Ken Moulton and others should be happy about this

[Guest guest]

THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

A lawyer for L. said the allegations were more about politics

than public safety. (Cyrus Moghtader for the Boston Globe)

(http://www.boston.com/news/globe/)

State aide accused of illegally issuing licenses

Trades workers' testing at issue

By Saltzman, Globe Staff | January 5, 2006

A top official of the state Department of Public Safety issued dozens of

licenses to heavy-equipment operators and oil burner repairmen without

requiring

state competency exams, then urged them to lie about it within hours of

learning he was under investigation, a state prosecutor said yesterday.

Assistant Attorney General M. Barton said L. , a

suspended deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, had made no

effort

to ensure that the workers were qualified to operate dangerous equipment,

and had tried to cover his tracks after State Police told him in October 2003

that he was the target of a grand jury probe.

Several of the trades workers will testify that ''they never took a test,

never met the defendant, and in some cases didn't know who [] was, "

Barton said in her opening statement at 's trial in Suffolk Superior

Court.

's lawyer, J. Cintolo, countered that the 71-year-old Hyde

Park man had broad authority to determine trades workers' competency. Cintolo

denied that had told anyone to lie, and said that a key witness for the

state was a subordinate who had wanted 's job.

''Your honor, this case is more about the politics of transition than it is

about public safety, " Cintolo said, referring to a shakeup that occurred in

the state Department of Public Safety in late 2003 as a result of prodding by

Governor Mitt Romney.

The trial is taking place before Judge Regina L. Quinlan; no jury is

involved. Cintolo had requested a bench trial because, he said, a judge can

better

understand his defense.

The defense argument, Cintolo said, was that had wide latitude when

ensuring that trades workers were competent. He and Barton said they expected

the trial to last about a week. faces 24 counts of false reporting for

a professional license application.

He also has been charged with 22 counts of violating statutes involving

hoisting equipment, three counts of encouraging applicants to commit perjury

before the grand jury, and one count of obstructing justice. The perjury and

obstruction charges are felonies.

might face more than 38 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors

said after he was indicted in June 2004.

was appointed chief of inspections by Governor F. Weld in

1992, and was named deputy commissioner in 2000.

As chief inspector of the state, he oversaw the testing and licensing of

dozens of trades that involve heavy machinery and dangerous equipment, such as

construction supervisors, backhoe operators, and oil burner technicians.

In fall 2003, a Globe investigation revealed that in one case, three

licenses in one day went to the nephew of D. Harold, the late former state

senator. After the report, Public Safety Secretary A. Flynn referred

allegations about to Attorney General Reilly.

The scandal was among the reasons that Romney asked ph S. Lalli to step

down as public safety commissioner in December 2003. Lalli was replaced by

Gatzunis, the former town engineer and building inspector of Belmont,

Romney's hometown.

Barton gave no explanation for why allegedly issued licenses without

requiring tests. When State Police questioned him in October 2003, he

insisted that he had tested the competency of the trades workers at the

Charlton

rest stop on the Massachusetts Turnpike, she said.

Within hours, she added, he made a flurry of phone calls to recipients of

the licenses, urging them to tell the same story to the grand jury. Several

recipients, she said, will testify that they never went to the rest stop.

However, Cintolo said his client made sure trades workers were competent by

ordering inspectors to check them at job sites. The commissioner of public

safety, he added, was aware of the practice. ''The evidence will show that Mr.

did what he was supposed to do, " Cintolo said.

Cintolo said further that Mark F. Mooney, the assistant chief of inspections

and a witness for the state, had wanted 's job.

Saltzman can be reached at _jsaltzman@..._

(mailto:jsaltzman@...)

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