State Lawmakers billed taxpayers for bogus commute reimbursements

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They all ducked answering fair questions
A Fox 25 graphic

– News from elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

 

State Lawmakers billed taxpayers for bogus commute reimbursements

 

A number of state legislators have apparently charged taxpayers for their commutes to the State House even when they did not schlep to Beacon Hill, according to a Fox 25 Investigates exposé of apparently sleazy doings by apparently sleazy politicians.

 

Beacon Hill honey pot
A file photo

Fox 25 Investigates asked nearly 40 lawmakers to who claimed they commuted to the State House at least one day that week to voluntarily share their office calendars for November 2016 so as to verify their logs, but not one agreed.

 

Fox 25 even has video of one politician running from an ambush interview.

 

It’s just expense account money …
An Elise Amendola/AP photo

Even more embarrassing for Beacon Hill, internal emails obtained by Fox 25 Investigates show that Beacon Hill lawyers told House members not to respond to Fox 25 and instead told them to contact Seth Gitell – the top public relations manager for House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

 

“We will either not respond (because the reporter acknowledges that the public records law is inapplicable) or we will send one response on behalf of the multiple members who received the request,” House lawyer Jennifer Mathews emailed one House staffer late last month.

 

Hiding behind the iron gate
A file photo

Two weeks later, State House lawyer James Kennedy emailed Fox 25 Investigates an email denying the calendar request on behalf of “multiple members of the House of Representatives” and noting that the legislature is exempt from public records laws.

 

Attorney Kennedy did not respond to subsequent requests by Fox 25 for comment.

Read Full Story: Fox 25 Investigates: Lawmakers billed taxpayers for bogus commutes

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