Deep Ethics Doo-doo.
By Jim Conley • Jun 5th, 2007 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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Which member of the Brookline Board of Selectmen used official Town of Brookline stationery to write a letter vouching for developers (in support of a $2.6 million mortgage application) at the controversial Spooner Road project [see posts]?
Do I really have to answer that for you?
Update: Here’s the story on the letter. I had heard that such a document was produced as part of a legal proceeding (and as such it is not part of the public record). I didn’t have anything to go on until yesterday when a source with impeccable credentials confirmed - from firsthand experience - that the letter does exist.
When I asked the Selectman in question for a copy of the letter under Massachusetts’ Public Records Law (given that it’s written on official stationery), the response was: “Your request can not be complied with as no such documents exist.”
I didn’t ask for documents, I asked for a specific document. And in the specificity, no doubt, there’s some parsing of the language (by the Selectman) that voids the request in his mind. That’s the game they play at Town Hall. So we’ll have to work it from another angle, which will take some time. But there’s no doubt in my mind that there is a letter that the public ought to be able to view.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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