This is a truly remarkable story. A lawyer named Ed Prisby, who writes at an interesting blog called Prizblog, was involved in an accident a couple of months ago in which a car driven by Anthony Galluccio, currently a Cambridge City Councillor and running unopposed for Jarrett Barrios’s State Senate seat, rear-ended a car, leading to a chain reaction four-car pileup. You can read Prisby’s lengthy first-person account of the accident at his site. Here are some key points:
What had happened was the guy that caused the accident hit the car behind us, who then hit us, causing us to hit the cab in front of us….
I believe I asked the guys [in the car behind us] to let the driver [of the car that caused the accident] up off the ground, which they did. The driver was shortish and balding. I didn’t recognize him. But I could tell he was drunk. Really drunk….
“I’m really sorry,” he stammered as he produced his ID.
“Your name is Anthony Galluccio,” I asked?
“Yes,” he replied….
Galluccio continued to make his rounds, issuing slurred apologies while stumbling all over the road….
Witnesses to Galluccio’s behavior, myself included, implored the officer – I mean, we begged him – to give Galluccio a field-sobriety test….
It appears, however, that a field sobriety test was never administered, and Galluccio was never charged.
Now, however, Channel 5’s Janet Wu has started digging – you can see her report (which aired last night) at this link (if that link doesn’t work, you can also watch at Channel 5’s website – click the story called “Politician responds to allegations” – or you can read Channel 5’s write-up). According to her story, the cops have reopened their investigation into the accident as a result of the questions that Wu raised. Wu interviewed the drivers of the three cars that were damaged in the accident (including Prisby), all of whom state that Galluccio was obviously quite drunk. Galluccio, however, denies that he had had anything at all to drink that night.
And it gets even weirder. Prisby reports (based, I think, on insurance reports – I’m not sure exactly of his sourcing for this part) that Galluccio has repeatedly changed his account of what happened:
He initially told his insurance company that his car was stolen. Then he fessed up and said, yes, he was in an accident, but that the guys he hit had run a red light, somehow causing him to rear-end them.
Yet, in the Channel 5 story, Galluccio tells yet a different story, claiming that he hit a patch of black ice. Wu said in the report that the weather that evening was clear and there were no reports of ice on the roads.
My immediate reaction: Galluccio’s story is very suspicious – three people who don’t know each other tell exactly the same story about Galluccio’s demeanor and behavior that night. My second reaction: isn’t there someone else in Barrios’s district who wants to be a Senator?? Come ON, people! It’s an OPEN SEAT! Hell, if I lived in the district, I’d run! Even if this drunk driving story weren’t lurking out there, y’all shouldn’t just be handing the seat to Galluccio (or to anyone else). Let’s have an election, not a coronation!
Yeah, hey guys, it’s me, Ed Prisby. I’m obviously pretty upset about what happened for a bunch of reasons I’ve already gotten into on my blog. But, in a weird way, I want to be as fair about this as I can stand being – I think the worst thing to do is to give into hyperbole which would discredit my version of events.
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About the multiple excuses Galluccio offered – I got that from “Peter,” the other driver. I wasn’t hurt, nor was anyone in my car, so I never had cause to file a lawsuit. But I believe Peter was hurt and did file suit. As such, he was privy to certain information from Galluccio’s insurance company, with whom Peter had some contact.
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Initially, according to Peter, the insurance company was going to deny liability. This was based on a letter Galluccio allegedly submitted to his insurance company on City of Cambridge letter-head saying his car was stolen. He then, later, filed an incident report saying that Peter’s car had somehow run a red light, cutting him off, and forcing him to rear-end the line of cars. Try and figure that one out, because I can’t.
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I can’t recall if we ever got Galluccio’s accident report from our insurance company. We might have and I can look for it when I get home. I recall seeing it somewhere.
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The kicker is, none of this will ever really become public. Not his insurance records, not his medical records which may or may not reveal whether blood tests were given at New England Medical Center, and from there whether or not there was alcohol in his blood stream. The reason they would never be released is that Galluccio’s insurance company is not disputing liability. So, as far as I can tell, any evidence of his intoxication in a civil lawsuit would be irrelevant. The only relevant information would be evidence of injury to the plaintiffs.
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Anyway, yes, please for the love of all things good in this world, someone else run for that seat!
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Fairly and Honestly,
Ed Prisby
Do you know who Galluccio’s insurance company is?
How’s he gonna explain THAT to progressives?
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http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=435839
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http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=435838
I’ll admit it – you made me look!
Just for the record, here is the district per Barrios’ website: DISTRICT REPRESENTED: MIDDLESEX, SUFFOLK AND ESSEX. â Cambridge, ward 3, precinct 2, wards 6 and 7, ward 8, precincts 1 and 2, ward 9, precinct 1, ward 10, precinct 2, Everett and Somerville, ward 1, precinct 1, ward 2, precinct 1, in the county of Middlesex; Boston, ward 2, ward 21, precincts 4, 6 and 7, ward 22, precincts 1, 2 and 5, Chelsea and Revere, ward 6, in the county of Suffolk; and Saugus, precincts 2, 6 and 10, in the county of Essex. Fellow Cambridge City Councillor Marjorie Decker was considering a run for this seat, btu she has decided to concentrate on her studies at Harvard. Maybe drunk driving and a scandalous cover-up attempt by her opponent will cause her to reconsider.
Just enter your address here at WhereDoIVoteMa.com from the Secretary of State.
There were rumors a while back that someone from Everett was interested, but I never found out who or if they were serious.
Here’s a link to a map of the district (WARNING: large 1.3 MB pdf file)
The temperature at 1:30 AM on 18 December 2005 was just barely below freezing according to historical Boston, MA temperature charts from Weather Underground. The most recent moisture was trace precipitation three days earlier on 15 December. The temperature was quite cold on 15 December (22 degree mean, 13 degrees low) and then warmed to 36 degrees mean, 32 degrees low on the Saturday before the accident. According to Wikipedia, “Black ice may form even when the ambient temperature is several degrees above the NTP freezing point of water. This occurs typically (and treacherously) when terrain contours and/or prevailing winds cause a local steep differential of atmospheric pressure and/or temperature, or when the atmosphere has warmed up after a prolonged cold spell that leaves the temperature of the ground and roadway well below the freezing point.” None of which has anything to do, of course, with the subject of drunk driving.
I’d run, but I don’t have any experience in politics and I’m young. I’m also a relative newcomer to Charlestown.
isn’t there someone else in Barrios’s district who wants to be a Senator?? Come ON, people! It’s an OPEN SEAT! Hell, if I lived in the district, I’d run!
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You don’t need to live in the district now, you just have to plan to move there before the election. So, wanna run? 🙂
I don’t know if he lives in the district, but I would love to see a feisty guy like him in the state house. 🙂
When’s he going to step up to the plate. He may be our best hope. Believe it or not.
My hunch is he’s too comfortable in the House. He’s got no reason to move to the Senate when he’s got a sweet chairmanship.
maybe she’ll reconsider.
I believe Eugene O’Flaherty has already endorsed Galluccio – and he’s way too conservative for the likes of the Cambridge-area anyway – his mentor was former Speaker Finneran.
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The best chance to take the seat from Galluccio is for Cambridge City Councillor Marjorie Decker to reconsider and run against him. She backed out of the race earlier in the year, citing time commitment to the City Council and her graduate studies at Harvard. But recent developments may make the race considerably more manageable.
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I’d suggest people begging her to jump back in. She’s progressive and sensible, and young enough to hold the seat for a while and infuse it with some fresh blood.
JIm Braude
What if Barrios does something rigth and jump back in. Don’t leave. After much thought he is needed in the senate. blah blah
Please not him; he may be worse and more in live with himself than Barrios
The geography (political and physical) of this district is wild.
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NINE different state reps represent part of this district. Only three live in the district, however.
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Rep. O’Flaherty (Charlestown, most of Chelsea) is the only rep with his entire district in the MSE Senate District.
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Rep. Connolly’s district is Everett plus one precinct of Malden. All of Everett is in the MSE.
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Rep. Wolf of Cambridge has 8 of her 13 precincts in the MSE, including her own. This is the territory to the immediate north and west of Harvard Square.
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The rest of the district, by state rep, from north to south:
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2 precincts in south Saugus in Rep. Falzone’s district.
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1 precinct in southeast Saugus, 3 precincts in west Revere, and 4 precincts in north Chelsea in Rep. Reinstein’s district.
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2 precincts in East Somerville and 2 precincts in northeast Cambridge in Rep. Toomey’s district.
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1 precinct in West Cambridge in Rep. Kaprielian’s district.
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3 precincts in Allston/Brighton in Rep. Moran’s district.
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3 precincts in Allston/Brighton in Rep. Honan’s district.
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Population-wise: 38,000 from Everett; 35,000 from Chelsea; 33,000 from Cambridge; 16,000 Allston/Brighton; 15,000 Charlestown; and 7,000 from each of Somerville, Revere, and Saugus.
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I don’t have a PD 43 in front of me so I can’t tell how the primary vote breaks down.
Where do you get info like this?
and remind us of something else, don’t you need to be a resident of the district for a year from the swearing in date in order to run?
that you have to have been a MA resident for 5 years, and you have to live in the district as of election day. Link.
Thanks, David! Interesting that you have to have a year’s residency to be a rep, but not senate, so the Falzone/Reinstein/Moran/Honan etc group could all theoretically be in the mix …
I’ve put together a number of data sources that allow me to do a report like this.
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The Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office has the district lines, maps, and a web site that identifies what precinct any address is in. They also publish a list of general election candidates with their addresses, so I could figure out where the representatives live. You can also get this from the Campaign Finance filings (as I had to for Rep. Moran, who won his office in a special election).
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MISER, the state economic data agency, put out a file combining census data with redistricting data, which is what I used for the population counts (as well as a simple way of seeing which precincts were in which districts).
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An electronic street atlas is a useful tool for visualizing the district and seeing where exactly each street is.
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The state GIS site allows you to overlay House and Senate districts to visualize the overlap.
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The US Census site has lots of data and maps.
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Now, if I could only find a way to make money off of this kind of research, I’d do it full-time!
with a bit more in-depth stuff on the census data and analysis … you’d be very useful in a campaign! 🙂 Dunno that it’d pay enough though ..
I recall that Anthony Galluccio was stopped by the police for suspicion of drunk driving before Dec. ’05.
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At the scene, he refused to take the breathalyzer. This is a smart move, by someone who has been to law school. His Driver’s License was suspended as a result, but he avoided conviction.
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I recall learning all this from a lengthy fluff piece of print journalism profiling him. It seemed like an effort to put the matter behind him. It might have been printed in the Phoenix, Harvard Crimson, Cambridge Chronicle, or Boston Magazine. This might have been published during his term as Mayor of Cambridge 2000-2001. Or maybe it was during one of his three campaigns for legislature on Beacon Hill.
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I hope I am correct in my recollection, and I am not a rumor maker. Whatever the case, the Boston Police look real bad in this case. It does not look like protection and service to the public.
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Is there a way to have such an incident wiped from a record?
Ted Kennedy for all intensive purposes covered up his involvement in Chappaquidick and his drunken recklessness likely killed a woman. This being said, will I still vote for him in the fall? Yes, because aside from his many personal defects he has put his mistakes behind him and has become one of the few fiesty and fiery progressive senators in the US Senare. Robert Byrd was a Klansman, but I hope he gets re-elected since he is one of the few anti war and civil libertarian senators in the US Senate. Anthony Galluccio really knows his constituents in Cambridge, he made sure we were able to construct brand new atheletic fields for our high school, he has been a leader in getting affordable housing constructed, and all city services have improved under his watch. Sure he doesnt waste Council time denouncing the Iraq War like Majorie Decker or attacking the military, which frankly the City Council cant control, but on most issues he’s progressive and he’s conservative where it counts, in the cities treasury. So look at his record, judge the record and not the mistakes of any politician will make, if you do it for Teddy you gotta do it for Anthony as well.
In 1993, Republican Gov. Bill Weld, a West Cambridge neighbor of Galluccio, removed charges of theft, and drunk driving, from Galluccio’s criminal record.
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See the Boston Herald online: Senate hopefulâs OUI pardoned in â93: BPD probes Galluccioâs December crash, by Dave Wedge, Sat., Feb. 25, â06: Updated: 09:16 AM EST.
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Galluccio drives a Honda Accord. This is non-union made car. Galluccio constantly postures that he is pro-union in everything, having Cambridge use union labor, pressuring local contractors to use union labor. But, when it comes to personal choices he goes non-union.
Great Point Cantab
I would say O’Flaherty won’t even take a second look at the Senate seat; if he really wanted it, he’d take it. Even though the phony, liberal hypocritical communists, do-gooders, yahoos and fakers in Cambridge and other parts of the district wouldn’t vote for him. There are still enough normal people in the district to vote for him but he’s indicated in the past he’s only interested in Charlestown & Chelsea and has done well for the district, even the Portugal crap and the media hounds hasn’t fooled people who vote in the district about what and how much he actually delivers to the district.
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I think the mental hospital admittee and failed and disgraced priest Schiavone should run for the Senate seat instead of being embarassed by an ass kicking in his failing bid to unseat O’Flaherty.
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Also, why isn’t the media all over Eggplant Travaglini for being on VACATION when the biggest health care proposal in the Commonwealth’s history is being debated and he wasn’t even at a meeting this past Tuesday. How come that ugly loser, scot lehigh, of the Anti-Irish catholic Globe hasn’t called for Eggplant’s resignation?
Actually, John, that’s not a bad idea – he’ll have local appeal in his home base of Charlestown, and also would probably pull some Cambridge votes. Anyone know if Schiavone has any interest in switching horses?
Schiavone is currently conducting a push poll in the rep district, calling and asking people if ‘knowing O’Flaherty can be a hot head, would they vote for him in sept.’.
His pr firm is doing it and they do this for a living. They are good at this.
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Unfortunately the results indicate that O’Flaherty is strong. In addition Schiavone has not been getting support he thought he could count on, or at least neutralize, from some groups and individuals because O’Flaherty has been very responsive to their needs. Now these people would be very open to a Schiavone for Senate campaign.
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Schiavone actually has been thinking about the best way to withdraw from this race. The senate race could be a great opportunity. He can win. Yet he can’t come close to beating O’Flaherty.
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Don’t be surprised, Schiavone for Senate
Ernie: You’re right, it could be a way for the mental hospital admittee and failed priest to save what face he has left after breaking his vows and running his businees partners into the ground with his quest to be a somebody. However, he couldn’t be elected to the advisory post on the charlestown neighborhood council, never mind the Rep. seat.
He doesn’t have a home base in Charlestown. Nobody knows him except a tenant of his who has been spreading bad news about him all over the neighborhood because of bad habits and language and name calling she’s endured from him and his partner. The guy is a creep, just look at his picture on his website. CREEPY
Falzone: Star Trek material, a real space shot
Connolly: 1/2 dead and barely able to push the vote button
Reinstein: Heavy D but political lite weight
Moran: lunkhead Moron, freshman Rep, barely won election
Kaprelian: throw up material but yahoos would love her
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And as for the newcomer to Charlestown who said he may run, give it up kid, you sound like a moron even suggesting it because you couldn’t be elected dog scooper on your own street.
This senate district was Tom Birmingham’s who redistricted it when he was senate president to insure that no one takes him on.
Can you explain for me why you call Moran a lunkhead moron?
It’s a rare moron who ends up on the ways and means committee and he’s a pretty committed progressive so I’m just curious what you are basing this on.