A Futile Search for Competence

The Boston Globe on the Patrick administration’s follies.

The corruption indictment of former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi contains what critics are calling an unflattering behind-the-scenes look at Governor Deval Patrick’s administration, depicting its officials as bowing to political pressure to award a $13 million computer software contract that was allegedly rigged.

No Patrick officials have been implicated in criminal wrongdoing. Yet the scandal, one of the biggest to roil Beacon Hill in decades, has the potential to create political problems for the governor as he pushes forward on ethics law changes and lays the groundwork for a reelection campaign.

Yesterday, critics seized on the impression that the Patrick administration, which awarded one of two Cognos ULC contracts cited in the indictment, failed to respond to a series of red flags indicating that DiMasi and others were exerting heavy influence.

“What the speaker is accused of doing is absolutely wrong – and he should be held accountable – but it takes two to tango,” said House minority leader Bradley H. Jones Jr., a North Reading Republican. “Somebody in the administration knew it was important to the speaker, and somebody made the decision to go forward with it.”

DiMasi is accused by federal authorities of reaping $57,000 from the software company even as his associates pushed state officials to award contracts to the firm. Three friends were also indicted. No further indictments are expected.

“There was a lot of insider baseball going on, and you wonder how the contract got approved in the first place,” said Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei, a Wakefield Republican. “Was awarding that contract in the best interest of the people in Massachusetts, or was it done to placate the speaker? That’s really the question.”

Yesterday Patrick’s office acknowledged that the administration could have acted sooner to scuttle the project. But administration officials said Patrick and his staff were unaware that DiMasi was pushing for a contract award to Cognos, and they denied any deal-making with the speaker.

“There have been absolutely no allegations by the investigators of misconduct of any kind by any senior Patrick administration official,” said spokesman Joe Landolfi. “We are confident that senior administration officials acted appropriately at all times.”

Landolfi declined to discuss specific allegations in the indictment, citing the ongoing federal investigation.

UPDATE: More from the AP, Michael Graham, Joan Vennochi, the Herald and WBUR.

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