What the hell's going on at the Suffolk County Probate Court? It's a secret

By adamg on Sun, 02/26/2017 - 11:19pm

The Globe talks to probate lawyers who say the register's office under Felix Arroyo is a mess - but that that's no change from the way it was under predecessor Patty Campatelli. The state trial-court system, which relieved Arroyo of his duties - but with pay - says it's found "serious deficiencies" under him, but won't say what they are. Arroyo wants a public investigation, but won't release the trial-court letter detailing the charges against him.

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Felix Arroyo

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Comments

I'm shocked, shocked!

By anon on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 10:29am.

that the guy who happily took money from Hugo Chavez isn't up to the task for actually, you know, running an organization.

Fact check?

By Patrick Keaney on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 11:39am.

Hello. I work for Felix Arroyo, so I'm real up front about my bias in this case. That being said, can you please provide details about the money that you claim Felix took from Chavez? Or are you not up to the task of, you know, backing up your statements with verifiable facts?

Ok, what about his job here in Boston?

By anon on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 12:52pm.

Apologies if I have this wrong but I thought Arroyo went to Venezuela during one of Chavez's later election campaigns to provide a veneer of respectability to Chavez. Didn't he? Did Mr Arroyo pay for that trip out of pocket? Let's skip the whole Venezuela thing if I'm mistaken (which could be!).

http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/36959-seeking-council/

What exactly has your boss done to improve the probate court at all since getting the job? Which parts of the Globe story are inaccurate in terms of the massive inefficiencies the office is apparently rife with? The comparison between Norfolk and Suffolk probate sounds pretty glaring.

Make it public

By jobart on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 1:43pm.

I have been involved in Suffolk Probate for a decade and it's always seemed to be a mix of seeming inefficiency / unmotivated staff or overworked / understaffed, with a few very friendly and helpful people at the front desk and the help desks. But all the staff I've dealt with have been white which I think is a problem for the public face of a county that is majority non-white. The vast number of families I see at the court are non-white, I'd estimate 80%.

I was hoping Arroyo could do something about it the staffing and efficiency, but I was doubtful without his job description having more power.

The Arroyo people have said they will make public the suspension letter once they get the 3 *other* letters that the suspension letter refers to. That seems reasonable.
And I don't think Arroyo has anything to hide if he's willing to have the whole process be public.

I think it's shameful an elected person can be suspended by a bureaucrat. Could a city manager suspend a mayor or city council ? I agree maybe the position should not be elected, but we are in this situation now. If it is an elected position, then the person should get the power to do his or her job. This just makes it seem more like a farce and thwarting the election result.

And that link about the trip to Venezuela, I don't think that is a big deal, it was ten years ago and a month vacation to do election monitoring. Maybe it was not necessary but compared to the graft and world-jaunting of other pols I don't think it's much.

Confusion........

By PeyoteEatingWaterBear on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 1:50pm.

Perhaps some of you good and decent UHub readers are confusing Arroyo Senior for Arroyo Junior....or perhaps the other way around???

Nope

By jobart on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 2:04pm.

I'm not confusing them but I don't know about the others. :) To me, Arroyo Junior is a young newbie, ha. Seems like a good guy.

The whole setup is insane

By Bob Leponge on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 5:19pm.

The theory behind democratically electing a government is that different people, representing different sets of priorities and policy ideas, can compete for office, and the public, by voting, can make its choice.

If I'm not mistaken, this job has approximately zero responsibility to set policy, and is basically an administrative manager.

There seems to be absolutely no reason whatsoever to have it be an elected position rather than an appointed one.