Unions representing construction workers, public employees, and transportation workers have endorsed Michael Sullivan for Middlesex District Attorney.
http://www.sullivandistrictattorney.com/endorsements/
Please share widely!
Reality-based commentary on politics.
Monday Harshbarger, Capuano and anyone else affiliated will back off
Downrated for again hinting at this without explaining.
And another promise of revelations that are never forthcoming. They say nothing comes out on a Monday before an election, but i’ll be ready for the news on Ryan in the Lowell Sun tomorrow.
I saw a glancing reference to some regret from Sullivan over his extra jobs, but has he committed to dropping this practice if he becomes DA? It is hard to imagine any job that’s not a conflict for a DA.
I say this as someone inclined to vote for him as of now, but three times your regular pay seems like a hard habit to break.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/31/candidate-sullivan-regrets-taking-outside-job/Fl0Jm84pxPvEZxapPSGsOO/story.html
I suspect that the DA is much more of a 24/7 office and that any outside job would be a conflict of interest. Something, I would also imagine, was a consideration in Sullivan’s decision to run.
I would note that I have been unable to find any public statement where Ryan says she regrets withdolding public documents and will not do so again. Perhaps jmooney could provide a link to Ryan acknowledging that transparentcy is vital in a public official.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/21/middlesex-ryan-criticizes-opponent-side-businesses/WpqJYbOjPtbTFLnU4QgB6M/story.html
I understand now. It is ok for Acting DA Ryan to have a side business while on the public payroll as an ADA but according to Ryan not so for Sullivan. An instructor at Lasall College . . . hmmmm . . . I wonder if she teaches her students to request bail?
That was the glancing reference I referred to.
I’m pretty sure I can’t vote for Ryan. I’m trying to decide if I can vote for Sullivan. If the outside work were less conspicuous, I could overlook it, but I’m really staggered by the length of it, and the amount he earned.
And to be clear, the issue is this: if he had means to earn about $320K a year for those five years, why be clerk of courts? Let someone else have that publicly funded job, and earn away all you want.
I would categorize a statement published in the Boston Globe as a glancing reference. Seem definitive to me and I’m sure political enemies would be all over it if he did outside work as DA.
“let someone else have that publicly funded job, and earn away all you want” – I wouldn’t attempt to speak for Michael Sullivan. You could however, ask that question of a vast number of State Reps and State Senators who are elected as full-time and have outside businesses including consulting.
I promise!
Michael Sullivan made extra money in a private practice he had founded with a childhood friend and a family business that has been plowing snow in Cambridge since the Model T was on the roads. Ryan did outside work with a college that has been sued by the city of Newton, sued by former students, lost it’s nursing program certification, and also was investigated by Martha Coakley. Talk about a huge conflict!
Michael Sullivan is a figure of integrity who has made an iron clad promise not to take any private money while he is DA and to be extra judicious in following regulations. He had no intention of double sipping or running for re-election to the Council in 2007. He discontinued the consulting work and apologized for it. Ryan has yet to apologize for any of her mistakes, including working for a college her colleagues in law enforcement investigated.