MBC Chief Fined $10K

Ryan McBride12/24/08

The Massachusetts Ethics Commission has given a $10,000 fine to Bob Coughlin, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, because the former Bay State economic development official took part in meetings about state policy affecting the biotech industry while he was “secretly” a candidate for his current MBC post, the Boston Globe reported this morning. The Globe reports that Coughlin, who became the MBC chief in 2007, helped the daily broadsheet obtain records about his ethics fine and told the paper he is “glad to have this matter resolved.”