Mattapoisett State Representative and Chair of the Transportation Committee, Bill Strauss, was upset that three state employees failed to show up at a hearing recently to testify about what went wrong at the Registry of Motor Vehicle's practices that contributed to a fatal crash that killed seven motorcyclists, two of them from Lakeville.

I criticized Gov. Charlie Baker for not mandating these employees to appear. In fact, I suggested they be subpoenaed to appear. That was a few days ago. Today, I was grateful to hear that Gov. Baker, reversing his earlier decision, has summoned the three to appear next Tuesday at noon at a do-over hearing, saying no-shows will be yes-shows for the rescheduled hearing at Gardner Auditorium.

An extra-full house is expected to hear about what's going on at the scandal-plagued agency. And one of many critical questions that will be asked is how did thousands upon thousands of unprocessed paper notices of out-of-state violations against Massachusetts drivers end up in 53 bins at RMV headquarters?

Do you know what was in one of those bins? A notice that Volodymyr Zhukovskyy was arrested for OUI and that he refused to take a chemical test. On that refusal alone, he should have had his commercial license suspended, but the notice was in a pile in one of those bins. In case you're not aware, this 23-year-old was driving a pickup truck, which had a car carrier trailer attached, that crashed into 10 motorcyclists in Randolph, New Hampshire, killing seven and injuring three. Since then, he has been charged in the deadly crash.

You can understand why so many of us have been distressed and troubled over the fact that these three state employees–key witnesses–refused to show up. I have faith that Bill Strauss will be thorough and tactical. Film at 11.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

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