Boston Globe: State hunts for license violations

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State hunts for license violations

By Raphael , Globe Staff, 10/7/2003

State officials yesterday ordered a widespread review into whether the Department of Public Safety has properly licensed thousands of tradespeople across Massachusetts.

Acting under orders by Public Safety Secretary A. Flynn, State Police yesterday began scrutinizing the qualifications of all Department of Public Safety inspectors as well as "a number" of licenseholders who appear to have obtained their credentials without satisfying state requirements.

Flynn said he has already begun the process of hiring an outside audit firm to take on the enormous task of reviewing the professional licenses held by pipefitters, nuclear plant operators, and other tradespeople regulated by the agency.

Flynn ordered the reviews as state and federal investigators look into irregularities in the way the Department of Public Safety issued licenses under L. , the department's chief of inspections. was placed on leave last week, and officials referred the case to state Attorney General F. Reilly's office.

"These action steps will proceed in close coordination with the AG's office so as not to jeopardize or impede the ongoing criminal investigation," Flynn said in a statement.

The Globe reported last week that, according to internal documents, at least 57 current licenseholders obtained their credentials without first demonstrating required expertise, education, or, in some cases, taking exams or paying fees.

The Department of Public Safety is responsible for licensing a wide array of tradespeople who operate dangerous equipment, from nuclear reactors to oil burners. In addition, the department employs inspectors to uphold state building codes and examine elevators and amusement park rides.

Flynn, in the statement, said he is seeking an outside auditing firm "with the requisite expertise to conduct an audit of all licenses issued by the DPS." He did not estimate how long the search would take.

Yesterday, still more questions about department licensing procedures arose.

Winthrop H. Farwell Jr., who served as commissioner of the Department of Public Safety from 1996 to 1999, told the Globe that routinely awarded licenses to unqualified building and engineering inspectors during his tenure. Farwell, who was 's direct supervisor, said he was attempting to assemble a compelling record against in hopes of getting him fired.

"What [] did was completely against the law," Farwell told the Globe.

did not return calls seeking his comment yesterday or last week.

On July 21, 1997, Farwell wrote a memo refusing to take responsibility for inspections any longer. "Someday, an incident will occur which involves the lack of an inspection, perhaps at a rest home," the memo warned. "Then this issue of accountability . . . will be taken seriously."

According to state payroll records, the Department of Public Safety employs 59 building, elevator, and engineering inspectors to license professionals and to inspect buildings to ensure their safety for the public. Some licenses under their jurisdiction require thousands of hours of on-the-job experience and passage of examinations, as well as prior licenses at lower levels of expertise.

But early in Farwell's tenure at the public safety department, informed Farwell that "when you hire an inspector, you give them all the licenses they need to review others," Farwell recalled.

Farwell said he took the statement to mean that was issuing licenses to inspectors without following state procedures that require rigorous examinations.

"I said, `If they don't have experience to pass the exam, you can't do that,' " Farwell recalled. "But he always took it upon himself to get them their badges and licenses. He said, `I've got to get them squared away.' "

On 's watch, one engineering inspector now on medical leave, F. Foley, dispensed three professional licenses on Feb. 5 -- without any of the four-hour written examinations -- to a politically connected contractor, ph R. Harold III, according to license records and court documents obtained by the Globe. Harold is the nephew of the late D. Harold, a longtime state senator, and the grandson of ph R. Harold, the former state adjutant for the Disabled American Veterans.

Top public safety officials, alerted to Harold's licenses by union officials, initiated proceedings to revoke his credentials soon afterward. According to court documents, Foley -- who did not return numerous telephone calls to his home -- allegedly never asked for Harold's work prerequisites for the licenses, and gave Harold master's licenses even though Harold lacked the required lower-level licenses.

The case was supposed to have culminated in a hearing on March 7, but instead ground to a halt when Harold's attorneys sought to begin a discovery process that would examine the department's licensing practices.

"The reason why the department is not going after us is because they know they would have to go after a heck of a lot of people," said Bret A. Cohen, Harold's attorney. Harold "did exactly what he was told to do by the people who issued the licenses. They said fill out an application, talk to an inspector, and pay the application fee. And he got the licenses."

Cohen said he was told by authorities that Harold is not the target of a federal investigation into department licensing procedures.

Because Farwell and other public safety commissioners must prove cause before firing a chief of inspections, Farwell began creating a "paper trail" to make the case that was unfit to serve in the post.

On June 22, 1998, Farwell complained to the Executive Office of Public Safety about . A review of inspections, he said, had found that inspectors were conducting fewer than one building inspection per workday that fiscal year.

"This matter [the building inspections] remains unresolved for over a year despite a consistent and unambiguous policy established and disseminated to Mr. ," the letter states.

Farwell's attempts to get rid of ended when Farwell left office. In April 1998, Farwell was suspended for 30 days for soliciting campaign donations from department investigators as he sought to retire debt he had incurred during a failed bid for the mayor's office in Brockton.

But Farwell said the questions now being raised about license-holders at DPS are troubling, regardless of any embarrassments he suffered personally.

"You wouldn't send me to observe brain surgery at Mass. General," Farwell said, "if I didn't have any medical expertise."

Raphael can be reached at rlewis@....

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