Blue Mass Group

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Coakley looks away

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Dear Martha Coakley: favoritism and backroom dealing is killing Boston. Maybe that should be on the agenda?

“Particularly understanding this is the middle of a campaign, we get lots of complaints from folks who are adversaries who have a particular agenda,” Coakley said, referring to the request by Menino’s challengers for a criminal probe of potentially hundreds of public e-mails deleted by Menino policy chief Michael Kineavy.

http://www.bostonherald.com/ne…

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  1. She’s dismissing law-breaking because it involves her political friends. She should have made a statement saying that all public officials need to follow the law, and not destroy public records. Even if she doesn’t think there is any cause for her to take action yet, to dismiss this out of hand as politics is really disheartening.

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    p>My previous support for her is as of now revoked.

    • These types of allegations occur with many/most elections. It is important to prevent partisan allegations from disrupting the election process. So far we do not know if these allegations are simply partisan or symptomatic of some widespread corruption???

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      p>That being said, destruction of public records, (emails) is under the authority of the Secretary of State to investigate. (Galvin’s office has seized the computers). If Galvin then recommends that there is sufficient evidence for prosecution, then Martha Coakley’s office becomes involved.

      • But as I have said here, she should be waiting for Galvin to finish before making a statement that makes it seem like she is making assumptions about the Boston Globe’s research and requests. Yes I know all three candidates for mayor asked Galvin to make the inquiry, but only after the Globe was stymied in their efforts to get public records.  For me this is just a strange political calculation from the AG, who I like and might support.  

      • Emails were improperly destroyed, that much has been admitted.
        Laws were already broken.

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        p>I’m not asking for Coakley to say that she needs to get involved at this point, but her response is really weak. She should have acknowledged that it is a real issue, because it is a real issue. She could have said that much and then said she will wait for Galvin to proceed. She could have even covered her friend Menino by saying that she fully expects Menino will cooperate to make sure the truth of the issue is dealt with.

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        p>Instead, ahe dismissed the concerns as coming from people who have an agenda. What agenda they have is not my concern. My concern is that City Hall has violated the law and I’m sad to see her sweep it aside because it is inconvenient for her. Not a good start.

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        p>I’m now open to seeing what Capuano brings to the table.

        • Neither is it clear yet…that “laws were broken” or that “it is a real issue.” You are making unsubstantiated allegations. I have never been a fan of Menino, but acknowledge that many campaigns have unsubstantiated allegations, and small mistakes twisted into major conspiracy theories. While some turn out to be true, more often they are just spin.

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          p>Again, this particular allegation is being investigated and the process looks to be working and we will soon find out if there is a conspiracy or a simple mistake.

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          p>As Martha stated,

          You might imagine we get letters all the time to investigate this and that, and we follow the particular process. I understand the allegations are serious. I know everyone is taking them seriously, and when it’s appropriate, or if we determine independently of that we need to get involved we will.

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          p>When these allegations come up, try to imagine how you would feel about the handling if it were your candidate. Then figure how the Hearld might report it and maybe conclude we should just wait and see what the investigation reveals.

          • But first, yes the law was broken. You should understand that by deleting the emails they already broke the law.

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            p>Now, Coakley has more to say with an interview with ch25, and its much better.

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            p>

               Gene Levanchy: Before we get involved in your campaign, you have decided not to get involved in the deleted email controversy surrounding Mayor Menino. What is the reasoning behing that decision?

               Martha Coakley: Well see, that’s inaccurate. I spoke with the Herald yesterday and explained to them that there’s a whole process around this. The secretary of state, Bill Galvin, is the overseer of public records laws. Complaints go to him about whether there’s been a violation or not. He is the initial fact-finder.

               What I told the Herald yesterday is that, in the normal course of things, as in this case, he makes a determination as to whether there’s been a violation or not, and whether further action is needed, and then that would come to us. I told them specifically that we would then look at it, as we have in other matters.

               So I have not refused to look at it, but you might imagine we get letters all the time to investigate this and that, and we follow the particular process. I understand the allegations are serious; I know everybody’s taking them seriously, and when it’s appropriate, or if we determine independently that we need to get involved, we will. But we are aware of this, we’re monitoring it and we’ll do what we need to do if and when the time’s appropriate.

               GL: So I see you have read the Herald this morning. How do you respond to the critics in that story, including former mayor Ray Flynn, who are saying that you need the mayor’s support in your bid for the senate, and you don’t want to jeopardize that support by looking into this.

               MC: I’m not sure where Ray Flynn gets that speculation from. I’ve been open about being in this race, and asking everybody for support. I’ve in fact talked to the mayor and I’ve said I assume he will stay out of this race because you have your own. That’s the extent of our conversation on it. By the way, I feel that I’m running my own race, I have plenty if support, I’ve asked people for it… This is about what voters think in this race, not about who’s supporting whom necessarily, but in the end what voters do when they go on December 8th to pick the next US senate candidate.

            • Seems a Menino spokesman stated there was a glitch in the computer system. The investigation will determine what is true.

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              p>Because of the frequency and damaging effect of false allegations, the OCPF policy is to neither admit or deny or discuss any allegation or ongoing investigation until after the campaign.

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              p>Thank you for printing the entire statement as opposed to the Herald practice of choosing a single sentence without the context. The only change is that here you have the entire thought.

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              p>

              you might imagine we get letters all the time to investigate this and that

              would have given an inaccurate impression as did the story in the Herald.

              • Your friendly neighborhood glitch of plausible deniability. A sort of diabolus ex machina. Awesome. It’s amazing what some people can get away with by pretending to have made “an honest mistake”. Misunderstanding campaign finance rules, forgetting to comply with disclosure requirements, misinterpreting statutes, oversights, omissions, “glitches”. There’s always an excuse. How it is that the most powerful people can so often prevail upon us to grant them something well beyond the benefit of reasonable doubt is beyond me.
                One thing is clear: this is either a case of gross incompetence or malfeasance, and both of these alternate explanations are good reasons to vote for one of the other guys.

            • What she said was no doubt factually correct.  But it was so lawyerly and lacked the kind black and white / right or wrong answers we want from elected officials in the legislative branch.

              • and has the appropriate duties. You are arguing for her to violate her office because she is running for Senator.

                • She can inject a little more passion and concern and at the same time say that there is a process and that process hasn’t reached her office yet.  Coakley has to prove she can walk (perform her appropriate duties as AG) and chew gum (be a political candidate for US Senate) at the same time. Uh…it is as simple as that.

  2. Perhaps I’m overreacting, but this sort of thing really gives me pause. I don’t want someone in there that can’t stand up to right an obvious wrong.

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    p>That column from Scot Lehigh in the globe today was very good. I’m ready to get on the Deval for U.S. Senate bandwagon.

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    p>http://www.boston.com/bostongl…

  3. One of the reasons I love BMG is the serious analysis of issues.   I did not sign on to Yoon and Flaherty’s letter to the DA and AG for two reasons.

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    p>1)  It wasn’t at the level of a criminal probe yet, and as posters have noted the correct process is to go to the Secretary of State’s office

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    p>2)  I have no faith that the AG or DA would do something about this issue.   Before we filed our Open Meeting Lawsuit against the City we asked both the AG and DA to enforce the law and they refused.  (AG Shannon had a standing order against the Boston City Council which would have made it easy for the AG to get involved)   I stated this at the press conference, as Adam Gaffin at UHub can verify.

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    p>What I did do was turn over the emails that I had obtained either from or to Kineavy over to the Secretary of State’s office for them to do the proper investigation.

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    p>Yes, there is an element of political grandstanding here, especially on the part of Flaherty, but nonetheless these are serious allegations which at best are incompetence and at worst are very serious issues.

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    p>I look forward to the day that we have real open, honest, transparent government in this state, and elected officials who are willing to enforce the law.

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    p>Kevin McCrea

  4. Anyone that has ever served in any capacity at the city or town level knows that public records laws were violated. I would agree that Galvin’s office is the place to start, but things die a slow death in that office. Due process requires prompt action on the part of all involved, including the DA and AG. Anything short of that is a disgrace and effectively means that Coakley does not deserve to be elected to the Senate seat.  

    •  Hey PMG: Good to see ya! I imagine the good folks at BMG can keep pressure on to resolve the issue. I think RMG would cooperate too.

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