More Ethics Problems from Cognos Deal


1215438734Joseph Lally is many things. He is the former vice president of Cognos ULC, a company that makes business intelligence software. He co-founded Montvale Solutions, which Cognos hired to sell its software.

Lally also seems to have a problem understanding the state’s ethics laws. Just a few months after we learned about his generosity with House Speaker Sal DiMasi’s charity golf tournament, the Globe reports he also allegedly offered a public official a job while Cognos was vying for a lucrative contract.

Former education department chief information officer Maureen Chew told officials that Lally offered her a job with Montvale Solutions while her department was considering a contract with Cognos in 2006. After she turned him down, she declined to meet with him, but the company still got the contract when Lally lobbied Chew’s superiors.

As with the $13 million state contract that Cognos landed a year later, Lally reportedly used his friendship with the Speaker to land the deal.

Lally aggressively marketed software to state officials, bragging about his ties to DiMasi and asserting that he could arrange funding for the purchases[.]

While pushing to land the smaller education department contract, Lally specifically emphasized that he could have money added to the state budget to fund the deal because of his friendship with DiMasi[.]

Oddly enough, that year’s budget did include a line item for the contract, though reports vary on whether King Sal was responsible for it or not. This one, it seems, is just beginning.