“I think frankly it’s not just the conviction, it’s the whole sordid episode that has shaken people’s confidence in state government,” Patrick said.
Six days after a jury convicted former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi on public corruption charges, Gov. Deval L. Patrick again emphasized his belief that government employees are hardworking but said the “whole sordid episode” had taken a toll on public confidence in government.
“I think frankly it’s not just the conviction, it’s the whole sordid episode that has shaken people’s confidence in state government,” Patrick told two reporters at the Statehouse. “But I can tell you I work here every day. I work really hard. I work with people who run to work and keep the public’s interest foremost in mind and we deal with people who are really overwhelmingly like-minded.”
“I think when someone steps out of line it’s the job of the authorities to impose those consequences.”, he said.
While some Beacon Hill officeholders have sought to single out DiMasi as acting alone and to differentiate their own work from his, several analysts of DiMasi's six-week corruption trial have argued that someone in the Legislature or the Patrick administration should have raised red flags when DiMasi pressed for performance management contracts, eventually awarded to a vendor preferred by the former Speaker, both in the legislative and executive branches.