’s pork problem, IG Report on State Senate Prez takes a convenient dive, Power hungry?, More more >
  Topics: Talking Politics , Air Travel, Boston Museum of Science, Business,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments
She who controls the purse
This has to be one of the most absurd articles ever written. Senator Murray's Senate record speaks for itself, unlike any of the Phoenix's 'sources' cited in this article. The blatant disregard for truth in this article is astounding, and any reader with a shred of common sense can see that this is nothing but a slanderous smear campaign against one of the state's most prominent and hard working legislator's. Shame on you phoenix.
By Bewildered on 02/11/2007 at 2:13:21
She who controls the purse
Good for the Phoenix. If there's smoke; then there's likely a fire. Someone ought to look a little closer at this . . . good for Governor Patrick in vetoing this. Time to "clean up" Beacon Hill business as usual. . . if this is true, shame on Senator Murray.
By concernedonthecape on 02/13/2007 at 12:25:19
She who controls the purse
This doesn't even tell half of the story... we in the tourism industry have been "blown away" by the egregious corruption surrounding this whole series of events. It was unbelievable to most of us that MacDougal got the contract, and not the State Office of Tourism, where the money belonged. It was one of the most outrageous instances of cronyism and partisan politics I've ever seen! Ms Murray had to "stick it in the face" of the Republican Romney administration!
By tourismguru on 02/19/2007 at 12:26:15
She who controls the purse
`hi there` Not sure who Terry Murry is but its the tip of the iceberg if she`d had Knighthoods for sale to pay for political parties like in the UK and just petty cash really?.
By hoodwinked.biz on 03/22/2007 at 6:53:06

ARTICLES BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   FEMALE TROUBLE  |  June 03, 2009
    A shocking dearth of Republican female pols should have the party in a panic. So why doesn't it care?
  •   ROAST PORK  |  May 27, 2009
    As our state's bumbling, craven, and inept elected officials stumble toward summer, we get a few good laughs out of their promises for reform
  •   CAMPAIGN TRAIL OF TEARS  |  May 20, 2009
    Menino's challengers look to capitalize on tragedy. Plus, council candidates try to meet the tougher new ballot requirements — set by an incumbent.
  •   GENERATION GREEN  |  May 11, 2009
    Once derided as tree huggers, eco-friendly youth are now the nation's most powerful (and feared) voting bloc. So why isn't the GOP listening?
  •   SWAN SONG FOR SOUTHIE?  |  April 22, 2009
    As circumstances have changed for Irish Bostonians, the political talent pool in South Boston has dried up. Plus, voting a black slate?

 See all articles by: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group