A Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency board member targeted for removal by Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that he will ask the State Ethics Commission to decide if a top Patrick economic aide violated state law when she called his boss as part of an effort to get the member to quit the board.
Tina Brooks, Patrick's undersecretary for housing and economic development, contacted the chief executive of Rockland Trust Co., Chris Oddleifson, Tuesday to say that Patrick wanted a senior vice president at the bank, Michael Nickley, to get off the MassHousing board.
On Thursday, Patrick's administration reprimanded Brooks for the call, which it called "ill advised."
Yesterday, Nickley, who initially complained in a letter to Patrick, said he was disappointed with the governor's response. Nickley said that he intended to file a complaint with the Ethics Commission early next week.
"I am disappointed certainly at the lack of adequate response" by Patrick, said Nickley, an appointee of Governor Mitt Romney whose term expires in September. "It wasn't for me to determine what the corrective action should be. But it is difficult for me to appreciate what it was, if anything."
Nickley continues to refuse to quit the MassHousing board. Brooks also remains on the board, as an ex officio member.
"To the best my knowledge, she is still representing the governor on the board, and that is distressful," Nickley said.
The Patrick administration declined to comment on Nickley's intentions to file an ethics complaint or a separate Ethics Commission complaint over the same matter filed yesterday by the state Republican Party.
"People who volunteer for boards should not have to fear their public service will jeopardize their private employment if they run afoul of an out-of-control, power-hungry administration," said Robert Willington, the GOP executive director. "And private employers should not have to fear retribution from state government when their employees serve on boards of public agencies."
The Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, which is run by Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O'Connell, contains the housing division headed by Brooks and another division that regulates banks. O'Connell said this week he does not believe that Oddleifson interpreted Brooks's call as any threat against the bank.
Nickley said yesterday that he wanted to avoid making the issue partisan and distanced himself from the Republican complaint. He said he is a Democrat whose family has a long history with the party and public service.
He added that he supported Patrick in last year's gubernatorial election.
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