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The State Ethics Commission approved an agreement Dec. 19 with former Dedham state Rep. and Selectman Robert Coughlin in which he admitted violating the state conflict of interest law and paid a $10,000 fine.
Coughlin, who left the House for a job in the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick as undersecretary for business development, admitted violating the law by "repeatedly participating officially as undersecretary in matters of interest to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council" after he had applied for the post of Biotech Council president, the commission said this week.
Coughlin, a Democrat, is now president of the council.
He was an undersecretary in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development from January until Aug. 31, 2007. According to the commission, his duties included encouraging companies to stay, expand in, or move to Massachusetts. He supervised six departments, including the Office of Business Development, which assisted Bay State companies and companies considering relocating here in obtaining grants and loans from state agencies, and in dealing with permitting issues.
The Office of Business Development's Division of Life Sciences specialized in providing these services to the life sciences industry.
The Mass. Biotechnology Council, an association of more than 550 dues-paying members, lobbies the state on issues important to its members.
During Coughlin's tenure as undersecretary, the Office of Business Development was involved in developing the $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, an important issue for the council. Gov. Patrick announced the initiative on May 8, 2007, and life sciences legislation was filed on July 19.
On Jan. 9, 2007, the Biotech Council presidency became vacant and the council set up a search committee, assisted by Biotech Council senior staff and a recruiting firm. The Ethics Commission said that Coughlin indicated to council senior staff that he was interested in being considered for the presidency, and on April 1, 2007, Coughlin e-mailed his resume to a Biotech Council senior staff person.
Several times after that, including during interviews with the search committee and recruiter, Coughlin communicated his interest in the post. Coughlin was informed he would be interviewed by the search committee on July 31.
According to the commission, in mid-July 2007, after consulting with private legal counsel, Coughlin told Patrick's staff of his scheduled Biotech Council interview, and on July 24, Coughlin filed two disclosure forms with the governor and the Ethics Commission.
According to the commission, the search committee interviewed Coughlin and three other finalists on July 31, and Coughlin was offered the job in August. He accepted it on Aug. 10 and started work Sept. 4 at $350,000 a year.
The State Ethics Commission approved an agreement Dec. 19 with former Dedham state Rep. and Selectman Robert Coughlin in which he admitted violating the state conflict of interest law and paid a $10,000 fine.
Coughlin, who left the House for a job in the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick as undersecretary for business development, admitted violating the law by "repeatedly participating officially as undersecretary in matters of interest to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council" after he had applied for the post of Biotech Council president, the commission said this week.
Coughlin, a Democrat, is now president of the council.
He was an undersecretary in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development from January until Aug. 31, 2007. According to the commission, his duties included encouraging companies to stay, expand in, or move to Massachusetts. He supervised six departments, including the Office of Business Development, which assisted Bay State companies and companies considering relocating here in obtaining grants and loans from state agencies, and in dealing with permitting issues.
The Office of Business Development's Division of Life Sciences specialized in providing these services to the life sciences industry.
The Mass. Biotechnology Council, an association of more than 550 dues-paying members, lobbies the state on issues important to its members.
During Coughlin's tenure as undersecretary, the Office of Business Development was involved in developing the $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, an important issue for the council. Gov. Patrick announced the initiative on May 8, 2007, and life sciences legislation was filed on July 19.
On Jan. 9, 2007, the Biotech Council presidency became vacant and the council set up a search committee, assisted by Biotech Council senior staff and a recruiting firm. The Ethics Commission said that Coughlin indicated to council senior staff that he was interested in being considered for the presidency, and on April 1, 2007, Coughlin e-mailed his resume to a Biotech Council senior staff person.
Several times after that, including during interviews with the search committee and recruiter, Coughlin communicated his interest in the post. Coughlin was informed he would be interviewed by the search committee on July 31.
According to the commission, in mid-July 2007, after consulting with private legal counsel, Coughlin told Patrick's staff of his scheduled Biotech Council interview, and on July 24, Coughlin filed two disclosure forms with the governor and the Ethics Commission.
According to the commission, the search committee interviewed Coughlin and three other finalists on July 31, and Coughlin was offered the job in August. He accepted it on Aug. 10 and started work Sept. 4 at $350,000 a year.
According to the agreement, Coughlin was an applicant for the presidency, when, as undersecretary, he met with Biotech Council staff to discuss matters of interest to the council, with Patrick and council representatives on the Life Sciences Initiative, with housing and economic development staff, council employees and council-member companies to formulate tax proposals for the Life Sciences Initiative, and with senior management of council-member company Cubist Pharmaceuticals to discuss its proposals for the tax component of the initiative.
The agreement also says he met with GTC Biotherapeutics representatives to discuss its interest in applying for financial and other support from housing and economic development at a time when GTC's CEO was a member of both the council's Executive Committee and the search committee.
The state conflict of interest law prohibits a state employee from "knowingly, or with reason to know, acting in a manner which would cause a reasonable person, having knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to conclude that any person can improperly influence or unduly enjoy his favor in the performance of his official duties, or that he is likely to act or fail to act as a result of kinship, rank, position or undue influence of any party or person."
The section also says that it shall be unreasonable to so conclude if the state employee has disclosed in writing to his appointing authority the facts which would otherwise lead to such a conclusion.
As stated in the disposition agreement, by "submitting his resume for the (Mass. Biotech Council) presidency on April 1, 2007, and subsequently repeatedly acting in his official capacity as EOHED undersecretary in matters in which the MBC had a significant interest, (and) by subsequently acting in his official capacity as EOHED undersecretary in meeting with a senior official of an MBC-member company regarding that company's interests before the EOHED, while that official was on the MBC Presidency Search Committee, Coughlin knowingly or with reason to know acted in a manner which would cause a reasonable person, having knowledge of all the relevant circumstances, to conclude that the MBC could unduly enjoy his favor in the performance of his official duties," the commission said.
"After Coughlin submitted his resume in April, his official actions taken in connection with the MBC and its members raised numerous appearances of conflicts of interest," said Executive Director Karen L. Nober. "The penalty reflects the seriousness of those violations."
