The bill seeks to restrict nepotism and favoritism in state hiring.
Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo, left, shakes hands with Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick Ireland during a joint press conference at the Statehouse in Boston Thursday, April 21, 2011 where they discussed and unveiled legislation designed to overhaul the state Probation Department. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)BOSTON – The state’s top judge on Thursday endorsed legislation by the speaker of the state House of Representatives to restrict patronage and limit nepotism in the state’s troubled Probation Department.
The 12-page bill would require applicants for probation jobs and court officers to pass an exam and be screened before advancing to an interview. The bill also calls for creating a new civilian administrator within the Trial Court to handle certain business duties such as the budget, contracts and leases.
Judge Roderick L. Ireland, a Springfield native and chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court, stood next to Speaker Robert A. DeLeo during a Statehouse press conference and called for approval of the bill.
“This legislation is designed to bolster progressive management efforts already under way in the court system,” Ireland said.
DeLeo said the bill marks the end of tensions between the judicial and legislative branches that he said have prevented changes in the past. DeLeo said the bill would likely be taken up in the House early next month.
“Today, two branches of state government stand together to support a bill aimed at reorganizing certain aspects of the judiciary,” DeLeo said.
The bill calls for keeping the probation department under the judiciary. The bill rejects Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s plan to combine probation for adult offenders with the parole system and leave the Trial Court with probation functions only for juveniles and probate and family courts.
Alex Goldstein, press secretary for Patrick, said the administration is reviewing the bill and looks forward to working with DeLeo and other legislators.
“It has been Governor Patrick’s goal ... to restore the public’s confidence in the probation department and to make it more accountable,” Goldstein said in a prepared statement. “Speaker DeLeo and Chief Justice Ireland’s proposal reflects that they share those goals.”
Ireland said he was pleased that probation would remain in the judiciary.
"The probation department has a long successful history of service within the court system as probation officers play a vital public safety role in the community," Ireland said.
The legislation removes unilateral hiring power from the commissioner of probation and makes hiring within probation subject to the approval of the new civilian court administrator.
The bill would also require all applicants for jobs within the executive, legislative and judicial branches to disclose the names of all immediate family members who are state employees. The information would be public if people are hired.
Any recommendations for jobs would need to be in writing and recommendations could only be considered by leaders in the three branches of government during the final stage of hiring. Recommendation letters for successful applicants would also be public.
The legislation comes after the release in November of a report by independent counsel Paul F. Ware. The report found that hiring at the 2,200-employee probation department was corrupt and was tilted heavily in favor of candidates recommended mostly by state legislators.
Ware said a rigged hiring process undermined qualified applicants. Ware's report said that probation officials, including former Commissioner John J. O'Brien, established a phony hiring process to conceal that jobs were being given to applicants with personal or political connections to legislators or judges.
The bill also follows the release of report on probation by a bipartisan, nine-member commission established last year by DeLeo, Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray. The bill also comes after a separate report by a task force appointed by the state Supreme Judicial Court.