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‘Change had to happen’ after audit of Essex County retirement board; officials see parallels in Hampden County
Updated Mar 07, 2021;
SPRINGFIELD Ten years before a stinging audit of the Hampden County Regional Board of Retirement, there was Essex County.
A 2010 audit of the regional retirement board in northeastern Massachusetts exposed lavish travel, patronage and general piggery by its executive director and, to a lesser extent, its board members.
The State Ethics Commission in 2011 whacked former state representative and executive director Timothy Bassett with a $10,000 fine enormous by that agency’s standards after Bassett admitted using the county agency as a home base for his private lobbying business. He was collecting a $140,000 annual salary from the board, plus a pension from the state while racking up large fees as a lobbyist, according to published reports.