Transportation Secretary Richard Davey launched an investigation a day after the Globe reported last month that Matthew McLaughlin had a spotty attendance record at the agency. The board hears thousands of appeals each year from drunk drivers who have lost their license.
The younger McLaughlin, who was the appointee of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to the board, was given a letter that thanked him for his service and made no mention of any investigation into his work habits, according to a source briefed on the dismissal.
Department of Transportation spokeswoman Cyndi Roy declined to discuss specifics, saying: “Confidentiality rules bar us from discussing specific personnel matters. Registrar [Rachel] Kaprielian has exercised her authority to make a managerial change.’’
The appeals board job was not the first position Matthew McLaughlin may have won with the help of his father. Before he was appointed to the Appeals Board, the younger McLaughlin was hired for a $65,000-a-year job by Roca, a Chelsea nonprofit social service agency.
He became a Roca project director in January 2006. Two months later, the Chelsea Housing Authority signed the first of three contracts awarded to Roca worth $240,000.
On March 23, Matthew McLaughlin cosigned a formal letter to his father thanking him and the Chelsea Housing Authority for their support. “You and your staff are incredibly helpful and supportive,’’ the letter said.
For three years, the housing authority paid Roca for services that included painting, furniture moving, raking leaves, and other odd jobs.
Roca’s executive director, Molly Baldwin, said that there was no connection between the hiring of Matthew McLaughlin and the Chelsea Housing Authority contracts.
“Matthew was interested; we had a job opening. He applied, and he got hired,’’ she said, adding that she did not know Michael McLaughlin before she hired his son. Matthew, she said, helped launch a work program for underemployed young people.
