The attorney representing embattled Holyoke Soldiers Home administrator is weighing his options after a scathing state report said that Bennett Walsh was not qualified to lead the home. Bill Bennett is the former Hampden County District Attorney and the uncle of Walsh. During his news conference yesterday the Governor said he was working of removing Walsh from the post which Bennett says violates his client a fair public hearing. In a statement, Bennett says that the report that was conducted by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein “contains many baseless accusations that are immaterial to the issues.” The report suggests that state officials were not aware of the issues at the home until things had deteriorated. But Bennett says it is absolutely clear that Bennett reported the issues at the facility in a timely manner. Bennett says that Mr Walsh asked for the National Guard to come in to assist but that the failure of the state to act contrinited to the problems. Meantime, the state legislature had suggested that they would investigate. But there is no word as to whether that is happening. The US Attorney Andrew Lelling and State Attorney General Maura Healey are conducting their own probes.
(Photo Credit: John Baibak/WHYN News)