Jeff Perry admitted a while back on Howie Carr’s radio show that he visited convicted child molester Scott Flanagan in prison. Audio here (at 9:14):
CARR: So you did visit Flanagan in the can, then…
PERRY: I did. I wanted to be able to confront him and, you know, and to hear from him what really happened. And he did confess to me, you know, after, of course.
OK, that’s a (faintly) plausible explanation, if an odd one. But on his radio show yesterday (Aug 16), apparently, Carr repeatedly asked Perry whether, after Flanagan was released from prison, Perry hired Flanagan to work in his convenience store in Sandwich. I didn’t hear it, and the audio isn’t online yet. (SEE UPDATE BELOW FOR AUDIO) But numerous reports of the conversation reflect that Perry danced around the question, and finally said that he didn’t remember. Here’s one blogger’s recollection of the conversation (typos corrected):
Perry was on Howie Carr’s program at 6:30 last night, and Howie asked Perry the same question six times:
“Is it true you hired ex-con Flanagan to work for you at your Sandwich store after he got out of jail?”
Six times Perry would not answer, saying he couldn’t remember (hiring the man who went to prison instead of him).
A constituent called in and said, “Perry, you are either stupid or a liar, and I know you’re not stupid.”
He couldn’t remember? Really? I’m starting to get awfully worried about Perry’s memory.
Like I said, this story isn’t over yet. I’ll update if and when Howie posts the audio.
UPDATE: OK, the audio is up – you can hear the whole interview here. Short summary: Carr did indeed ask Perry several times whether Perry had ever hired Flanagan to work in his convenience store. Perry specifically said that he did not hire him in Florida, which is where Perry was when Flanagan was released, but he was fairly vague about whether he had hired him at one of his Massachusetts businesses such as the convenience store in Sandwich. He claims to be checking payroll records.
And yes, there was a caller who told Perry that he was either stupid or a liar. Here’s some relevant audio from the show (I’ve pasted two parts together – there’s a short gap between the two segments at about 1:30).
it is impossible to not remember hiring a convicted child molester that directly reported to you in the police force when the molestation occurred.
Sad, too.
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p>How on God’s green Earth you you not be sure if you hired a guy like that?
He often seems to go easier on the GOP than the Dems, because of his wingnut politics. Glad he didn’t let Perry off the hook.
…it’s clear that Jeff Perry is among the political walking dead. The four or so callers into Howie from 6 to 7 ripping him apart and Howie agreeing with them, was the death knell for Perry.
One cannot avoid the feeling that Howie is preparing to toss Perry under the bus. And if that happens, nighty night Jeff.
If Howie really believed in Perry, he would have cut this caller off with some insulting remark. Also he wouldn’t have queued it up asking Perry the same question 6 different ways. The Quincy caller sounded almost like a setup to me.
But a quick drive around the MA-10 would show you that if 20% of the population there is registered Republican, the teabaggers have done a good job of putting Perry lawn signs in front of darn near every one of those households. Write him off at your own risk.
For every local election to which I’ve paid attention, lawn signs always run more conservative than the electoral outcome.
… observation as well.
Perry has an incredible ego… and since he has been slicking by for so long with all of this junk, he figures he can pull it off again. The voters of the tenth aren’t going to be buffaloed. I believe that he is going to hang in this race by his fingernails rather than do the right thing. Hey, he isn’t USED to doing the right thing!