A comrade to firefighters

Long before he became a candidate for state Senate in Arlington, Ken Donnelly was a firefighter and a powerful advocate for their rights.

So it was surprising yesterday to hear him vehemently denounce Boston firefighters for cheating the system by faking injuries to take disability retirement.

Or perhaps it was a signal of just how far the disgust has spread, even as the apparent misconduct has sparked multiple investigations.

"If [firefighters] get hurt they need to have protection, but we can't have people abusing the system," Donnelly said in an interview. "We just can't have it."

Donnelly is a longtime official of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, and a member of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, which oversees 106 retirement boards across the state. He retired from the Arlington Fire Department as a lieutenant last year after 35 years on the job.

Boston's Retirement Board has come under fire for signing off on the disability retirement of Albert Arroyo, the bodybuilder/firefighter, and for allegations that it has allowed others to manipulate the system.

Donnelly pleaded ignorance of the details of Boston's system, but he said it should be overhauled to allow for more independent medical evaluations.

Donnelly is running for the seat soon to be vacated by Senator J. James Marzilli, who is facing criminal charges of publicly groping and harassing women. Marzilli, who beat Donnelly in a special election last year, is wisely not seeking reelection. Jack Hurd, an Arlington selectman, is also running in the Democratic primary on Sept. 16.

Marzilli, who still has a wide base of support in Arlington, is the huge unseen presence in the race. Both candidates have been loath to criticize him in the local press. "I'm not going to rush to judgment until a man has due process," Donnelly said.

The firefighters now under investigation deserve due process, but there isn't much question at this point that some have taken advantage of a system that's broken. I asked Donnelly if he believes legislation will be required to stem the alleged abuses and to restore public faith that tax-free disability pensions are going to people who are actually disabled.

He didn't rule that out, but said the solutions are more likely to be found at the local level, starting with improving the process for diagnosing career-ending injuries.

Firefighter fraud is not an issue in the Fourth Middlesex District. Donnelly is running on a platform of more support for education and the environment.

"We need to address the achievement gap," he said. "The achievement gap is absolutely a problem. At Concord-Carlisle, 92 percent of the graduates go to college. In Holyoke, it's 12 percent."

When I pointed out that he has never held office, he quipped that it makes him no different from Governor Deval Patrick or US Representative Niki Tsongas, who represents the district.

Of course, some of the most skilled players on Beacon Hill don't hold office. Donnelly was legislative director of the firefighters association during a major overhaul of the state's pension system in the late 1980s. Among the changes implemented at that time was an overhaul of the disability pension system. It may be time for the next overhaul.

This is a race no one had expected, because Marzilli figured to win reelection easily. While his lawyer proclaims his innocence at every turn, the sad fact remains that Marzilli, a longtime fixture in the legislature's liberal wing, has spent more time recently as a patient at McLean Hospital than at the State House. Whatever the outcome of the legal charges against him, the unraveling of his tenure was as swift as it was surprising. Meanwhile, Donnelly insists that he had always planned to run on his own record and ideas, not against Marzilli's.

"I wanted to continue to help people," he said. "I've done that for 35 years, helping people through some difficult times. And I can see we have some ahead of us."

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.

Correction: Because of reporting errors, a column by Adrian Walker in the City and Region section on Tuesday misstated the town that state Senate candidate Ken Donnelly served as a firefighter. Donnelly retired from the Lexington department. In addition, US Representative Edward Markey represents most of the Fourth Middlesex District, which Donnelly seeks to represent, in Congress.