BOSTON, Mass. — Maura Healey’s $2 billion Springfield courthouse contract is “the most corrupt business deal ever done in Massachusetts history.”
Healey’s administration handed the contract to Liberty Junction, a partnership that includes CoJo Partners, co-owned by Conan Harris, the husband of Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, and John Barros, the interim executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. Two political insiders, a courthouse they have never built, and $2 billion in taxpayer money.
“How do two people who are part of the political establishment with no experience ever building a courthouse win despite not meeting any of the requirements?” Mike Minogue has asked.
Healey has not answered that question, and the facts she has left unexplained keep piling up. Court documents show Barros met with her top staffers just hours before the deal was made public. Barros divested his interest only after public backlash and still has not provided specifics.
“The RFP was for best value, and it’s not best value,” Minogue said. “The RFP said they wanted gross spending, and it would include infrastructure and maintenance. They didn’t do that. A normal bid would have also had parking on site. There’s no parking on site. The mayor and the city wanted a different location.”
“It’s not only the most corrupt business deal ever done in Massachusetts history, it’s also the worst, most incompetent financial deal,” Minogue said. “No business person would ever do that deal. This is a waste of taxpayer money.”
“Healey handed $2 billion to the politically connected and has refused to explain how it happened,” Minogue said. “A governor who will not open the books on the biggest contract in state history has something to hide. Massachusetts taxpayers deserve answers, and if the governor won’t give them, the U.S. Attorney should.”
From the press office of Mike Minogue.