A16 Nation/Region The Boston Globe THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019
own scrutiny after the agency
failed for years to perform an-
other crucial duty: tracking
alerts from other states about
law-breaking Massachusetts
drivers.
The years of e-mails between
top Baker aides and then-Regis-
trar Erin Deveney did not in-
clude any discussion about the
decision to ignore the out-of-
state notifications — support-
ing Baker’s assertion that he
and his office were not told
about the problem before a
deadly crash in New Hamp-
shire pushed it into public view.
But the cache of documents
is fueling questions from Dem-
ocratic lawmakers about how
the Republican administration
could have been so deeply en-
meshed in the Registry’s pur-
suit of a more nimble, custom-
er-service-driven operation and
yet unaware of a catastrophic
breakdown at the same agency.
“That level of detail and co-
ordination — to have the gover-
nor’s most senior aides asking
about logo placement — shows
there was quite a lot of coordi-
nation and synchronization,”
said Senator Eric P. Lesser, the
second-ranking Senate Demo-
crat on the Joint Committee on
Transportation.
“Fixing the wait times was a
worthy goal and a goal the Leg-
islature supported, and a goal
everybody wants,” he said. “But
the big question is whether oth-
er priorities were short-
changed. How could they have
been so focused and so in the
weeds on so much of the RMV
and leave such a gaping hole
with this vital public safety
question?”
Baker and his transporta-
tion secretary have said they
did not learn the Registry’s
Merit Rating Board was not
processing the safety alerts, as
required, until late June.
That’s when Deveney re-
signed, after admitting the
agency should have stripped a
West Springfield man of his li-
cense before he allegedly
crashed into and killed seven
people on a New Hampshire
highway.
“The hundreds of e-mails
provided to the Globe between
the governor’s office and the
registrar support this finding,”
said Lizzy Guyton, a spokes-
woman for the governor.
That Baker’s office was more
involved with the Registry than
uRMV
Continued from Page A
with some other agencies, Guy-
ton said, was sensible: The Reg-
istry touches most Massachu-
setts residents, and its custom-
er service performance was
“abysmal.” She said the office
regularly focuses on other proj-
ects, too, including at the Mas-
sachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority and the Department
of Children and Families.
“The administration made
serving [Registry] customers
one of several priorities after
taking office in 2015,” she said.
The Globe requested several
years’ worth of e-mails between
Deveney and Baker’s deputy
chief of staff, Mindy d’Arbeloff,
the governor’s longtime friend
whom Deveney testified was a
point of contact in the gover-
nor’s office. In response, the De-
partment of Transportation
provided nearly 500 pages to
both the Globe and the Legisla-
ture’s Transportation Commit-
tee, which has made its own
document requests as it investi-
gates the agency.
The records underscore how
Baker’s office trained a strict
eye, and a guiding hand, on the
Registry’s efforts to slash wait
times after Baker made the
pitch to voters, including on the
eve of his election. The agency’s
32-page plan, dated June 2016,
outlined changes the Registry
had made to whisk customers
through branches, from over-
hauling the management struc-
ture of its service centers and
creating daily reports on the
progress to shifting “to be more
service delivery focused.”
And, by the administration’s
measure, it worked: By Novem-
ber 2015 — 10 months after
Baker took office — 74 percent
of customers were being served
in under 30 minutes. And even
as chaos consumed the Registry
in June, the measure was up to
87 percent in the fiscal year that
ended that month.
All the while, Baker’s office
rarely seemed out of step with
the Registry’s customer-service
mission. In June 2016, d’Arbe-
loff — who oversees customer
service for Baker’s office and is
married to his education secre-
tary, James Peyser — sent an
e-mail scolding Registry staff.
She noted that “we have talked
many times” about tracking so-
called high-volume times at the
branches, after an official sent
an e-mail warning of a potential
flood of summer customers.
“We shouldn’t have to be
surprised by stuff like this,” shewrote.
As the Registry was prepar-
ing to roll out a new website the
next month, d’Arbeloff, a for-
mer marketing executive, sent
Deveney a lengthy e-mail mak-
ing recommendations about
branding and the site’s public
launch, in which she referenced
New York state’s website.
“I love MyRMV,” d’Arbeloff
said of the website name, one of
16 bullet-pointed questions and
suggestions she sent, “but I
don’t like the logo/icon — I
LOVE New York’s – as well as
their page. I also think ours is
not well placed on the Website
— too small — too hard to rec-
ognize.”
That type of detailed sugges-
tion extended elsewhere. As De-
veney was preparing a presen-
tation on the launching of sys-
temwide software in February
2018, d’Arbeloff sent Deveney’s
deputy registrar an e-mail pro-
posing that she substitute a sin-
gle slide. She also attached a
recommended replacement.
Representative William
Straus, cochair of the Transpor-
tation Committee, said he was
struck by the level of direction,
given that he views the role of
the governor’s office as provid-
ing “broad policy supervision.”
“She seems to function in
her directions to the registrar of
motor vehicles as something of
a shadow registrar herself,”
Straus said. He later added, “It
really shows you what they
thought was important.”Baker’s aides rejected that
characterization, saying d’Arbe-
loff was never involved with the
Registry’s day-to-day opera-
tions. But they said she was
“deeply involved” in some of its
projects, such as the “War on
Wait Times” and addressing the
abuse of handicap placards —
as well as customer service
projects at other agencies.
Baker’s office said d’Arbeloff
never worked with the Merit
Rating Board.
“Mindy spent a portion of
her time focused exclusively on
customer-facing functions of
the Registry,” Guyton said.
Deveney did not respond to
a request for comment.
Registry officials have ad-
mitted they must “reprioritize”
the agency’s public safety re-
sponsibilities, but they argue
that, since 2016, staff and bud-
gets have increased throughout
the agency, and not just for
“customer-facing” jobs.
“MassDOT has repeatedly
emphasized that safety must be
a top priority,” said spokesman
Patrick Marvin.
The RMV has suspended the
licenses of more than 5,
Massachusetts drivers as part of
the review it began after the
New Hampshire crash.
But supervision of the Regis-
try’s progress on wait times
didn’t rest only with d’Arbeloff.
When a Registry aide sent
several officials a copy of a “dai-
ly snapshot” of wait times at
RMV branches in March 2017,Steve Kadish — then Baker’s
chief of staff, responsible for
helping to manage the 42,000-
employee executive depart-
ment — replied in an hour,
questioning the progress.
“What’sup?”hewrote.“The
performance recently has not
hit the level we have become
used to.”
Two months later, Kadish
e-mailed Deveney, Transporta-
tion Secretary Stephanie Pol-
lack, and others shortly after 6
a.m. on a Friday, saying he had
stopped receiving the daily re-
port on wait times altogether.
“I am hearing anecdotes of
performance slipping,” he later
wrote.
Kadish told the Globe it
wasn’t unusual for him to re-
ceive daily updates about an
“improvement effort” at a par-
ticular agency, be it the MBTA
amid the record-setting winter
of 2015 or the state’s Health
Connector — two other agen-
cies where Baker had pledged
turnarounds.
“In all these examples,
things did improve and more
work remains,” Kadish said in
an e-mail to the Globe.
Kadish said Deveney never
raised the problems at the Mer-
it Rating Board with him.
“If it had come up,” he said,
“I would have insisted that it be
addressed.”Matt Stout can be reached at
[email protected]. Follow
him on Twitter @mattpstout.Baker is “concerned” about
the spike in illnesses, accord-
ing to the administration,
which has already mandated
that clinicians report any sus-
pected cases of breathing ill-
nesses tied to e-cigarette use.
And he indicated Wednesday
he could go further.
His office, however, did not
provide details on what poten-
tial regulations could include.
State lawmakers are also
weighing separate legislation
that would ban all flavored to-
bacco products. A new law al-
ready took effect this year rais-
ing the legal age to buy tobac-
co products, including e-
cigarettes, from 18 to 21.
“The administration is...
evaluating emergency regula-
tory options regarding the sale
of vaping products and contin-
ues to monitor the federal gov-
ernment’s actions toward a
ban on flavored vaping prod-
ucts,” said Lizzy Guyton, a
Baker spokeswoman.
The US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has
identified nearly 400 probable
cases of lung illnesses tied to
vaping, including at least sev-
en deaths. Most of the patients
reported vaping cannabis, fed-
eral officials said, but many al-
so said they vaped cannabis
and nicotine, and some said
they vaped only nicotine.
On Wednesday, Walsh said
in a statement that the Boston
Public Health Commission is
proposing regulations that
would restrict the sale of mint
and menthol nicotine and to-
bacco products to “verified
adult-only tobacco retailers.”
The city has 47 so-called
adult-only retailers, which are
allowed to sell flavored prod-
uVAPING
Continued from Page A
ucts. That’s opposed to more
than 750 “all-ages” locations,
which can currently sell tobac-
co and nicotine products but
not blunt wraps or flavored
products other than menthol.
Walsh’s office framed the
plans as an effort to target vap-
ing and tobacco use among
youth in the city. Officials plan
to hold a public hearing on the
proposal in November.
“Teen vaping is an epidem-
ic that is particularly alarming
because we know that nicotine
use at a young age can have
the power to lead to a lifelong
dependency,” Walsh said in a
statement.
The concern about the
spike in hospitalization has
helped kick up attention on
two bills on Beacon Hill — one
each in the House and Senate
— that would prohibit the sale
of all flavored tobacco prod-
ucts, including the liquid used
in e-cigarettes and other vap-
ing devices.
The ban, which supportershave said would be the far-
thest-reaching in the country,
would apply to all flavors, in-
cluding menthol, mint, and
wintergreen, which to date
have often been exempted
from flavor-related regulations
on the grounds they are
“adult” flavors.
Whether the Legislature
pursues a wider ban is unclear
— the legislation currently sits
before the Committee on Pub-
lic Health — but a prohibition
on flavored vaping products
has high-profile support. Sen-
ate President Karen E. Spilka
supports banning flavored e-
cigarettes, according to her of-
fice, as does Attorney General
Maura Healey.
“E-cigarette companies are
selling flavored products to in-
crease their appeal to youth
and get a new generation ad-
dicted to nicotine, and we
must do all we can to stop
them,” Healey said.
Representative Danielle W.
Gregoire, who filed the Housebill, said discussion this week
has picked up behind the
scenes following the Legisla-
ture’s return from its informal
summer break.
“I think we have momen-
tum,” the Marlborough Demo-
crat said. “This would be a
first-in-the-nation ban. It
would be major policy.”
Other states have enacted
bans outside of legislative
channels. A New York state
health panel voted this week
to outlaw the sale of flavored
e-cigarettes after Governor
Andrew M. Cuomo said he
would pursue an emergency
order, and Michigan health of-
ficials filed emergency rules
Wednesday to halt the sales
there.
According to Baker’s office,
an executive order does not
give the governor the authori-
ty to ban the sale of a product.
And experts say pursuing a
prohibition through that chan-
nel, as opposed to legislation,
could face legal challenges.
“To me, it would be prob-
lematic,” said Gerry Mc-
Donough, an attorney who’s
written about state adminis-
trative law.
Senator John F. Keenan,
the lead sponsor of the legisla-
tion in the Senate, said the
Legislature has the power to
put a ban into effect “as quick-
ly as any regulation” could.
Spilka’s office said she is still
reviewing the legislation, and
a spokesman for House Speak-
er Robert A. DeLeo said he’s
still waiting for the public
health committee to provide
its recommendations.
Baker’s office said Wednes-
day that he’s open to legisla-
tion that would help restrict
the access of vaping products
to youths. He also earlier thisyear proposed a tax on e-ciga-
rettes as part of his annual
spending plan, though the
measure wasn’t included in
thefinalbudget.
But some question whether
an outright ban is the correct
response to the spike in ill-
nesses. Michael Siegel, a pro-
fessor of community health
sciences at Boston University,
said given that many cases are
tied to marijuana use, more ef-
fective messaging with young
people about its dangers and
better enforcement to disrupt
the illicit trade would be more
effective.
And a potential ban on fla-
vored e-cigarettes has also
drawn opposition, including
from Massachusetts retailers
who say it’s a misplaced at-
tempt at a solution.
“It’s a panicked response,”
said Jon Shaer, executive di-
rector of the New England
Convenience Store and Energy
Marketers Association. “We
fully understand the problem
with youth vaping products.
But it’s one that requires a
scalpel, not a sledgehammer.”
Advocates who have long
pushed for a ban disagree,
pointing to the 2009 federal
prohibition on flavored ciga-
rettes that helped drive down
teen smoking over the last de-
cade.
“This epidemic was not
caused by a single batch of bad
THC,” said Dr. Jonathan P.
Winickoff, a pediatrician at
Massachusetts General Hospi-
tal. “A ban on flavored tobacco
products, generally, is exactly
where we want to be in tack-
ling the youth vaping epidem-
ic.”Matt Stout can be reached at
[email protected].By Greg Miller
and Ellen Nakashima
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — The whis-
tleblower complaint that has
triggered a tense showdown be-
tween the US intelligence com-
munity and Congress involves
President Trump’s communica-
tions with a foreign leader, ac-
cording to two former US offi-
cials familiar with the matter.
Trump’s interaction with the
foreign leader included a
‘‘promise’’ that was regarded as
so troubling that it prompted
an official in the US intelligence
community to file a formal
whistleblower complaint with
the inspector general for the in-
telligence community, said the
officials, speaking on the condi-
tion of anonymity because they
were not authorized to discuss
the matter publicly.
It was not immediately clear
which foreign leader Trump
was speaking with or what he
pledged to deliver, but his di-
rect involvement in the matter
has not been previously dis-
closed. It raises new questions
about the president’s handling
of sensitive information and
may further strain his relation-
ship with US spy agencies. One
former official said the commu-
nication was a phone call.
The White House did not re-
spond to requests for comment.
The Office of the Director of Na-
tional Intelligence and a lawyer
representing the whistleblower
declined to comment.
Intelligence Community In-
spector General Michael Atkin-
son determined that the com-
plaint was credible and trou-
bling enough to be considered a
matter of ‘‘urgent concern,’’ a le-
gal threshold that requires noti-
fication of congressional over-
sight committees.
But acting director of na-
tional intelligence Joseph
Maguire has refused to share
details about Trump’s alleged
transgression with lawmakers,
touching off a legal and political
dispute.
The dispute is expected to
escalate Thursday when Atkin-
son is scheduled to appear be-
fore the House Intelligence
Committee in a classified ses-
sion closed to the public. The
hearing is the latest move by
committee Chairman Adam
Schiff, a California Democrat,
to compel US intelligence offi-
cials to disclose the full details
of the whistleblower complaint
to Congress.
Maguire has agreed to testify
before the committee next
week, according to a statement
by Schiff. He declined to com-
ment for this story.
The complaint was filed
with Atkinson’s office on Aug.
12, a date on which Trump was
at his golf resort in New Jersey.
White House records indicate
that Trump had had conversa-
tions or interactions with at
least five foreign leaders in the
preceding five weeks.
Among them was a call with
Russian President Vladimir Pu-
tin that the White House initi-
ated on July 31. Trump also re-
ceived at least two letters from
North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un during the summer, describ-
ing them as ‘‘beautiful’’ messag-
es. In June, Trump said publicly
that he was opposed to certain
CIA spying operations against
North Korea.
Trump’s handling of classi-
fied information has been a
source of concern to US intelli-
gence officials since the outset
of his presidency. In May 2017,
Trump revealed classified infor-
mation about espionage opera-
tions in Syria to senior Russian
officials in the Oval Office, dis-
closures that prompted a
scramble among White House
officials to contain the potential
damage.
Schiff has demanded full
disclosure of the whistleblower
complaint.
Defenders of Maguire dis-
puted that he is subverting legal
requirements to protect Trump,
saying that he is trapped in a le-
gal predicament and that he
has made his displeasure clear
to officials at the Justice De-
partment and White House.Trump’s
talkswith
leadertied
todispute
Congressman,
spychiefatodds
AmidRMVcrisis,focuswaselsewhere
KEITH BEDFORD/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2015
In 2015, Registrar Erin Deveney (left) and Governor Charlie Baker held a news conference
to discuss progress made by the Registry of Motor Vehicles to improve customer service.ROBYN BECK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
New York and Michigan outlawed the sale of flavored
e-cigarettes amid an outbreak of vaping-related illnesses.Officials,lawmakersconsiderstricterrulesonvaping