Monday, June 28, 2021

From Globe Spotlight: Questions raised about independence of Holyoke Soldiers’ Home COVID-19 probe

"When 76 veterans died last spring of COVID-19 in the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, the need to get to the bottom of what happened and why, and who was to blame, could hardly have been more clear. So when Governor Charlie Baker tapped a private attorney to conduct an independent investigation, it seemed like the moment for one of those no-stone-unturned independent probes that have made history here," wrote the Globe's Andrea Estes and Rebecca Ostriker.

"But a Boston Globe Spotlight Team review of Baker’s arrangement with former prosecutor Mark Pearlstein — including communications between the governor’s office and Pearlstein — raises troubling new questions about whether the investigation was truly independent. The legal contract between the Office of the Governor and Pearlstein’s law firm created an explicit attorney-client relationship, which could be used to keep their communications and other materials private and suggested Pearlstein was working for Baker, not the public."

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