Spotlight follow-up: Former top lawmaker often helped his business, family
The
calls kept coming, one after another. It was state Representative
Garrett Bradley on the line, wanting to get a message to the governor,
pushing a plan to have the state bail out some financially struggling
county governments.
But
Bradley left out one key fact in his calls to then-governor Deval
Patrick: Bradley’s law firm represented the retirement systems in
Plymouth, Norfolk, and Bristol counties, and stood to make millions of
dollars in legal fees from lawsuits filed on their behalf. If the
counties disappeared, so would the county treasurers, jeopardizing
Bradley’s legal work.
Bradley’s
keen interest in the successful county bailout, described to the Globe
by a key Patrick aide who talked on the condition of anonymity, is part
of a pattern in his 16-year legislative career of taking actions in his
official capacity that advanced his business interests, state records
and interviews with other officials show.
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