MassHousing Is Hiring a Watchdog Lawyer for Up to $185,405. The Money It Should Have Watched Is Already Gone

MassHousing posted a new corporate counsel job paying $142,619 to $185,405 to handle conflict-of-interest disclosures, procurement, public records and workplace investigations. A financial reporting manager job is posted too. Good. But look at the timing.

In August, a Mintz law firm report commissioned by MassHousing found that former executive Anthony Richards II, who resigned in June, violated agency policies, including conflict-of-interest rules, and was "untruthful" about his relationship with developers Gary Acquah and Reggie Woods, the Boston Globe's Spotlight Team reported. Those developers received $1.4 million in state grants to repair apartments in Gateway Cities. The Globe reported the work was shoddy or incomplete. The findings went to the state Ethics Commission.

The report also said what it did not find: no evidence Richards got a discount on the West Roxbury home the developers sold him for $204,000 under the original listing price, and no evidence the grants were improperly influenced.

The agency already had a chief legal officer and a general counsel when this happened. Columnist Scott Van Voorhis asked whether another lawyer is real accountability or just a new title.

What we still don't know: whether the hires change how grants get approved, and what the Ethics Commission does. No criminal finding has been reported against anyone named.