O'Brien Verdict Rocks Beacon Hill

Kirsten Hughes, chair of Mass. GOP, and Democratic state committee member Mara Dolan weigh in

A guilty verdict was handed down Thursday afternoon in the Massachusetts probation department hiring trial, and the department's former commissioner and his two aides were convicted of rigging the hiring process in the favor of applicants with connections to lawmakers over more qualified applicants.

Mara Dolan, a member of the Democratic State Committee, says the verdict made her sad "because it hurts democracy that this happened."

Kirsten Hughes, chair of the Massachusetts Republican party, says she was also saddened for democracy and the taxpayers.

Dolan says while this story doesn't look good for Democrats right now, the news cycle will move onwards.

"This story broke in 2010, and at that time, Speaker DeLeo immediately called for reforms. They were passed by the Democratic-controlled House and Senate in 2011, so it isn't as if the Democrats didn't respond appropriately to this. They did," she said.

Hughes says this verdict demonstrates what Republicans in the Bay State have been saying all along.

"One-party rule has lead to this, has created this climate. It takes two to tango, and John O'Brien and his deputies couldn't have done this without the legislators that were complicit in this," she said.

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