Robert Emmet Hayes (born February 11, 1951) is an American lobbyist and politician who represented the 7th Plymouth District in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

from 1983 to 1991. In the late 1980s Hayes sponsored legislation to help Massachusetts cities and towns meet the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act. Hayes' legislation, the Massachusetts Clean Water Act, resulted in a State Revolving Fund which allocated $900 million in no-interest loans for planning, design or construction of waste-water projects in 85 Massachusetts communities. Hayes lost re-election in 1990 to Abington lawyer Michael Sullivan. He later became a lobbyist. He is the husband of former Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts Shannon O'Brien. Hayes' role as a lobbyist for

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

became a campaign issue during his wife's 2002 gubernatorial run. However, as the

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

reported, "Hayes stopped lobbying for (Enron) nearly two years before accounting fraud surfaced and its stock price plummeted." Hayes is a veteran of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, and holds a degree from the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Ma ...

References

1951 births American lobbyists Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Politicians from Brockton, Massachusetts Northeastern University alumni University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Living people Spouses of Massachusetts politicians 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court {{Massachusetts-MARepresentative-stub