I started reading Blue Mass Group during the recent primaries, and saw an article from 2006 about then-governor Romney having some sort of a coin with the Massachusetts seal and his name on it created.
There was some debate on the site about whether this was illegal, whether it was done with taxpayer funds or not, or just plain egotistical, etc… But no real indication of what these coins were actually being used for?
Then, in today’s Boston.com, there was an article about Romney’s former operations manager Jay Garrity, being acquitted after the most recent accusations of impersonating a police officer. (He was also previously investigated by the NH attorney general, and also given a citation by Boston police for impersonating an officer, while working for Romney).
http://www.boston.com/news/loc…
Anyhow… the most interesting part of the article stated:
“The Boston Herald reported extensively about how Garrity and other Romney campaign staff – all known for wearing Secret Service-style radio earpieces and wrist microphones – allegedly used police-badge-like metal discs embossed with a governor’s office seal. Flashing a fake badge is a crime punishable in Massachusetts by a $50 fine.”
– Those “police-badge-like metal discs embossed with a goveror’s office seal” sound very much like the “Governors coins” that were being discussed back in 2006! So, maybe they weren’t just campaign souvenirs after all, but were also being used as fake police badges?? If so, it would be interesting to know if they’re still being used for those purposes.
