The Healey Administration has taken “nothing to see here folks” to a new level as it refused the Herald’s request for information on just how LaMar Cook, the former deputy director of Gov. Maura Healey’s western Massachusetts office arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking, passed the hiring threshold.

Cook served in the position since 2023 until late last month when he was hit with charges of drug trafficking, as well as firearms violations.

Taxpayers have questions and deserve answers. The Herald was on the case and put in a request for information. The response? A brick wall.

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.”

This line is telling: “the ability of government as a whole to function effectively as an employer.” Wouldn’t that include thoroughly vetting potential employees, checking for criminal backgrounds and other red flags?

We, the people, are essentially the employers. Our taxes pay public salaries, we vote for leaders trusting that they will put the right people in place. We have a big stake in the game.

Cook has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

We’re not the only ones calling for transparency. Republican state lawmakers, led by House Minority Leader Bradley Jones and Senate Minority Leader Bruce 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.

They sure do, and Healey must realize this. So why hit the brakes on transparency and accountability and all the other buzzwords liberal lawmakers like to throw around during campaigns?

We shouldn’t be surprised. Last month the Herald reported that Healey’s administration no longer publishes a public, regular accounting of how much the state is spending in the current fiscal year on the emergency shelter system housing homeless families and pregnant women because a state law mandating the data expired.

In seven reports released since fiscal year 2026 started July 1, Healey officials quietly stopped including key sections that documented in real-time how much taxpayers had spent on shelter costs, programs designed to move families out of shelter, and municipal supports.

Republican state Sen. Ryan Fattman called Healey out.

“I think it would be a disservice to every single person in the Commonwealth for them just to go poof,” he said.

It’s also a disservice to residents of the Commonwealth that state officials are arrested on drug trafficking charges, but how they got hired in the first place remains a mystery.

How do you define transparency, governor?

Editorial cartoon by Steve Kelley (Creators Syndicate)