Rollins betrayed taxpayers
Rachael Rollins has earned nearly $1.3 million from taxpayers and that’s a conservative estimate.
Both the Massachusetts Comptroller’s Office and Herald payroll records list Rollins as collecting checks as Suffolk District Attorney, Massport legal counsel and a contract worker for the state Housing Finance Agency.
She resigned last week as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, where she earned $183,500. She avoided any disciplinary action from the Department of Justice if she left promptly. The DOJ pointed to pension rules that state if, like Rollins, you leave before becoming eligible for retirement, “you can ask that your retirement contributions be returned to you in a lump sum payment.”
Seems like her best option. The DOJ’S Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) leaves no doubt Rollins was headed for trouble. The 93 U.S. Attorneys in the nation are held to lofty expectations making last week’s blockbuster dual reports on how Rachael Rollins did business at the U.S. District Court in Boston all the more glaring.
Rollins was entrusted with one of the most sensitive jobs in government. As district attorney and U.S. attorney, she could make or break someone. Her top salary as Suffolk DA, records show, was $191,000 in 2021. She was highly paid because you want professionals in that seat of power. But she turned out to be a mere politician.
As the dust settles on this scandal, it is clear Rollins had no other choice but to resign. The DOJ came after her with a vengeance. The next step was her case landing with the Office of Professional Responsibility — and it appears it wouldn’t end well for Rollins.
“OPR is responsible for ensuring that (DOJ) attorneys perform their duties in accordance with the highest professional standards, as would be expected of the nation’s principal law enforcement agency,” the office states.
The office was established in the wake of the Watergate scandal and has a history of cracking down on rogue federal prosecutors. It makes perfectly clear exactly what is expected of any federal attorney — let alone the head of a department.
Rollins never should have been given the U.S. Attorney’s job. President Biden was filling this seat with a DA already under scrutiny for being hot-tempered and vindictive. He put a political pawn in a cherished job that has now embarrassed Massachusetts.
The White House needs to strengthen its “designated political lead” in Massachusetts. Quickly. That is a person, or persons, who the party holding the Oval Office is advised to listen to as U.S. Senators submit an applicant for the U.S. Attorney’s post.
The Bay State is blue, and we’re paying for it today. The lack of balance is already exposed on Beacon Hill where the state Legislature Dominated by progressive Democrats looks for every opportunity to make life difficult for businesses and taxpayers.
Enough is enough. The Rachael Rollins affair should make everyone sick. Sick of the one-party rule where checks and balances are too easily dismissed.
— Boston Herald editorial
staff