Richard Kelliher Plays Iago.
By Jim Conley • Jun 16th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Override Ballot, Previous ColumnsThat’s the least of it, though. Our Iago has also created a culture in Brookline town government that is outright hostile to the (non-crony) citizenry. He and other town hall staff are agents of deception; planting Desdemona’s handkerchief among the many drawers of our local government and then stage whispering all manner of nonsense on how it got there.
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Brookline Does a Flashdance.
By Jim Conley • May 15th, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, Gil Hoy, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Police, Previous Columns, Robert Allen, The Allen FilesWait a minute. Don’t voters have the right to know of Hoy’s traffic transgression before the election? Sure. But Hoy is also due that the charges be aired by more reliable sources than his opponent and her two campaign chairs (Selectmen Bobby Allen and Jesse Mermell). Voters also have the right to know that these three “colleagues” were likely lying when they said that they had first heard of the badge flash from Hoy himself.
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Absurdity Alert - Condition Red.
By Jim Conley • Apr 14th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, DPW, PoliceI think my head is going to explode.
Last Tuesday, the Brookline Selectmen appointed special counsel to represent them and other town officers in the matter of Arthur Conquest’s complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. (Can’t pay for teachers, but billable hours are another thing.)
And who did they hire? Why, our old friend [...]
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Counsel Me This (2).
By Jim Conley • Apr 14th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, PoliceIt just gets worse.
Now, let me say that I am not 100 percent certain that the Patricia Correa whom the Brookline Selectmen will appoint as an associate town counsel tomorrow is the former AAG they tried to appoint to their police complaint review panel (more like 97 percent).
That said, they’ve completely lost it.
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Counsel Me This.
By Jim Conley • Apr 14th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, PoliceThe web of town government malfeasance in the Arthur Conquest matter becomes more and more tangled. And judging from the reaction of those ensnared, we’re in for a nasty amount of wriggling.
Conquest has filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination stemming from his treatment at the hands of Broookline town government. [...]
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So Long, Laurie Partridge.
By Jim Conley • Apr 10th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, PoliceI haven’t been this excited since I first saw Susan Dey play Laurie Partridge on my television screen (in Technicolor). Word out of last night’s meeting of the Citizen Police Complaint Panel has me giddy. Well, hopeful anyway.
I’m not sure that the direction in which this panel is heading is what (some of) the [...]
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Brookline’s Race Problem (3).
By Jim Conley • Apr 7th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, PoliceAs follow up to the post below, some question why an outside group (like a civil liberties union) would become involved in an incident where police handled themselves in a “rude and discourteous” manner. Except for the racial implications, this would seem to be one of many such cases across the Commonwealth.
But what happened [...]
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Brookline’s Race Problem (2).
By Jim Conley • Apr 6th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, Nancy Daly, Police, PoliticsWe’re fast approaching the one year anniversary of the May 24, 2007 Brawl at Town Hall, and we’re no further ahead in addressing civil rights in Brookline than we were the day police tried to charge Arthur Conquest with assault, of the verbal variety.
Why so?
It’s simple. Because for once, the victim of racial discrimination, [...]
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Brookline Police - On the Couch.
By Jim Conley • Mar 28th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, PoliceSitting through last night’s meting of Brookline’s Citizen Complaint Panel was like watching an episode of HBO’s remarkable series “In Treatment.” In the series, patients visiting the therapist are both resistant to, and woefully in need of, treatment (as is the therapist).
Such was the drama when Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary took a seat [...]
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The Ringer Makes an Appearance.
By Jim Conley • Mar 24th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, PoliceLooks like Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary’s ringer [see previous post] on the police policy review panel — Attorney Douglas Louison — will appear before the selectmen, to disclose his financial interest in representing Brookline police officers.
The reason for this is because the Massachusetts Ethics Law requires “special municipal employees” to disclose any potential conflict [...]
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The Pat Answer.
By Jim Conley • Mar 17th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, PoliceAt tomorrow’s selectmen’s meeting, Brookline Police Chief Danniel O’Leary will, “appear to review the updated Police Department Rules & Regulations/Policies & Procedures and 2007 Crime Statistics and 2007 Race/ Gender Data Report.” [I guess he's not going to wait for the policy review panel he helped assemble to issue its report before he reviews the [...]
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Failure to Appear?
By Jim Conley • Mar 10th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, PoliceIn looking over the Brookline Selectmen’s meeting agenda for tomorrow, I don’t see where police review panel member Douglas Louison is scheduled to appear and advise of the potential conflict between serving on the panel and serving the legal interests of Brookline Police officers [see previous post]. Reportedly, Louison said that he would make [...]
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Shut It Down.
By Jim Conley • Mar 6th, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, PoliceIt’s not clear to me when the selectmen’s Chief Daniel O’Leary’s police review panel is scheduled to meet again, but it really doesn’t matter. With word that O’Leary was actively involved in recruiting its members [see previous post], this committee has no moral authority (not that it had much to begin with).
The tragedy [...]
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The Chief Puts Together a Review Panel.
By Jim Conley • Mar 4th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, PoliceA few days ago I made a Public Records request to Brookline Town Administrator Richard Kelliher on the increasingly embarrassing police review panel now showing. The first surprise came in Kelliher telling me that the entirety of documents generated while assembling the panel are two e-mails on whether assistants to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha [...]
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Working On It.
By Jim Conley • Mar 3rd, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, PoliceThere’s been a strange twist in the Arthur Conquest matter and the policy review panel created by the Brookline Selectmen in its aftermath.
I’m waiting for a comment from a press office before I write about this one.
Stay tuned.
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