August 7, 2009 NECIR: Taylor out as head of DALA Play video

(NECN: Joe Bergantino, Senior Investigative Reporter, New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University) - Chances are one has never heard of this state agency, the Division of Administrative Law Appeals or DALA, as it is called.

Thousands of Massachusetts residents have sat in hearing rooms to argue for decisions that affect their lives and their livelihood.

DALA hears appeals from professionals like doctors, day care center operators, EMT's and nurses aides, whose licenses have been revoked or suspended. It hears cases regarding environmental permits and wage and hour violations. Local and state government employees also appeal to DALA when they disagree with their pension calculations.

Nick Poser is an attorney who has been arguing cases before DALA for 20 years.

"DALA was a remarkably consistent and professional efficient agency," Poser said.

Poser said a hearing before a DALA administrative law judge would be scheduled within 10 to 12 months of filing an appeal.

After the hearings and briefs were filed.

"You could expect a decision two three months later," Poser said.

But the situation now is different.

"I have cases where I filed appeals in the fall of 2007, I'm still waiting for hearings," Poser said.

Poser said that began to change after Governor Deval Patrick -- at the recommendation of administration and Finance Secretary Leslie Kirwan -- named Shelly Taylor as the head

Taylor had worked for Kirwan, when Kirwan was MASSPORT's chief financial officer.

Taylor's resume: she was MASSPORT's senior legal counsel for litigation. Before that, deputy general counsel in the state treasurer's office. But Taylor had never managed a state agency before.

Head of state appeals agency quits [Boston Globe]

Head Of Mass. Appeals Agency Resigns Amid Complaints [WBUR.org]

Visit the New England Center for Invstigative Reporting [NECIR-BU.org]

Over the past three months, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University has closely examined DALA's record under Taylor.

The number of hearings at the agency is down by more than 50 percent since Taylor took over. Three-hundred-ninety-nine hearings were held in 2007. This year, DALA judges are doing about 16 hearings a month -- about 190 for the year.

Agency records show the number of decisions issued by DALA began to plummet after Shelly Taylor arrived.

In 2007, 348 decisions were issued. In 2008, Taylor's first full year on the job, fewer than half that number of decisions went out the door -- 169. Through May of this year: 68 decisions.

Chris Connolly was the head of DALA for 28 years. He was demoted in 2007 when Taylor replaced him, and then forced out.

"It's a disaster," Connolly said. "You had a well-functioning agency what was effective and efficient, providing the service that was expected of it and it's not doing it now. The system is essentially breaking down."

Connolly said he brought his concerns about Shelly Taylor's management of DALA to the governor's office of administration and finance in May of 2008 of last year. He said he spoke to the agency's top attorney.

"I had told him that they had, I thought they had a serious problem with her managerial skills and abilities and that they should really consider looking into it and doing something about it," Connolly said.

The response?

"They had enough information, thank you and that they would be able to take remedial action."

Sources inside DALA and attorneys who appear before the agency's judges said nothing changed after June 2008. Instead, the situation got worse.

Three formal complaints were filed against Taylor at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, one filed by a sight impaired judge.

Greg Sorozan, president of the union representing DALA workers, said Taylor denied that judge a special viewer for his computer.

"He was just asking for a reasonable accomodation to meet his work needs," Sorozan said.

Sorozan and others paint a pattern of what they describe as unusual behavior by Shelly Taylor at DALA's offices. She ordered the emergency fire exit door be locked. A DALA worker here called the Boston Fire Department and inspectors ordered the door unlocked.

DALA workers said taylor blocked off the window to her office so colleagues could not see inside and demanded that all mail addressed to DALA employees be diverted to her. We're told she held on to it for days and even weeks.

"I was very concerned about what was happening to people. Concerned about the output of the agency or lack thereof and the manner in which peole were being treated and overly controlled," Sorozan said. "I couldn't believe that it was allowed to go on for so long."

Last week, an this e-mail, Shelly Taylor informed DALA staff she would be stepping down. Her last day was this Friday.

Taylor declined our request for an interview so we tried to ask her some questions on the street outside her downtown office.

She declined to comment.

Patrick administration officials will not say whether Taylor was pushed out or resigned on her own. Sources told us they believe she was pressured to leave.

There will be at least one more chapter to this story. The state auditor's office is conducting a full investigation of the Division of Administrative Law Appeals. Findings are expected this fall.

In the meantime, one knowledgeable source told us there are between 60 and 100 decisions still waiting to go out the door at DALA, some dating back several months.

As for Shelly Taylor, Secretary Kirwin told us the Patrick administration is considering Taylor for another position in state government. That, despite Taylor's managerial performance at DALA.

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Head of state appeals agency quits [Boston Globe]

Head Of Mass. Appeals Agency Resigns Amid Complaints [WBUR.org]

Visit the New England Center for Invstigative Reporting [NECIR-BU.org]

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