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July 16, 2007

Ex-official: Something's fishy with staff searches

HE'S BAAAACK.

Mike McLaughlin, that is.

The evidence is overwhelming, charges former Dracut Selectman Warren Shaw, that the former business manager for the Dracut schools is trying to control the searches for a new schools superintendent and executive director at the town housing authority.

Shaw points to the following evidence:

* Ken Martin, a McLaughlin confidante and chairman of the Housing Authority board of commissioners, gets selected as chairman of the committee that will screen candidates seeking to replace Superintendent of Schools Elaine Espindle.

* Two weeks later, School Committee member Dennis "D.J." Deeb, also in McLaughlin's camp, ends up on the search committee for a new housing executive director to replace Joe Tully Jr. Martin chairs that committee, too.

Shaw was mum on the matter until McLaughlin called The Column late Thursday. He blasted Shaw for "going around town saying I wanted to be the next school superintendent."

So The Column called Shaw.

"As usual, Mike McLaughlin is once again trying to interfere, in not one, but two hiring processes in Dracut," said Shaw, adding that the appointments of Martin and Deeb cannot be coincidence.

McLaughlin is 62. He says he plans to retire as executive director of the Chelsea Housing Authority in October and has "no desire" to take over Dracut schools or the Housing Authority. He admitted, however, it's possible "someone I know" gets selected.

"I've been in this business a long time," he said. "I know a lot of people."

Martin vehemently denied any kind of backroom wheeling and dealing, saying that he was following guidelines from the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

"It's a diverse screening committee and it's part of the process," Martin said. "As it relates to Mike McLaughlin, why would he even want (the housing director's) job? He'd have to take a cut in pay."

There's a common thread to the two appointments: School Committee Chairman Ron Mercier. Mercier appointed Martin to the superintendent search. Then Martin asked Mercier to help the search for the housing director. On Monday night, Mercier said he didn't have enough free time -- and promptly handed the job to Deeb.

The appointments are curious in several ways. The School Committee has little interaction with the Housing Authority, so why all of a sudden ask one of its members to serve? And why Deeb, who is also on the Greater Lowell Technical High School Committee?

Other committee members such as Mike Miles or Nancy Mendonca would have been available. Committee member Mary Gail Martin would have been an improbable choice because her husband, Brian Martin, is a Housing Authority employee and serves on the Greater Lowell Technical School Committe with Deeb.

Had Mercier served on the housing search, he certainly would have been linked to his grandfather, City Councilor Armand Mercier, who was the longtime executive director of the Lowell Housing Authority.

Who succeeded Mercier? McLaughlin.

ALSO REMEMBER that Deeb pushed McLaughlin's son, Matthew McLaughlin, for the job of school business administrator in 2005, even though the younger McLaughlin did not have the qualifications for the job.

Mike McLaughin's history in Dracut includes his position as school business administrator in the days when Christos Daoulas was superintendent.

His position was eliminated shortly after Espindle took over as superintendent of schools.

He also positioned himself on two occasions to become Dracut's town manager, but was unsuccessful.

The Deeb-Martin-McLaughlin triumvirate is certainly raising eyebrows. Deeb called The Sun this week to say he was only doing what he was asked to do and nothing more.

"If I can help get the best person for the job to serve Dracut, that's all I'm trying to do," he said.

DEVAL PATRICK'S honeymoon in Tewksbury is over.

The governor faced a barrage of unusually strident criticism from local officials last Friday after he blocked a home-rule petition that would have deferred Tewksbury teachers' summer pay, a measure that had been heralded as a budget saver for the cash-strapped town.

Patrick and state Department of Revenue officials said the teacher-salary deferral would set a "fiscally unwise precedent" and would not help in addressing the town's structural deficit.

But Tewksbury officials countered that the deferral was intended to be a one-time fix and that Patrick's rebuff of the deferral will set the stage for a $175 trash-collection fee to be put in place, which they say is contrary to his vows to lower property taxes and user fees.

"The 'Deval Patrick Memorial Trash Fee.' How about that?" Selectmen Chairman Jerry Selissen offered. "Seriously though, to say I'm disappointed is an understatement."

"The good citizens of Tewksbury can thank Beacon Hill for the 'Municipal Partnership Trash Fee' that's going to the thrust onto them whether they want it or not," Finance Committee Chairman Ron Hall added. "(Patrick) preaches one thing, but he does another."

AFTER COUNTLESS late nights churning out a record-breaking $26.8 billion state budget, nothing recharges the batteries better than a field trip to the Mill City.

At least, that was the thinking that brought 24 weary but enthusiastic Senate Ways and Means staffers to Lowell last Thursday for a whirlwind tour by state Sen. Steven Panagiotakos, the new Ways and Means Committee chairman and a Lowell native.

The crew checked out the canals, peeked at Jack Kerouac's scroll, noshed on a barbecue feast at the Blue Shamrock and topped it all off with a Spinners game.

The trek, paid from Panagiotakos' campaign funds, even attempted to stay green by taking the train.

The biggest treat for the staffers, however? Getting to see their boss sporting a Hawaiian shirt and laid-back shades.

SPEAKING OF Panagiotakos' campaign account, a star-studded fundraiser is planned for the new Ways and Means chief.

The event will take place on July 25 at the Dracut home of Michael and Cindy Kuenzler.

Kuenzler is the former Lowell poice officer who's made it big in the private sector with a sporting-goods business and remains influential with local movers and shakers, such as Panagiotakos and UMass-Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan.

Patrick is expected to attend, as is state Senate President Therese Murray and state Sen. Steven Baddour, a close confidante of Panagiotakos.

The three food stations look absolutely scrumptious, with plenty of Greek taste sensations.

The "suggested" donation? From $250 to $500.

Panagiotakos hasn't had a serious opponent since he was first elected to the Senate in 1996, so why does he need the cash? Easy. Something's amiss when a senator like Baddour, from Methuen, has nearly $280,000 in his campaign coffers while Pangiotakos, the No. 2 man in the Senate, has $79,000.

The Ways and Means chairman needs a hefty purse to perhaps help other senators conduct a statewide poll on an important issue or pay for a nice spread for senators working late into the night on an issue.

Panagiotakos appears to touch on such concerns in a letter to prospective supporters.

"With the enormous professional and budgetary responsibilities that go along with being chairman of Ways and Means are also new political and leadership responsibilities which my campaign committee will have to financially support," he wrote, adding that he does not accept PAC money or lobbyist contributions.

THERE'S BEEN another high-level reassignment in the Lowell Police Department, triggered by Acting Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee's recent promotions of former Capts. Robert DeMoura and Arthur Ryan Jr. to acting deputy superintendents.

Capt. William Taylor -- who actually did a stint as acting deputy superintendent under former Pollice Superintendent Edward Davis -- has been shifted to commander of the West Sector, which is composed of the Acre and Highlands.

Taylor takes over from Capt. Jonathan Webb, who's filling DeMoura's shoes as head of the Criminal Bureau and other investigative services.

Taylor joins the other sector commanders, John "Jay" Flaherty (North, Belvidere, Centralville and Pawtucketville) and Kevin Staveley (East, Downtown, Gorham Street corridor).

LIFE ON the UMass Lowell campus certainly has grown interesting since Meehan arrived as chancellor two weeks ago.

Former Provost John Wooding was the first to go, before Meehan officially started. More recently, it was Jeff Thompson, vice chancellor for information technology, packing.

Meehan has ordered an internal audit of the university's organizational structure and its effectiveness. More changes are likely to come.

Meehan said he expects to have the audit done by next month and a new organizational structure in place by September.

"It's a natural thing to do," he said, adding that he wants to establish a management system "that is conducive to my style, which is more inclusive."

Unsurprisingly, that shake-up has the campus intelligentsia buzzing. UMass Lowell's top ranks changed little during the 25 years of Chancellor William Hogan's tenure.

SOME ON campus are looking at Meehan's handling of men's hockey coach Blaise MacDonald for clues to the new boss's management style.

Meehan has been as harsh as possible with the coach, who was arrested in Chelmsford late last month on suspicion of drunken driving. MacDonald was allegedly found sleeping in his car while parked blocking the entrance to a condominium complex where he does not live.

Meehan suspended MacDonald indefinitely without pay (McDonald made $167,209 last year). That is the stiffest penalty Meehan could mete out, given university union arrangements.

MacDonald has not made a public statement or apology yet. That doesn't bode well for his relationship with Meehan.

Our bet is that MacDonald will not be with the hockey program next season.

TWO OF the big winners on campus so far have been Jacqueline Moloney, named associate chancellor, Meehan's No. 2, and Patti McCafferty, a former staffer and Meehan aide who was working as a top spokesperson at the university before Meehan arrived.

McCafferty is now the school's chief public-affairs officer.

THE GROTONFEST scheduling controversy that started last week with Selectman Joshua Degen's angry letter to event organizer Jane Bouvier is far from over. Degen still said he hopes the Groton Business Association will reschedule the event from Sept. 22, which is Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest holiday, to the rain date of Sept. 23, saying not doing so would discriminate against Jews.

Groton Talk-about, a community e-mail exchange server, has been abuzz with feedback to The Sun's coverage.

Some see it as a religious issue, while others consider it a diversity issue.

And one of them has a suggestion to all: Let Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein know the importance of Yom Kippur because they are playing at 7:10 p.m. on Sept. 22.

"I am upset that the Civil War re-enactment is happening on Bastille Day, July 14," that resident wrote.

TOM BRYNE, a prominent Lowell political activist and commercial real-estate owner, is running out of time to pull his nomination papers for a City Council by the Aug. 7 deadline.

Byrne's delay in actually starting his campaign is causing some to wonder about his plans. If Byrne pulls papers, that would make for 20 potential council candidates, enough for the first preliminary election in Lowell since 1995. A preliminary election is triggered when there are 19 or more candidates for the nine-seat council.

For his part, Byrne last Friday said, "I'm going to be in." He said he has delayed pulling papers to prolong his tenure on local radio.

"I have had things I like to do, and I like the radio," Byrne said. "As soon as I pull papers, that's the trip wire for no more playing on the radio.

There's been nothing going on the last two weeks anyway," he added. "I guess you could look at it as a strategic thing."

That list of 20 would exclude Councilors George Ramirez, who isn't running for re-election, and Councilor Eileen Donoghue, who is in the thick of the heated race to replace Meehan in Congress.

Donoghue has yet to make her plans for the council race known, however.

KRISTIN ROSS-SITCAWICH continues to use high technology to gain a seat on the Lowell City Council.

Ross-Sitcawich was the first of 12 challengers so far to launch a campaign Web site, www.KristinforLowell.com.

Now she has introduced the "first-ever online video introduction for a Lowell City Council candidate" on a campaign site.

The video features Ross-Sitcawich speaking to voters about her priorities and governing philosophy, and serves as yet one more way to introduce herself to voters.

The video also accompanies several other new features on her Web site, including posing questions; a forum for voters to suggest ideas; and Flickr photo galleries.

THE POLITICAL landscape in the Lowell School Committee race hasn't shifted much.

The challengers still number only two, LHS Housemaster David Conway and former Lowell HIgh English teacher Dennis Canney.

Incumbents who have taken out nomination papers include Jackie Doherty, Regina Faticanti, John Leahy, Kevin McHugh and Jim Leary.

Candidate for re-election Connie Martin hadn't taken out her nomination papers as of Friday morning.

LOWELL DPW Commissioner Edward Walsh, who will retire in December, may be soon to leave the local scene, but his son is about to take on a prominent role in the Mill City's residential construction industry.

Edward Walsh Jr., 46, is a principal with MIRA Development LLC, a division of Charter Environmental, which has an office in Lowell's Wannalancit Mill.

In his role with that firm, the junior Walsh will over see construction of a new, 300-car parking garage and the redevelopment of the last remaining vacant portion of the Lawrence Mills complex into roughly 200 apartments.

WHO WILL be the next Littleton town administrator? The town received 38 applications by last Monday's deadline, including one from Town Treasurer Donald Armstrong.

"It's a much clearer search," said Selectmen Chairman Ken Eldridge. "The applicants know what we're looking for, and we know what we're looking for."

In April, the board interviewed three finalists -- former Westford Town Manager Glenn Fratto, Braintree Finance Director Brian Connolly and Walpole Assistant Town Administrator Jim Johnson -- then said the candidates simply weren't a good match.

This time, the town attracted a higher quality of candidates, Eldridge said. The board will interview finalists for the job in August.

This week's Column was written by City Editor Christopher Scott, City Hall reporter Michael Lafleur, Statehouse Bureau Chief Hillary Chabot, Wilmington reporter Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl, Dracut reporter Dennis Shaughnessey, Westford reporter Bridget Scrimenti and Groton reporter Hiroko Sato.

Posted by Admin at July 16, 2007 1:38 PM

Comments

Posted by: Bill Deignan at July 28, 2007 6:12 PM