…and the IG is listening. (WMP&I)

BOSTON—On June 18, Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro grabbed headlines with a call to put the Cannabis Control Commission into receivership. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is typically more muted, except perhaps when it issues a damning report. The legislature did not advance Shapiro’s proposal, but his office had another significant impact earlier in the year.

In April, the Northwest District Attorney indicted a former Leyden police chief after an OIG investigation allegedly found the ex-top cop selling town equipment. Four months later, Shapiro came to Leyden for a different reason—to celebrate the purchase of a used firetruck the town secured with his office’s help. Shapiro is raising awareness of his office not just to put crooks on notice, but to help stretched municipalities follow the rules.

“That’s why we’re trying to meet people where they are, help them help themselves, but also hold them accountable, to do the right thing,” Shapiro said.

A segment of the public have heard of inspectors general, but maybe only on a federal level. Federal departments and some subagencies—even Amtrak—have one. While it oversees all local and state public entities in Massachusetts, the OIG’s purview is not quite identical that of federal inspectors general.

The commonwealth’s OIG arose out of the boringly-titled Special Commission Concerning State and County Buildings. Better known as the Ward Commission, after its chair John William Ward, the panel spent over two years digging into Massachusetts state contracting and oversight practices.

The Ward Commission found corrupt practices in awarding several big state projects including UMass-Boston. (via mass.gov)

“The particular facts of the Commission’s long investigation comprise a general pattern: In the award of contracts for the construction of state and county buildings, corruption has been a way of life,” the commission states in the forward of its 1980 report.

Running hundreds of pages long, the Commission found corruption, graft and indifference to stewardship of the public purse. It identified a space between the Auditor’s reviews and Attorney General’s prosecutorial authority that the OIG would fill.

After a rigorous vetting and appointment process, Shapiro took office as the fifth inspector general on October 3, 2022, 89 days before the 42^nd anniversary of the Ward Commission report.

The OIG’s focus on identifying fraud, waste and abuse has come to encompass not just construction, but also spending on public employment. Shapiro oversees a staff of roughly 90 and a budget of $10 million.

“What I like to say is it’s a mature organization that I stepped into, so I didn’t have to create an organization. On the other side, our mandate is incredibly broad,” he said.

In an interview this spring in his literal corner office at One Ashburton Place, a state building rising next to the State House, Shapiro discussed his background, focus and strategy for his office.

A lawyer, Shapiro served in the office of former Attorney General Tom Reilly, rising to his chief of staff. While he has practiced law, he pivoted toward government administration in Reilly’s office. After Reilly’s AG tenure, Shapiro went to work for the Middlesex District Attorney. Save a brief turn at the state comptroller’s office, he eventually became the Middlesex DA’s chief operating officer.

In 2015, he began a longer seven-year stint with the comptroller and rose to first deputy. From that perch, he became inspector general.

How Shapiro has put his own spin on the office has come into more focus this year. While not criticizing his predecessors, Shapiro said that he wanted to put the OIG out into the commonwealth more.

Though not quite an ivory tower, Shapiro likes to get out of his office’s headquarters at One Ashburton Place. (via wikipedia)

That has taken several forms. He has hired a dedicated communications officer. The OIG has run a program to educate local officials about procurement. Now he is going out into the state more to speak with officials directly, educate them and learn from them, rather than just “pontificate” from Boston.

“One of my other initiatives is to get out of this office, I try to meet at least once a week with stakeholders, whether those are state agency heads, other appointed officials, agency leaders, municipal officials,” Shapiro said.

Prevention, that is avoiding a violation of law, is the goal. The training program, now called the OIG Academy, trains officials on procurement law. The need, he said, has become increasingly obvious as institutional knowledge flew out the door during the pandemic. Employees eligible to retire, but who had not yet, retired in droves as the coronavirus spread.

“We’re not great at business continuity, and the person that we thought was going to be there, then gives two weeks’ notice,” Shapiro said. “And the deputy that might have been there for two weeks is all of a sudden in charge. If they were fortunate to have a deputy.”

The program costs $2,000, which can be prohibitive for small towns. Shapiro’s staff has found resources in his budget to finance tuition for one official from all 351 municipalities.

Northampton Senator Jo Comerford represents a sprawling district of small towns in Franklin, Hampshire and Worcester counties. She and the communities she represents have appreciated this approach.

“During our first introductory call, I talked about the unique challenges of rural communities and small communities, even small cities like Northampton, to comply with a host of state regulation,” Comerford said.

She called procurement law the “existential challenge of a small town” and was thrilled with Shapiro’s interest. “Do you want to hear directly from small towns?” she recalled asking him. “And he said yes he would.” He came in person.

The inspector general goes West. Shapiro with Leyden Select Board Katherine DeMatteo, Senator Comerford & Leyden Fire Chief Carey Barton earlier this month. (via Office of the Inspector General)

The challenges are many. In addition to procurement, there are risks to mitigate and too few employees to do so. Thinning budgets and competition in hiring leads many communities to merge jobs or bring back retirees. Such returning employees, however, can only work so many hours.

In March, the OIG issued a report that found a profound lack of enforcement of this cap. Shapiro proposed new funding for enforcement and additional reporting mechanisms.

Speaking to WMP&I, Shapiro said he has opposed additional exemptions to these caps. To him, it is not only about double-dipping—post-retirement employment has driven many controversies—but fairness.

“I say to my colleagues in government, while it may get somebody in the door today or tomorrow, and it may help with that, I don’t believe it solves the problem,” Shapiro said.

The jobs in municipal and state government, he said, used to be attractive jobs. Middle-class families—and their communities—could grow and thrive on those job. Backfilling with retirees may be necessary in extreme cases like the pandemic, but not the rule.

“My view is that we need post-retirees, but there are limits on what they can earn,” he said. “They should know [the limits], we should know them and we should make sure that it’s a level and fair playing field.”

Shapiro takes a broad view of the statutes that govern his office and he believes he can act proactively. However, the OIG does rely on complaints and tips. There is a hotline and an online portal to submit information. Though they are unlikely to hear back from the OIG, Shapiro urged the public and public employees to report concerns big or small.

The OIG has several tools. It can issue public letters and reports or make referrals to law enforcement, be they the US Attorney, Attorney General or district attorneys.

The OIG under Shapiro’s predecessor looked into the appointment of Bennett Walsh and his tenure based on a pre-Covid tip. (WMP&I)

Under Shapiro’s predecessor, Glenn Cunha, the office probed the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home under the superintendency of Bennett Walsh. The March 2020 COVID-19 outbreak that killed dozens of veterans brought Walsh down. However, the OIG was investigating a complaint it received months before in 2019.

By the time the report came out in April 2022, the Baker administration’s legacy at the Home had been reduced to a crater. Still, the report provided critical insight into both Walsh’s tenure and his superiors’ failure to manage him.

The OIG involves other agencies, too. After an investigation, Shapiro’s office referred the Leyden allegations to Northwest District Attorney David Sullivan, the prosecutor for Franklin and Hampshire counties. The OIG’s probe only became public when the DA indicted Leyden’s former police chief Daniel Galvis on April 22. Galvis is accused of taking town property and selling it, pocketing the cash from 2018 to 2021.

Sullivan’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the referral from the OIG.

The amounts Galvis is accused of taking are relatively small. Still, Shapiro argued that the total amount allegedly pilfered could exceed the tax revenue from just a few homes.

“I would imagine that the members of the Select Board in Leyden would prefer to do other things with that money when they have a tax base that is made up primarily of 273 pieces of property,” he said.

The Leyden case came about from a tip on the hotline. Another case that grew out of a call involved former Early Education Commissioner Samantha Aigner-Treworgy. On Wednesday, Shapiro’s office announced it had found she had steered $2.1 million in consulting services toward a favored bidder using “an unfair and noncompetitive procurement.”

Much as errant municipalities and agencies might deserve a thwacking with the stick, Shapiro and the nature of the OIG favor using carrots as much as possible. Fate would have it that Leyden would see the latter, too.

Senator Comerford said that she had secured a $100,000 grant for the town, which is in her district. But when the town opened bidding for new firetrucks, it found no takers. Used firetrucks were on the market, but not available through the normal bidding process. As she and town officials looked at their options, all roads seemingly went back to the OIG.

Shapiro’s staff guided Leyden through the emergency procurement process. His office cited this as both the fruit of connecting with local communities. It also exemplified how small towns often lack resources to navigate procurement law.

Comerford heartily agreed. While Shapiro could not guarantee nobody would challenge the purchase, he gave Leyden some breathing room.

The OIG is reaching out and lending towns like Leyden a hand. (via wikipedia)

“He did have the ability to offer an opinion, which will help shield Leyden if there is any question,” Comerford said.

Leyden, population 734, is barely one-tenth of one percent of the population of Massachusetts. Yet, it illustrates how Shapiro wants the OIG to interact with the commonwealth. Both his office and the municipalities and agencies it serves benefit from the back and forth.

The result, hopefully, is better practices, procedures and execution which in turn build public trust.

Nevertheless, better communication necessarily includes the bad as well as the good. Shapiro encouraged that, too. The inspector general urged the public and those in government to never worry whether something deserves attention.

“My message to the public would be it’s not for them to have to try to figure it out,” he said. “We’d rather err on the side of caution and send it to us and we’ll dig through it.”