Patrick defends labor aide

GLOUCESTER -- Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that his chief labor aide's discussions with the state's labor relations board about cases involving two unions that endorsed his candidacy do not appear to have been inappropriate, as two commissioners on the quasi-judicial panel have said.

"I don't know all the details, and I haven't talked to her," Patrick said about Suzanne M. Bump's discussions with the Labor Relations Commission. "But it sure doesn't sound like it" was inappropriate.

The two commissioners, Paul T. O'Neill and Hugh L. Reilly, said this week that Bump called the commission's chairman about a case involving the Boston Teachers Union, and pressured the commission to endorse a pending petition by Service Employees International Union, Local 1199.

Both unions donated heavily to Patrick's gubernatorial campaign.

Bump has acknowledged the discussions but denied assertions that she was trying to influence the panel, which is designed to be free of political influence. She said the commissioners, who were appointed by former governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, are criticizing her because of the Democratic administration's pressure for management reform.

"We have a big backlog of cases, and I do intend to talk to her about it," Patrick said as he left a private meeting with Massachusetts fishermen here.