AG in dark on nondisclosure discord
Attorney General Maura Healey has not been asked to investigate the use of nondisclosure agreements in the House of Representatives, she said yesterday, three days after the longest-serving member of the House publicly suggested the AG should look into the issue.
During debate on new rules for handling sexual and workplace harassment complaints in the House, Rep. Angelo Scaccia, a Hyde Park Democrat, suggested Thursday it was time for Healey to investigate why about 33 former House employees signed nondisclosure agreements when leaving their jobs in recent years and how much public money has been spent to keep people from talking.
“This speaker has used this, and I don’t know the total facts, around 33 times. And if he has used this vehicle, how much money, public monies, has he spent to silence 33 people?” Scaccia said, referring to NDAs under House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. He added, “This House should call up the attorney general of this commonwealth and let her find out, and let her find out what happened in the past to bring about the present.”
When asked at yesterday’s South Boston St. Patrick’s Day breakfast if her office had been asked to launch such an investigation, Healey said, “No, and I don’t have the details of that to be honest with you ... and I’m not sure that we know specifically what’s been alleged or what the details are there.”
Healey said Beacon Hill lawmakers “have undertaken significant efforts to address existing issues” with workplace harassment and the ability for such complaints to be adjudicated.
After Healey spoke to reporters, Scaccia walked right by the attorney general. He did not speak with her and when two reporters tried to ask him about his comments Thursday, he declined to comment.
Scaccia, first elected to the House in 1972, said Thursday he spoke to three former House speakers and said “they never used this vehicle.”
DeLeo on Friday defended the practice as a “part of doing business.”
Fifteen of the 33 staffers who signed agreements did so when they left as part of a reduction in the workforce in 2009 after the economic downturn.