Tompkins fined for giving niece job
Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins has paid a $12,300 fine for breaking state ethics law by creating a paid position for his niece and “repeatedly” asking his staff to do his personal errands.
Tompkins, who’s served as sheriff since 2013, signed an agreement admitting to the violations, and he’s paid the fine, according to the state ethics commission.
There were two main prongs of the issue, per the disposition agreement with the ethics commission.
The first was the hiring of his niece, who’s lived with him and helped care for his kids since his wife died in 2016.
“In November 2016, Tompkins used his position as Sheriff to create a $45,000 per year position in the Sheriff’s Department’s External Affairs Division for his niece, which facilitated her remaining in Massachusetts to assist him with childcare,” the ethics commission wrote.
The commission said the position was not posted, and the division chief didn’t ask for the new hire or interview her.
“Until resigning at the end of 2018, Tompkins’ niece routinely left work during normal business hours one or two times per week with his approval to transport one of his children,” the ethics commission said.
The other issue is that on “multiple occasions” between 2014 and 2022, he asked Suffolk County Sheriff Department “employees other than his niece to assist him personally by caring for or transporting his children.”
“This transportation and childcare generally occurred during normal business hours, while the SCSD employees were being paid by the Commonwealth,” according to the agreement.
“Tompkins’ requests violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against public employees requesting or receiving anything of substantial value that is not authorized by law and is given to them because of their official position,” the ethics commission wrote. “Tompkins’ subordinates assisted him with his personal matters because of his position as Sheriff, their assistance was substantially valuable, and his request and receipt of their assistance was not authorized by law.”
Tompkins told the Herald that his niece worked in marketing, and that they paid her a low rate for the department.
“If there’s a law against family members helping family members in a time of duress, I really think the Legislature should look at that,” Tompkins said. Of his niece, he said, “She made a hell of a contribution to external affairs.”
As for the allegations about employees running errands for him, “Did I accept some of their help?
I absolutely did. I’m not going to BS anyone.”
The ethics commission notes that this is the second time Tompkins has had to pay a fine. In 2015, he had to fork over $2,500 “for invoking his position as Sheriff when requesting store owners to remove his election opponent’s campaign signs,” as the ethics commission put it. That was relating to his 2014 race for sheriff after being appointed to the position the previous year. SUFFOLK SHERIFF