The Massachusetts State Police has denied a Herald request for information on the background check conducted before the hiring of an aide to Gov. Maura Healey who was arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking.
State law “exempts from public disclosure ‘personnel and medical files or information; also any other materials or data relating to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,’” a legal representative for the State Police cited as justification for not fulfilling the request.
“Case law establishes that exempting personnel information from disclosure is necessary to protect the ability of government as a whole to function effectively as an employer,” Siobhan Kelly, the MSP’s deputy chief legal counsel, continued. “… As such, the background report requested is exempt from disclosure.”
Lamar Cook, 45, of Springfield, served since 2023 as the deputy director of Healey’s western Massachusetts office until late last month when he was arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine — roughly 18 pounds of it, worth more than $110,000 — as well as firearms violations.
He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
The police were suspicious of him after an earlier package containing suspected cocaine was seized by authorities in Kentucky before being delivered to the Hotel UMass in Amherst, where Cook once served as hospitality director, but the cops never saw it picked up.
Police decided to send an undercover trooper to deliver the next package containing suspected cocaine, this one destined directly to Healey’s office at the State Office Building in Springfield. Cook himself received the parcel and the police moved in to arrest him, according to the police report.
Since the arrest, political pressure has been building for Healey’s administration to be transparent about how Cook, who was previously arrested in connection with a 2001 shooting in Springfield, possibly landed the job.
That pressure comes from sitting Republican state lawmakers, led by House Minority Leader Bradley Jones and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, as well as GOP challengers for Healey’s job.
Jones and Tarr say Cook’s drug and firearms charges are “troubling” and that they raise “serious questions” around the effectiveness of the Healey administration’s vetting practices.
“These steps are essential to restoring the public’s trust and to help ensure that all future hires are held to the highest ethical standards,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Healey on Wednesday.
Joe Dwinell contributed
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