Thursday, 4:30 PM
Hospital council may hire Travaglini
By Frank Phillips and Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff
Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, under mounting financial pressure at home and increasingly discontented with his job, is intrigued by a lucrative job offer from a community hospital association and will probably step down from his legislative post soon if the details of the deal are attractive enough, according to several close associates.
As expected, the board of the Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals voted Thursday to contact Travaglini’s lawyer, Thomas R. Kiley, and invite the Senate president to begin negotiations on a contract that would pay him $300,000 a year to be its leader. Such a move would require Travaglini to file a letter with the Massachusetts Ethics Commission disclosing the talks and to avoid votes or deliberations that could affect the hospitals.
Those close to the East Boston Democrat, a cancer survivor who had a serious heart operation some years ago, say the job offer is made as Travaglini is growing increasingly anxious about planning his departure from the position he has held for four years.
Travaglini, who makes $90,000 a year in his post, is facing growing personal financial pressure. He has to deal over the next few years with college tuition bills for his three children. He and his wife also want to build a house in Winthrop, which would take him out of the neighborhood he grew up in.
"He’s not happy up there," said one associate, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He knows he needs to go. He’s worried about his health and knows he needs to take care of his kids."
