Oddities

Tax Dollars at Work

A little do-it-yourself investigation by the Boston Globe:

It’s 2:58 on a gorgeous fall afternoon, and US Marshal Anthony Dichio is 35 miles from the federal courthouse in Boston where he works. As he steers his government-issued sport utility vehicle along the leafy roadways of Westford, Dichio lazily hangs his left arm out the window.

He’ll be home in three minutes, having put in a total of three hours and one minute in the office.

For Dichio, it was a short, but not the shortest day he worked during 10 recent days on which the Globe observed him. On two of the days, he didn’t go into the office at all.

On this day, Dichio arrived for work at 9:41 a.m., left at 12:42 p.m., and spent a leisurely two hours on the way home shopping at a Verizon Wireless store and dining alone at a Bertucci’s restaurant.

The Globe investigation found that Dichio, who is paid $129,000 to protect judges, juries, and jailed suspects at Massachusetts’ three federal courthouses, rarely puts in a full day on the job.

Wait for it … he’s a political appointee.