Thousands are being laid off daily in Massachusetts, but at the State House hack hirings continue apace.
The courthouses may be pretty much shut down to the public, tax revenues have utterly collapsed, but the kleptocrats are still handing out sweet $155,084-a-year lifetime hack jobs to their family members with zero concern about how to pay for them.
C’mon down, Kerrin Costello, wife of an ex-state rep who now makes $443,000 a year as a lobbyist. She is also the daughter-in-law of a former state senator. Obviously her hack pedigree is perfect, so at noon Wednesday she will be rubber stamped as the next clerk magistrate of the Newburyport District Court by the Governor’s Council — in the middle of a national emergency, without any public hearings.
“What’s the rush here?” Governor’s Councilor Marilyn Pettito Devaney was saying Tuesday. “This is outrageous, especially during a statewide shutdown. You can’t sit down in a restaurant, but this woman is going to be handed a lifetime job without a single public hearing?”
Of course the Governor’s Council won’t be at the State House for the actual vote. It’ll be done behind closed doors, by phone, along with the approval of two juvenile-court judgeships. But at least those two hacks endured hearings, open to the public.
Kerrin Costello is being jammed through without scrutiny, because, well, I guess she needs the money. Right now she’s “only” making $119,415 a year as an assistant clerk magistrate.
But there’s a tradition with judicial appointments. The applicants are supposed to be vetted, in public. Not this time, though. And as Devaney put it, what’s the rush? Supposedly the courts are open, wink wink nudge nudge, but try getting into one this morning. Even if you take them at their fork-tongued word, the “workloads” at the courthouses are way, way down.
Can you imagine a real business, one that’s shut down, hiring a $155,804 legacy over the phone today? When there was nothing for them to do? It’s inconceivable.
On the other hand, consider Kerrin Costello’s impeccable credentials. Her father-in-law, Nick Costello, is a former state rep and senator. Her husband used to work for U.S. Rep. John Tierney, whose wife Patrice went to prison (BOP #93428-038) on an income-tax rap involving her gangster brother who funneled $8 million through the solon’s bank account.
Later, Mike Costello worked for dodgy state Sen. Joan Menard, who now has a state pension of $100,857, and whose daughter grabs a kiss in the mail of $66,613 a year.
Then Costello followed in his dad’s lightweight footsteps to the Legislature, after which he became a lobbyist, in the same firm with ex-Rep. Carlo Basile, who made $404,000 in 2018, the same year Costello took home $443,000.
On the questionnaire she filled out for the Governor’s Council, Kerrin had to list all the contributions made by both her and her hack husband. The Costello list included 134 contributions — 134! And that was just in 2017-18.
He’s duked more than $2,000 over the years to his wife’s patron, Gov. Charlie “Parker” Baker, as well as $200 to Lt. Gov. Karyn “Pay to Play” Polito, who will be presiding over this afternoon’s pro forma vote.
Costello also contributed to the rest of the usual scurvy State House crew: $600 to the unindicted co-conspirator, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, and $200 to the indicted Lowell state rep, David Nangle (seen here having a few laughs in Lowell with his dear friend, Pay to Play Polito).
Other recipients of Costello’s largesse include the disgraced ex-Lt. Gov. Tim “Crash” Murray, the disgraced ex-Senate president Stanley Rosenberg, Governor’s Councilor Terrence Kennedy who will be voting for Mrs. Costello this afternoon, and drunk-driving ex-Reps. Brian Dempsey and Paul Kujawski (who was also once charged with urinating on a state trooper’s boot during his drunk-driving arrest).
So you can see why the hackerama has to take care of Kerrin Costello ASAP. It’s professional courtesy.
So what if you or your kids have been laid off, or soon may be. Big deal if your job might not come back, or you’re forced into bankruptcy. You think the hacks on Beacon Hill care?
Why not hand a lifetime sinecure to Kerrin Costello, for a job that, when you get right down to it, doesn’t ever have to be filled, and wouldn’t be missed if it was just handled by somebody else whose husband and father-in-law weren’t lifelong payroll patriots?
The vote on Beacon Hill today will be “virtual.” The $155,804 paycheck will be real. Ditto the pension.
The coronavirus will soon be gone. Kerrin Costello’s hack job is for life.