Crowley Gates Case: Flagg that Money

I appreciate the Cambridge Police Department's effort to "learn something" from the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. incident, but to create a committee to review the case and pay a former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority employee a one-year salary of $127,000 is absurd!

Jennifer Flagg, who served as the chief administrator for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority until July 31, 2009, worked in the capacity of reviewing the Turnpike Authority and the state Highway Department. Well, once her boss, Alan LeBovidge, who resigned in May stating that he had accomplished all that he could at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (Read: He was catching heat-in-the-@ss for the Big Dig overspending and the Easter Sunday Zakim Bridge fiasco.).

Ms. Flagg will report directly to Police Commissioner Robert Haas, and the full committee will be named in the coming weeks.

An interesting side to this story is the committee members won't be paid, but Ms. Flagg will collect roughly $2,442 (before taxes) a week, while the committee members get nothing for their time! Hey, membership does have its privileges and Ms. Flagg is "plugged in".