Copyright The Boston Globe
Investigators intercepted eight kilograms — or nearly 18 pounds —of cocaine addressed for delivery to a state office building where Cook worked in Springfield. Investigators had already discovered two other packages, containing 13 kilos, or nearly 29 pounds, when they were delivered to Hotel UMass in Amherst — where Cook had worked as hospitality director for nearly seven years. Cook’s actions demonstrated “an appalling lack of judgment and a betrayal of the public’s trust,” and his arrest has raised “serious questions ... about the effectiveness of your administration’s vetting process for new hires,” the letter sent Wednesday said. The letter was signed by Senator Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and four other senators, along with House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. and 20 other representatives. The lawmakers wondered why Cook was hired and how a background check could have missed his 2001 arrest in Springfield on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, discharging a handgun within 500 feet of a dwelling, and unlicensed possession of a firearm. “Any one of these charges would have been sufficient grounds for disqualifying Mr. Cook as a viable candidate for serving in a government position, yet he was hired anyway,” the letter said. The lawmakers urged Healey to disclose the details surrounding the circumstances that led to Cook’s hiring in 2023, including any recommendations and support he received while interviewing for the position. The letter also called for a complete and thorough review of vetting procedures used by the Healey administration to hire state employees within the executive branch and for the administration to identify and correct any deficiencies. Kennealy, Kennealy, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, also called for an inquiry into who else in the governor’s office might have known about Cook’s unlawful activities. “Governor Healey must be held accountable for the culture of impunity she has fostered — one where her own employees felt emboldened to run a criminal enterprise on the taxpayers’ dime," Kennealy’s letter said. Kennealy said the entire Governor’s Office must be subjected to an external investigation by a private independent investigator. “Every personnel process should be reviewed, and every staff member interviewed, to determine whether anyone else was complicit — who they are, what they knew, and how such a large-scale trafficking operation could possibly occur inside a government building, let alone within the Governor’s satellite office," Kennealy wrote in the letter. Governor Healey, during a radio interview on WGBH Wednesday, said she was “shocked” and “angry,” but added, “we don’t know all the circumstances, the DA is investigating.” “It’s a huge betrayal of trust, a huge betrayal of trust for those of us who work hard in government and the people of Springfield, frankly,” Healey said. “Let the authorities take care of him. I appreciate the work, actually, of the Massachusetts State Police, who helped investigate and apprehend him, and as soon as I learned of it, he was terminated before he even was arraigned.”
