He deserves one:
"Walsh’s weaselly defense of O’Brien" by Joan Vennochi | Globe Columnist July 31, 2014
How would Marty Walsh feel if he spent many months campaigning hard for Boston mayor, but didn’t get the job because the city’s voting machines were rigged for his opponent?
Would he declare the person who did the rigging innocent? Or would he stand up in front of City Hall and demand a federal investigation into election fraud?
No because that would throw the whole system into peril. You accept the theft and move on with your political career.
A federal jury basically found John O’Brien, the former probation chief, guilty of rigging the Probation Department’s hiring system in favor of job applicants recommended by a slew of Beacon Hill politicians, including House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray.
Yet asked during a recent WGBH radio appearance if O’Brien is guilty of a crime, Walsh said, “I don’t think so.” With that pronouncement, the mayor — a former state representative who chaired the House Ethics Committee — made it very clear where his allegiance lies.
It’s with his former colleagues on Beacon Hill — not with fellow citizens, especially those defrauded of jobs they never had a chance to land because of O’Brien’s responsiveness to Beacon Hill’s desires.
In a statement clarifying his radio remarks, Walsh said he respected the jury’s judgment, but still called the results of the O’Brien case “distressing,” because he feels elected officials “have an obligation to be helpful to their constituents.”
What’s distressing is Walsh’s deference to politicians who recommend not just constituents, but less-than-qualified friends, godsons, and lovers for employment not available to others.
What’s even more distressing is Walsh’s response to this statement from radio host Margery Eagan, concerning O’Brien’s actions: “What you’re saying is that you don’t think rigging the system, which is what he was found guilty of, rose to the level of being criminal.”
Walsh said he didn’t “get all the facts” or “read all the testimony ... But I just think he went to work every day to do his job and somehow the system got the better of him.”
How could the system get the better of O’Brien? He invented it.
All the post-trial handwringing over prosecutorial over-reach has the feel of a campaign aimed at getting the lightest sentence for O’Brien — or maybe even getting the judge to set aside the verdict.
Sentencing is scheduled for November, so there’s time to send a pointed message to US District Court Judge William Young: The political establishment is outraged over the prosecution and verdict in this case — not outraged over what it shamelessly embraces as business as usual.
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A fraudulent hiring system takes a job from someone who deserves it and gives it to some who does not — just like a fraudulent election system steals from a candidate who deserves the victory and gives it to someone who does not. That’s a crime jurors understood and one that Walsh and others still do not. As David Bernstein points out in his Boston Magazine blog, Walsh’s reaction sends “a huge signal to current and potential employees of the city of Boston that the mayor considers the type of clearly fraudulent behavior laid out in court to be ‘above board.’ ’’
Walsh is still looking at this from the perspective of a politician eager to please the happily recommended job applicant. He doesn’t see it as a theft from others more qualified and less connected, who actually believed the system was fair until they learned it was not.
To the victims, it’s a crime. To the perpetrators, it’s just another day in Massachusetts politics.
--more--"
Related: Marty Walsh misses the point in probation case
Also see: O'Brien's Conspiracy
Wanna nother wipe at his world?
"Standing before a jam-packed meeting room Wednesday, developer Donald J. Chiofaro lifted the veil on his plan for one of the city’s largest development sites, showing a pair of angular skyscrapers that would redefine the downtown waterfront. The towers -- one clad in glass, the other in terra cotta -- would rise to 600 feet along Atlantic Avenue and infuse modern architecture into a corner of the city dominated by structures built many decades ago. “It’s not often the city finds itself with the opportunity for a transformative moment,” Chiorfaro said. “But that moment is now before us.”
Related:
No Longer Harboring This Post
That means Fallon is out.
Walsh on the Waterfront
Seeing Stars on the Bo$ton Waterfront
Convention center expansion questions loom
BRA Has $mall Cup
They are towering above everything.
BRA nominee was dismissed as head of architectural college
Walsh re-evaluates nomination to BRA board
Does that light a fire under you?
"The discovery was expected, and state officials said the ash borer is probably burrowing into trees across the state. The invasive insect cannot cover much ground on its own, but Ken Gooch, forest health program director for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, said the movement of firewood expedites the beetle’s spread across the state and country. “People are what is moving this insect so fast,” Gooch said. “The insect wouldn’t move so fast on its own.”
Time for me to get moving.
Speaking of parasites:
"Controversial Boston landlord Anwar N. Faisal must appear at a City Council committee hearing next month or face possible arrest, after a formal summons was unanimously approved Wednesday. The summons was proposed by Councilor Josh Zakim. “Bring him in in irons,” City Councilor Stephen J. Murphy said."
Given that the slumlord is a Gazan refugee and Boston, well, see for yourself. No surprise at the thought from a thriving tribe in the city.
"Apple-picking has started to become a fruitless pursuit for thieves on the T — leading to fewer thefts of iPhones and other expensive gadgets on the region’s transit system. At the same time, aggravated assaults are becoming more common on the T even as less serious assaults have decreased, and officials say they don’t quite know why."
Bike thefts are surging, too, so it's time to leave and say bye-bye Boston.
So what do you think will be his legacy?
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
Juror blasts Walsh’s support of ex-probation chief
Marty Walsh must clarify his views on patronage
Suspects charged with selling club drug Molly
It's a common crime in Bo$ton.
