Globe continues focus on Probation

The Boston Globe continued its focus on the Probation Department with an editorial on February 5 calling for the legislature to eliminate the unlimited term of the Commissioner of Probation:

Probation office needs fixing, not commissioner for life

EDITORIAL February 5, 2010

STATE PROBATION Commissioner John J. O’Brien is untouchable. Insulated by an unlimited term and allergic to scrutiny, he is the new symbol of unaccountability in Massachusetts.

The top blew off the probation department in December when a probation clerk came under suspicion for massive theft in the Lawrence office. The scandal coincided with a Boston Foundation report that cited the probation department for runaway spending. O’Brien, who communicates only via missives, staunchly defended his department’s spending practices. But few are buying it. The Patrick administration is so unimpressed that it is seeking to remove the probation department from the Trial Court, which is powerless to police O’Brien, and place it under the control of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

Under any circumstances, the Legislature should get rid of the indefinite term granted to the probation commissioner. Similar positions in the Trial Court carry 5-year terms. One explanation for why the Legislature created this exception for the probation commissioner in 1992 is that it would ensure the ongoing gratitude of a commissioner who, in turn, would be expected to provide patronage jobs at the behest of lawmakers.

Lawmakers must address gross abuses of the public trust. Last year, they dealt with the worst of the pension system, such as the so-called “king for a day’’ clause that allowed some public safety workers to earn exaggerated benefits by filing disability claims while filling in – even for one day – for a higher paid employee. King-for-a-day was bad enough. O’Brien was appointed in 1998, and current law makes him king for life.

O’Brien’s position is reminiscent of the gift bestowed by former Senate President William Bulger on his crony Francis Joyce in 1982 – lifetime tenure as head of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. It took more than 20 years and new legislation to dislodge Joyce. The public shouldn’t need to wait that long to find credible, new leadership at the probation department.