Thursday, 4:30 PM
Ethics panel charges former state official
By Sean P. Murphy
GLOBE STAFF
The state Ethics Commission has charged Michael J. O’Toole, a former high-ranking state official, with violating the conflict-of-interest law in a case notable for the large sums of money involved.
During a five-day period in March 2003, the commission alleged, O’Toole authorized the payment of $1,118,750 in discretionary grants to five police departments, even though financial reports submitted by those departments had not been reviewed as required.
Three weeks later, O’Toole joined Crest Associates, a consulting firm that had reaped large fees for assisting those police departments in obtaining the grants.
The ethics law prohibits public officials from taking action in their official capacity in matters in which they have a financial interest, and from benefiting as a private citizen from prior decisions they made as public officials.
O’Toole faces fines of up to $38,000, under the law, which provides for a $2,000 fine per violation. The Ethics Commission can also seek restitution of money paid to O’Toole.
O’Toole’s lawyer, Thomas M. Hoopes, said Friday that O’Toole will fight the charges at an adjudicatory proceeding before the commission. Under state law, if O’Toole is found by the commission to have violated ethics laws, he can then appeal to Superior Court.
‘‘We feel these allegations are misguided and misinformed and we will fight them all the way,’’ said Hoopes.
No date has been set for the hearing.
Crest Associates was paid over $2 million between 2001 and 2003 by various law enforcement agencies, all of which shared in millions of dollars in grants from the Executive Office of Public Safety. Crest was founded by Richard St. Louis, who was O’Toole’s predecessor as grant administrator at the state agency, and a longtime friend and adviser of James P. Jajuga, the former public safety secretary.
St. Louis committed suicide in 2004 amid published reports of mounting questions about Crest and its ability to obtain state government grants, and its lucrative fees, which equaled about 20 percent of the grant money.
Public safety employees in 2003 told the Globe and FBI investigators that virtually all of the grant money handed out by the agency was being awarded to Crest clients. The grant program, which has since been overhauled, is funded with money from the US Justice Department, but administered on the state level.
O’Toole is the only one who has faced charges over the grants.
The Ethics Commission accused O’Toole of approving $793,750 for three police departments on the day before he formally accepted a job with Crest on March 4, 2003, and of approving another $375,000 for two other police departments in the three days after he accepted the Crest job.
Those grants went to in Concord, Arlington, Oak Bluffs, Wakefield, and Melrose for specialized police initiatives, such as antiterrorism measures.
Before joining Crest, O’Toole also approved 10 official reports that detailed use of the grant money by those five police departments, including the fees paid to Crest, according to the Ethics Commission. Those approvals meant the state considered the money properly used.
The Ethics Commission also accused O’Toole of approving three financial reports from the North Andover and Westwood police departments, also Crest clients.
In addition, O’Toole is accused of writing the financial report while a Crest employee for a police department regarding a grant he had approved while at the Executive Office of Public Safety. The Ethics Commission did not name the department.
The state ethics law prohibits state employees from making decisions on matters in which they have a financial interest. In this case, O’Toole, 44, is alleged to have had an interest in the financial fortunes of Crest because of his prospective employment there when he signed vouchers releasing grant money to Crest clients and approved financial reports.
The ethics law also prohibits former state employees from benefiting as private citizens from decisions they made previously as state employees. O’Toole violated that provision when he accepted pay from Crest for writing a financial report on a grant he approved while at the public safety agency, the Ethics Commission said.
Jajuga, after leaving the public safety agency in January 2003, collaborated with Crest on some projects. Jajuga’s lawyer, Thomas R. Kiley, said Friday he was ‘‘unaware of any investigative activity implicating James Jajuga.’’
