The Eagle-Tribune investigates Philip F. Laverriere Sr., executive director of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council. Laverriere, 85, headed the agency for over 35 years before resigning March 23 - four days after an Eagle-Tribune investigative report showed he was in the office as few as 15 hours a week. Laverriere oversaw a $30 million budget that included $29 million from state and federal tax dollars. He took home a paycheck last year of almost $145,000. Laverriere was found by The Eagle-Tribune to be at the Elks Club as much as he was in the office.
Created by BrianMessenger on Apr 4, 2011
Last updated: 04/04/11 at 08:09 PM
Tags: Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Philip F. Laverriere Sr. Philip Laverriere Eagle-Tribune Brian Messenger Poverty Pays
A team of state investigators descended on the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council last week to interview dozens of board members and employees. The investigators also collected cartons of time sheets, tax records, credit card receipts and other documents in a widening investigation into the agency.
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x300771380/GLCAC-probe-widens
A look at GLAC client demographics. During 2010, an unduplicated count
of 27,007 individuals were served.
http://www.glcac.org/About_files/Who%20Are%20Clients%202010.pdf
GLCAC Special Edition Newsletter. Document includes:
A Message from the Executive Director/CEO: Page 1
Highlights from 45 Years of Community Action: Pages 3-8
GLCAC, Inc. Organizational Chart: Pages 9-10
Agency budget comparison (1965 to 2010): Page 23
http://www.glcac.org/News_and_Events/Events/GLCAC%20Inc%20%2045th%20Anniversary%20Newsletter.pdf
The Greater Lawrence Community Action Council supports a wide variety of programs in several Divisions: Early Learning Services, Education & Training Services, Energy Services, Health & Nutrition Services, Housing Services and Social Services.
http://www.glcac.org/Program_files/Programs_Overview.htm
GREATER LAWRENCE COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
http://www.glcac.org/About_files/Financial_Report.htm
(Editor's note: The following link was published March 28 under the heading "New England’s Best Investigative Reporting" by Watchdog New England, the Initiative for Investigatie Reporting at Northeastern University. © 2011 Watchdog New England) For more than a month, Eagle-Tribune reporters Keith Eddings and Gretchen M. Putnam tailed Philip F. Laverriere Sr., the executive director of one of the top anti-poverty agencies in Lawrence, Mass., after an anonymous tip suggested he was absent from his office more often than not. Eddings and Putnam found that official whose six-figure salary is paid with state and federal tax dollars was spending most afternoons at the local Elks Lodge.
http://nuweb9.neu.edu/watchdognewengland/best_investigative_reporting/eagle-tribune-investigation-reveals-public-official-is-making-six-figures-for-little-work/
To the editor: Eagle-Tribune, how dare you write those stories about Phil Laverriere! I am disgusted! I have known him for just about 30 years now, and he is the most honest, respectful, and hard-working man that I have ever known, never mind the fact that he is very dedicated to the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, the fuel assistance program, Head Start and WIC programs.
http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/x1527123552/Your-view-Letters-to-the-editor/print
The AWOL boss for the city's leading anti-poverty agency walked out the door with a $9,829.91 check after he quit Wednesday. Former Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Executive Director Philip F. Laverriere Sr. received the money for his last days worked and unused vacation time. Thomas Schiavone, president of the agency's board of directors, said Laverriere is not eligible for retiree health benefits because he resigned.
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x1332406174/AWOL-boss-walked-with-almost-10K
© Copyright by the Boston Herald and Herald Media. And so farewell, Philip F. Laverriere Sr., out of his $145,000 anti-poverty hack job at the age of 85 after the Lawrence newspaper caught him lounging away his afternoons at the local Elks Club, playing video poker and smoking cigars.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2011_0326stealth_hackerama_just_how_big_is_it/srvc=home&position=also
The Board of Directors of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council met in secret session for nearly 90 minutes last night to decide how the anti-poverty agency runs for at least the next two weeks — in the midst of a state probe of its administrative operations. Had the GLCAC's long-time executive director Philip F. Laverriere Sr. not resigned under fire on Wednesday, the 19 board members would have used the closed-door executive session to discuss how to discipline him for putting in short work weeks for his $144,000-a-year pay. Instead, the board voted to accept Laverriere's resignation and put assistant executive director Charles "Chick" LoPiano in charge while the Northeast Institute for Quality Community Action evaluates "governance, management and fiscal issues" at GLCAC.
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x449325444/Laverriere-officially-out
A number of social clubs in the city with video poker machines were raided by agents of the state's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission this week as part of an investigation into illegal gambling. Police Chief John Romero said the clubs being investigated include the Elks Lodge at 652 Andover St., the Lawrence British Club, 80 Cambridge St., the Concordia Social Club, 1 East Platt St., and the Rocky Club, 11 Trinity St. A number of others were also included in the raids. The Elks Lodge has been in the spotlight following a series of stories by The Eagle-Tribune this week reporting that the executive director of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Philip F. Laverriere Sr., spent more than half of every workday there playing cards or video poker.
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x1527122283/Video-poker-machines-targeted-in-state-raids
He was found to be spending as much time at the Elks Club playing cards and smoking cigars as he was fighting poverty. And now Philip F. Laverriere Sr. is out of a taxpayer-funded job that paid him as much as $145,000 a year.
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x436929775/Poverty-boss-out-investigation-begins
Thomas Schiavone, left, president of the GLCAC board of directors, and Charles Lopiano, assistant executive director of the GLCAC, attend a meeting of the board of directors at the GLCAC on Essex Street in Lawrence.
Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua, standing left, and his chief of staff, Leonard Degnan, next to Lantigua, listen during the GLCAC board of directors meeting last night.
Philip F. Laverriere Sr. "abused his power" while head of Lawrence's government-funded anti-poverty agency, a state official said yesterday. An investigation and assessment of the "governance, management and leadership" of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council will take place next week, said Steven Carvalho, a state official who oversees the GLCAC.
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x436929771/State-official-Agency-head-abused-his-power
Orange traffic cones block the parking space for Philip F. Laverriere, Sr., The Executive Director and CEO of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, on the corner of Common and Lawrence streets in Lawrence. Laverriere resigned today.
The board of directors of the city's leading anti-poverty agency will be handing out discipline tomorrow night against its executive director who was found by The Eagle-Tribune to be spending as much time in the office as he was at the Elks Club. Board President Thomas Schiavone confirmed tomorrow night's meeting at Greater Lawrence Community Action Council is a disciplinary hearing against Executive Director Philip F. Laverriere Sr., who makes about $145,000 a year.
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x814645412/Discipline-against-AWOL-agency-boss-expected
Philip F. Laverriere Sr. resigned today as executive director of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, four days after an Eagle-Tribune investigative report showing he was in the office as few as 15 hours a week. Laverriere has been at the helm of the city's leading anti-poverty agency since 1974.
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1728495496/AWOL-agency-director-quits-on-eve-of-disciplinary-hearing
Local lawmakers who help deliver state grant money to the region are saying they are outraged the head of the city's leading anti-poverty agency was found by The Eagle-Tribune to be at the Elks Club as much as he was in the office.
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1728493801/What-local-lawmakers-are-saying-about-Laverriere
©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. BOSTON (CBS) – As far as I’m concerned, if the charges against him are true, there is no punishment too harsh for the head of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council. That would be Philip Laverriere Sr., the 85-year-old head of the council, which doles out tens of millions in tax dollars each year to an array of social service programs in the Merrimack Valley. At least, overseeing that crucial work is supposed to be what Laverriere is doing. Instead, according to an investigation by the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, this guy was spending the majority of his work week hanging out with his cronies at the local Elks Lodge, to quote the newspaper: “playing card games and video poker, enjoying long lunches, and indulging his taste for… cigars.”
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/03/22/keller-large-high-paid-official-caught-loafing-by-paper/
Congresswoman Niki Tsongas is calling for an investigation and the resignation of the head of the city's leading anti-poverty agency after The Eagle-Tribune found he was spending as little as 15 hours in the office a week and the rest of his time at the Elks Lodge on Andover Street. But Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Executive Director Philip F. Laverriere Sr. says he is staying as head of the agency, which received $29 million of its $30 million budget from taxpayers last year.
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x1728493803/Tsongas-calls-for-AWOL-agency-head-to-quit-but-he-says-hes-staying
The board overseeing the city's leading anti-poverty agency described the revelation that its executive director spends as little as 15 hours a week in the office "alarming" and "if proven, this situation will be dealt with swiftly and appropriately."
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x1498158631/Poverty-agency-board-AWOL-boss-will-be-dealt-with-swiftly
Fighting poverty in the state's poorest community is supposed to be a full-time job. But the head of the city's leading anti-poverty agency spends as little as 15 hours a week in the office. The remainder of his time is spent at the Elks Lodge on Andover Street, playing card games and video poker, enjoying long lunches, and indulging his taste for Romeo Y Julieta cigars, an investigation by The Eagle-Tribune has found.
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x814642078/Poverty-pays-Agency-chief-makes-six-figures-for-little-work
For the last five years, the 300 Greater Lawrence Community Action Council employees who deliver hands-on services to the area's needy received 1.8 percent raises that have only kept their pay at pace with inflation. But over the same five years, the region's leading anti-poverty agency gave its executive director, Philip F. Laverriere Sr., a 6.2 percent raise, followed by two bonuses totalling $15,508.
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x814642080/Board-gives-Laverriere-big-bonuses-but-only-small-raises-to-employees
Philip Laverriere Sr. sits down with Eagle-Tribune reporter Keith Eddings for questions in his office.
There's no shortage of people who make their living — often very good livings, indeed — from the poverty of Lawrence. That's not surprising. The poor need services. Those who provide them should be paid. But the taxpayers, whose money supports these services, have a right to expect from those who work with the poor a full day's work for a full day's pay.
http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/x740881139/Editorial-Community-Action-Council-must-remove-Laverriere
The anonymous letter alleging the head of the city's leading anti-poverty agency spent his workday afternoons at the Elks Lodge was not just sent to The Eagle-Tribune. One of those who acknowledged receiving the same letter was Congresswoman Niki Tsongas. Tsongas has a relationship with Greater Lawrence Community Action Council that goes beyond the $29 million in state and federal funding she helps deliver each year: She runs a district office on the agency's fourth floor, a few steps from the executive suite where the anti-poverty agency's executive director, Philip F. Laverriere Sr., has his office.
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x977555541/Tsongas-got-the-tip-about-Laverriere-too
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