History Rhymes.
By Jim Conley • Jan 24th, 2008 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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Remember when the Brookline Selectmen indemnified DPW Commissioner A. Thomas DeMaio from allegations of filing a false grant application to restore the Carlton St. Footbridge? And remember how Town Administrator Richard Kelliher recruited a lawyer to give him an expert opinion on the matter? And remember how Town Counsel Jennifer Dopazo briefed the lawyer by saying that DeMaio had been cleared in an investigation, though he clearly had not?
Remember that?
Don’t you get the sense that the same thing is about to happen with the blue ribbon committee panel of experts Kelliher has recruited to sweep the Arthur Conquest matter under the rug?
I wonder what this most unimpressive panel thinks that they’re going to tackle for the selectmen. Can’t be the real mission - to solve the PR problem for the selectmen and Kelliher. Or, maybe it is.
Update: I would imagine that the folks coming to us from Martha Coakley’s AG’s crew would have some experience in police investigative procedures and citizen complaints. But in a Lexis search I’ve done on panel member Patricia Correa, I see her portfolio as mostly suing housing authorities.
Check that, she did sue the Fung Wah Bus Company in order to let a blind couple ride (good for her). So hey, let’s put her on a police review panel. Jaysis.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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I bet that old footbridge collapses onto the greenline tracks before anything happens at St. Aidans.
Maybe they can agree to only build half of the housing there and make the other half look like the beautiful CVS windowfront that faces Washington St. at the corner of Cypress St.?
Perhaps as a public service questions addressed to these prospective panelists could be propounded, including what they individually perceive to be the panel’s mission and how a review of Lt. Burke’s report AND its supporting data might guide them on whether the existing policy is appropriate or should be modified. Also, they could be asked about not only having their meetings public but to include public hearings, and even the ability to call witnesses before it. And perhaps some preliminary questions could be aimed at perceived or potential conflicts of interest they might have.
Also, Town Administrator Kelliher might report upon the criteria he utilized in recruiting these potential expert panelists. Did he clear them with the Selectmen in compliance with the open meeting law or otherwise?