Fall River lawmaker who asked about audit eyed Parole Board job

Mass General Brigham’s partnership with the YMCA of Greater Boston and the City of Boston is expanding access to fresh, healthy food for families. The Greater Boston Collaborative Food Access Hub serves an average of 20,000 residents monthly, distributing more than 1.7 million pounds of food. It recovers food that would have otherwise gone to waste, supporting both community health and environmental sustainability.

Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia's name was recently in the news after he filed an amicus brief in support of Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s legal battle over her push to audit him and his colleagues in the Legislature.

The filing came as the 74-year-old Democrat, who has held his House seat since 2013, gears up to run for reelection, and likely faces a GOP challenger in a city that went for Donald Trump in 2024.

But Silvia also had an eye on a possible exit earlier this year. He applied for a job with the seven-member state Parole Board, which has also been in the news. 

The agency, which is housed within the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, handles the granting of parole, as well as parole supervision. Appointed by the governor, the parole board’s release hearings can sometimes draw a crowd, as well as scrutiny: A recent Boston Herald headline said, “Massachusetts Parole Board frees toddler killer, 17 other murderers.”

A number of the releases are driven by a Supreme Judicial Court decision, which retroactively covered people who were 20 years old or younger and convicted of first-degree murder. The court ruled in 2024 that mandatory sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole for them is unconstitutional. (The board has also denied parole to some who fall in that category.)

Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated a former prosecutor to fill a vacancy after a member won a judgeship. Vince DeMore, a co-founder of the legal and strategic communications firm Henning Strategies LLC, is a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve who worked in the Suffolk DA’s office. Tonomey Coleman, the Parole Board member who left for a judgeship, made nearly $150,000 in 2024.

As Silvia emerged from a breakfast with fellow members of the House Ways and Means Committee, he acknowledged he applied for the job several months ago and had an interview. Silvia previously worked in the Fall River Police Department and is a Marine Corps veteran who served during the Vietnam War. 

“My whole background has been criminal justice and 23 years in the police department, so I thought it'd be a great place to be, but they obviously didn't think so,” Silvia said.

“So I'm gonna stay here,” he added, referring to the State House. 

Talos “Doc” Farris, a fellow Fall River resident, has filed paperwork to run as a Republican against Silvia and recently criticized the Democrat for filing the amicus brief in support of DiZoglio’s legislative audit. “He’s stepping in and asking for credit,” Farris wrote in a Facebook post. “That’s not leadership. That’s reacting when it’s politically safe.”

Silvia in a separate interview earlier this month said the amicus brief was in response to his constituents. “What prompted me to do it is continuous requests by my constituents, no matter what I do, no matter where I go, every post that I put up on Facebook to let folks know what I'm doing, the response is, ‘Where's the audit?’”

Silvia said he had previously supported House leaders on the audit because he initially expected Speaker Ron Mariano to work more closely with DiZoglio. “That never happened,” Silvia said, and after a conversation with DiZoglio he filed the brief with the Supreme Judicial Court.

“I just think we've kicked the can down the road long enough,” he said. “What's the message we're sending to voters regarding the next ballot questions? They’re coming up. Are they going to be just suggestions, or does that vote count? I think the people deserve to see an audit.”

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20 years ago, MA mandated residents to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Unaffordable healthcare inflation followed along with new mandates, rising premiums, fewer choices & increased provider payments without real transparency or efficiency standards. Taxpayer costs soared; working family income growth suffered. Small businesses & their workforces have consistently faced annual double digit premium increases. Healthcare cost reforms are long overdue.

10:00 | The Cannabis Control Commission has a meeting scheduled. Gov. Maura Healey has a bill on her desk that would dissolve the commission as it currently exists, re-establish it in another section of state law, and give her another 30 days to appoint a new membership of three commissioners.| Agenda and Access Info

10:30 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu holds a press conference to make a “major announcement,” per her schedule. | Berkshire Partners Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club, 15 Talbot Avenue, Dorchester

10:30 | The Fiscal Alliance Foundation hosts a virtual press conference and releases a new study on the state's public health benefit programs that's focused on spending and fraud. | RSVP by emailing [email protected]

12:00 | The Health Policy Commission board meets and votes on setting the health care cost growth benchmark for 2027. Massachusetts has blown past the benchmark, which is set at 3.6%, for the past four years. The agenda also calls for finalizing regulations tied to the 2024 health care market oversight and prescription drug reform laws. | Agenda and Livestream

12:00 | Boston Indicators holds a virtual webinar as part of its racial wealth equity research and conversation series. Researchers from Brandeis University's Institute for Economic and Racial Equality are set to unveil findings from their new report "Leveraging Mobility in Boston," based on a qualitative longitudinal study following 15 Boston families from the late 1990s through 2025. | More Info and Registration

12:00 | Local leaders in Revere hold a press conference about their opposition to the potential rent control ballot question. Speakers include Mayor Patrick Keefe Jr. and Rep. Jeffrey Turco. | Valsos Table and Bar, 139 Shirley Ave., Revere

4:00 | Gov. Maura Healey virtually delivers the keynote address at MassEcon's annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards, where 13 companies will be honored. In-person speakers include Economic Development Secretary Eric Paley, Undersecretary of Energy Michael Judge and Bill Kane of BioMed Realty. | Gillette Stadium, Cross Insurance Club East, 1 Patriot Place, Foxborough

5:00 | Massachusetts Health Policy Forum is renamed in honor of Phil Johnston, a former state representative and health and human services secretary who died last year.  Speakers at the launch reception include Sen. Ed Markey, HHS Secretary Kiame Mahaniah, former Rep. Joe Kennedy III and UMass President Marty Meehan. | UMass Club, 1 Beacon St., 32nd floor, Boston | More Info

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Micah Jones, the US Army vet running as a Republican for Seth Moulton’s congressional seat, reported raising $258,000 in the weeks since he jumped into the race. His campaign, which kicked off on Feb. 5, said he has more than $200,000 in cash on hand. The top fundraisers in the race have been Democrats: Dan Koh, a former Biden White House aide, and John Beccia, a fintech executive. Beccia has tossed $2 million of his own money in, while raising $400,000, while Koh has pulled in $3.5 million since his campaign launched last fall, according to the Boston Globe. The dollar signs have already chased one candidate out of the crowded field, with Moulton aide Rick Jakious telling the newspaper he’s ending his campaign.

The Sunrise Movement and Voters of Tomorrow, two youth-led groups, endorsed Sen. Ed Markey for reelection, pointing to his “Green New Deal” proposal and opposition to President Trump. “He’s rallied with young people to fight back against Trump’s attacks on our communities and climate,” said Sunrise’s executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay.

Members of Sandra Birchmore’s family threw their support behind Adam Deitch’s candidacy for Norfolk DA, saying her case “exposed deep failures that demand meaningful change” in the office. Deitch also has the support of Karen Read, whose case raised questions about law enforcement’s behavior. Former federal prosecutor “Adam Deitch understands what went wrong, and he has the experience and independence to rebuild a DA’s office the public can count on,” said a Birchmore family statement, which was signed by cousins Angelique Pirozzi and Justina Danick. A former Stoughton police officer has been indicted at the federal level for murdering Birchmore who was pregnant. The cousins’ statement said the DA’s office “failed to properly investigate and prosecute Sandra’s death and failed to deliver justice.”

The board of directors for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) unanimously voted to appoint Stephen Estes-Smargiassi as the interim executive director of the quasi-public agency. The MWRA is searching for a permanent executive director to replace Fred Laskey, who is retiring Friday, May 8. Laskey, who worked in Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci’s administrations, spent 25 years at the agency. A Jamaica Plain resident, Estes-Smargiassi first started at the MWRA in 1987 as a program manager, rising through the ranks to become the director of planning and sustainability.

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HOUSE BUDGET: House Speaker Ron Mariano and Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz rolled out a $63 billion budget proposal that’s close to the governor’s version. The House proposal for fiscal 2027 sees a $2.3 billion, or 3.7% increase, over the fiscal 2026 budget, and it’s lower than the governor’s budget by $29 million. – GBH News

ENVIRO BILL: Senators okayed a $3.6 billion environmental bill that’s similar to what Gov. Maura Healey filed last year. The bill includes a provision requiring home sellers to disclose flooding history. – CommonWealth Beacon

HAITIAN TPS: U.S. House lawmakers could vote today on a bill that would extend temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants thanks to a procedural win shepherded by Rep. Ayanna Pressley. – MassLive

SOUTH HADLEY OVERRIDE: Ahead of its town meeting, South Hadley is grappling with its rejection of a Prop 2 ½ override and looming budget cuts. – Boston.com

STATE POLICE SCANDAL: Prosecutors offered up new details in a 2023 deadly car crash that involved a State Police sergeant who was allegedly drunk at the time. The prosecutors have charged the sergeant, Scott Quigley, with a motor vehicle homicide charge. – MassLive

ZONING REFORM: All zoning requirements for new apartments and condos built in Boston would be eliminated, under a proposal that city councilors plan to consider. Councilor Sharon Durkan, who represents Back Bay and Beacon Hill, says parking requirements are left over from the 1950s efforts to reduce congestion. – Universal Hub

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