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Not One Little Job, But the Whole Works
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
Robert Wechsler
“There’s no conflict,” the mayor said last night. “It wouldn’t be a
story if his name wasn’t Menino.” (from a
recent Boston Herald article)
This is Boston's mayor, Thomas M. Menino, speaking about his son's year-old job for a construction company that has done a great deal of business with the city, which regularly gets permits from the city, and which has given a lot of money to the mayor's campaigns and inaugural committees.
The son's job (he's moonlighting from a full-time city detective's job) is in safety oversight, a post, the mayor wrote (according to an article in today's Boston Herald), “neither influences me in the performance of my duties nor provides any benefit to Suffolk Construction in its pursuit or execution of city projects. ... My son’s role in overseeing safety on construction sites is completely unrelated to the development and permitting processes ... [he] does not work on any site which requires permits or zoning relief” from city agencies.
The mayor's position was, not surprisingly, supported by a letter from the corporation counsel: “It is my opinion that, based on the facts as I understand them, there is no conflict of interest relative to the employment of the mayor’s son by Suffolk Construction and that, consequently, a filing is not required.” But "out of an abundance of caution and in order to avoid the appearance of any impropriety” he did file a statement disclosing the possible conflict, one year after the son took the job.
There certainly is an appearance of impropriety, especially when one considers the revolving door to Suffolk Construction, which has included "Menino’s close friend and former top advisor Peter Welsh [who] left City Hall in 2002 to become a Suffolk vice-president. Menino’s longtime BRA [Boston Redevelopment Authority] director Thomas O’Brien also fled the administration for Suffolk." And according to another Herald article, the mayor's brother also works for Suffolk.
Can anyone say that the mayor does not appear to be biased toward Suffolk Construction, even if his son is not directly involved in any particular transaction? And, even moreso, can anyone say that, whatever the mayor's actual role in getting his son this moonlighting job (which is itself questionable, considering the son was paid $127,000 by the city in 2007 and that his work could be affected by the additional hours working elsewhere) that the company's relationship with the mayor and his circle had nothing to do with the son being hired?
Yes, it's a story because the son's name is Menino. And it's also a potential conflict because of that. And the fact that the whole works appears here -- campaign contributions, revolving door, contracts and permits, nepotism, legalistic denial, involvement of the corporation counsel, moonlighting -- doesn't help.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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This is Boston's mayor, Thomas M. Menino, speaking about his son's year-old job for a construction company that has done a great deal of business with the city, which regularly gets permits from the city, and which has given a lot of money to the mayor's campaigns and inaugural committees.
The son's job (he's moonlighting from a full-time city detective's job) is in safety oversight, a post, the mayor wrote (according to an article in today's Boston Herald), “neither influences me in the performance of my duties nor provides any benefit to Suffolk Construction in its pursuit or execution of city projects. ... My son’s role in overseeing safety on construction sites is completely unrelated to the development and permitting processes ... [he] does not work on any site which requires permits or zoning relief” from city agencies.
The mayor's position was, not surprisingly, supported by a letter from the corporation counsel: “It is my opinion that, based on the facts as I understand them, there is no conflict of interest relative to the employment of the mayor’s son by Suffolk Construction and that, consequently, a filing is not required.” But "out of an abundance of caution and in order to avoid the appearance of any impropriety” he did file a statement disclosing the possible conflict, one year after the son took the job.
There certainly is an appearance of impropriety, especially when one considers the revolving door to Suffolk Construction, which has included "Menino’s close friend and former top advisor Peter Welsh [who] left City Hall in 2002 to become a Suffolk vice-president. Menino’s longtime BRA [Boston Redevelopment Authority] director Thomas O’Brien also fled the administration for Suffolk." And according to another Herald article, the mayor's brother also works for Suffolk.
Can anyone say that the mayor does not appear to be biased toward Suffolk Construction, even if his son is not directly involved in any particular transaction? And, even moreso, can anyone say that, whatever the mayor's actual role in getting his son this moonlighting job (which is itself questionable, considering the son was paid $127,000 by the city in 2007 and that his work could be affected by the additional hours working elsewhere) that the company's relationship with the mayor and his circle had nothing to do with the son being hired?
Yes, it's a story because the son's name is Menino. And it's also a potential conflict because of that. And the fact that the whole works appears here -- campaign contributions, revolving door, contracts and permits, nepotism, legalistic denial, involvement of the corporation counsel, moonlighting -- doesn't help.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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