Unlike the ambiguity of the facts surrounding the Tim Cahill prosecution (Remember? Tim decided to buy lottery ads around election time. His name didn’t appear on the ad and a case was made that the ads were in response to untrue attacks) the facts supporting the claim that Dan Conley broke state criminal laws yesterday are clear.
The Herald broke the news this morning. They also did a nice job of video recording the crime as it was in progress. The Herald’s first paragraph lays out the gist of the crime. (BTW How did the Herald ever get in there? I don’t know. But A-1 undercover work guys.)
Suffolk District Attorney and mayoral hopeful Daniel F. Conley — possibly looking to avoid the type of scandal that got former state Treasurer Tim Cahill in hot water — invited reporters yesterday to a mandatory office meeting where he made sure his staff got the memo warning that state law forbids them from campaigning on his behalf while on the clock.
Wait a minute! Dan invited the press to observe this miscreant act. Can this guy be anymore incompetent? The chief law enforcement officer in the county is clueless on this. Do we really trust him getting the snow removed?
So Dan ordered the scores of employees assigned to West Roxbury Court, Brighton Court, Dorchester Court, East Boston Court, South Boston Court, and Charlestown Court, and Chelsea Court to leave work earlier than the 4:30 court closing time and get themselves into downtown for Boston, (most never go there) for what the Herald called a “pep rally”.
Order state employees to appear as props for a campaign event. Close down district attorney satellite offices early so state employees won’t be tardy attending mandatory campaign event. That is exactly what happened yesterday. Clear as a bell.
“…Not on the people’s time, not on the people’s dime,” Conley told his 300 prosecutors and office workers..
“So, you are not allowed to engage in any political activity on any piece of state property, on state time, which means you can’t use state equipment, or state computers, or cellphones, or copiers or fax machines,” continued Conley, who announced Wednesday he is running for mayor. “So please read that memo carefully and follow those rules.”
This meeting was in the lobby of Bulfinch Pace, the private building where the taxpayers rent space for the district attorney. That space was available for this “campaign related” meeting because of the lease between the state and the landlord. Breakin the Law, Breakin the Law
Everything about this press event yesterday was campaign related except the transparent cover the tax payers gave it through Dan’s office.
Were courts forced to close some business early because the assistant d.a.s and staff weren’t around? Did d.a.s have to stop trials and tell the judge they had to leave early for this mandatory meeting?
Should Conley’s campaign re-emburse the tax payers for this transparent campaign gimmick?
Can Conley point to other mandatory employee meetings where the press was invited?
Dan got campaign coverage on this in the Herald today. Just as he wanted.
I particularly love this part in the Herald piece
“While the law allows public employees to … make contributions, I want all of you to know that I will not accept campaign contributions from any employee of this office,” said Conley, who is already sitting on a campaign war chest of nearly $900,000, much of it raised over the past 11 years from contributions from lawyers, cops and his staff. (emphasis added)
Thanks for the dough guys. I won’t be bothering you anymore for money…….at least for now that is.
But what about Cahill? The Herald brings it up
Cahill struck a deal last month with prosecutors that allowed him to pay a $100,000 civil fine and skirt a second criminal trial over charges he spent taxpayer money on his failed 2010 gubernatorial run.
Conley did not mention Cahill in his talk — which was part office pep rally, part stump speech — but he made clear he did not want any ethical missteps, or even appearances of them, to sabotage his campaign. (emphasis added. Breakin the law, breakin the law)
Dan Conley is the current front runner for the mayor’s job. How long before he self-destructs?
Months? weeks? days? hours?
Inviting the press to this was.
I can’t believe this is an office of lawyers. How stupid is Dan and his staff?
Amazing. This guy has been a menace to public safety for years and and has well earned reputation of being a threat to settled rules of jurisprudence (the Judge Dougan complaint and investigation was a heavy handed yet ignorant coup attempt against the judiciary by a member of the executive branch).
Anyway, plenty of time to breakdown the old Stearns report and other incidents for showcase.
Carmen Ortiz, Martha Coakley, Tom Reilly, Scott Harshbarger – there’s something about MA prosecutors that doesn’t get politics.