| Barry Locke | |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation | |
| In office 1979–1981 |
|
| Preceded by | Frederick P. Salvucci |
| Succeeded by | James Carlin |
| Vermont Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs | |
| In office 1961–1962 |
|
| Preceded by | Franklin S. Billings, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | T. Wesley Grady |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 21, 1930 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 4, 2007 (aged 76) Rockville, Maryland |
| Residence | Boston, Massachusetts Montpelier, Vermont Potomac, Maryland Canton, Massachusetts Montgomery Village, Maryland |
| Alma mater | Boston University |
Barry Myles Locke (born December 21, 1930 in Boston, Massachusetts, died March 4, 2007 in Rockville, Maryland[1]) was an American political aide who served as Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation from 1979 until he was indicted for corruption in 1981.[2]
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After graduating from Boston University in 1953, Locke served two years in the United States Army as a public information officer. After the Army he spent five years as a newspaper editor in Michigan before returning to New England as United Press International's Vermont bureau chief.[3]
Locke's government career began in 1961 as the chief administrator and press secretary to the Vermont Governor F. Ray Keyser, Jr.[3] Later that year he became the state's Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs.[4]
In 1963 Locke was appointed public information officer in the office of the Internal Revenue Service's assistant regional commissioner for administration.[4]
From 1964 to 1969 Locke served as press secretary to Governor John A. Volpe.[3] When Volpe became United States Secretary of Transportation after the election of Richard M. Nixon, he joined him as a personal aide.[5]
After Volpe's departure as transportation secretary, Locke served as the public relations director for the Office of Economic Opportunity[6] and Director of the Office of Energy Policy John Arthur Love.[7]
While working in Washington, Locke also served as the manager for middleweight boxer Leo Saenz.[8]
In 1977, Locke was appointed executive director of the Bi-State Development Agency.[9] In this position he oversaw St. Louis' transportation network and managed a 2,400 employee workforce.[10]
In 1979, Locke joined the administration of Massachusetts Governor Edward J. King as Transportation Secretary. In 1980 he took on a second role as acting chairman of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.[11] In 1981, a reorganization of the MBTA forced Locke to turn over the day-to-day operation of The T to a general manager.[12]
On May 1, 1981, Locke was placed on an unpaid leave of absence from his MBTA and cabinet posts after Governor King learned that Massachusetts Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti was investigating Locke for accepting kickbacks.[13]
On July 17, 1981, Locke and eight others were indicted for their roles in a kickback scheme at the MBTA.[2]
On February 2, 1982, Locke was convicted on five counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and larceny.[14] Locke is the only Massachusetts Cabinet Secretary to be convicted of a felony while in office since the state's adoption of the cabinet system in 1970.[15][16]
At sentencing, the prosecution requested a 4 to 5 year sentence. However, Judge Rudolph Pierce, who described Locke as having an "insatiable appetite" for payoffs, believed that the prosecution's sentence request was insufficient because it could allow Locke to be out on parole within 16 months. He sentenced Locke to 7 to 10 years in Walpole State Prison.[16]
Locke began serving his sentence on March 19, 1982 in Walpole State Prison, but was later transferred to Concord State Prison for the classification process. On July 1, he was transferred to the medium-security Berkshire County House of Correction.[17] On December 23, he was transferred to the Lawrence House of Correction on the basis of family hardship.[18] While in prison, Locke was the editor of a jailhouse newspaper.[19]
On September 29, 1983, Judge Pierce reduced Locke's sentence to 6 to 10 years, as he had miscalculated the date when Locke would have been eligible for parole.[20]
On March 19, 1984, Locke was released on parole.[15]
Locke later left Massachusetts and moved to Montgomery Village, Maryland.[1] For five years he was the president of CHI Centers, a Silver Spring, Maryland-based organization that serves the developmentally disabled.[1][21]
Locke died on March 4, 2007 of a heart attack.[1]
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