UMass Medical defends cost of meeting

A University of Massachusetts Medical School meeting in Cape Cod last month cost nearly $15,000, according to the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester. The paper, relying on an invoice it obtained through the state Public Records Law, reported that the tab for the Oct. 21-22 gathering at The Mansion at Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club included more than $6,000 for hotel rooms and $7,500 for food and beverages for 27 medical school executives and doctors. UMass Medical School spokesman Edward Keohane says the session focused on strategic planning, no public money was spent, and it was not a junket. John A. Gatti Jr., a retired lobbyist for the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists Union, said the meeting was uncalled for at a time of austerity.