Counsel Me This (2).
By Jim Conley • Apr 14th, 2008 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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It 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.
I’ve mentioned previously that Arthur Conquest has filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). And who represents the MCAD in court? The Massachusetts Attorney General, and as of late Assistant Attorney General Patricia Correa. [Here's a recent press release concerning her work on behalf of MCAD].
Folks, this is the contempt the Brookline Selectmen have for you. Rather than replace the predecessor in the position with a lawyer equally versed in municipal law, the Selectmen will hire a disability attorney to cover their sorry asses in the Conquest affair.
Time to write a book on the subject, for the stranger than fiction category.
Update: I’m not saying that Correa has been hired to handle the MCAD case with Conquest (only that it appears that way). Plus, anyone involved in this matter knows that Conquest—after getting stiffed by the Town—was in pursuit other means to address his grievances, including state and federal court.
Correa has considerable experience in the state courts on behalf of MCAD. The only area where I can see Correa’s disability law experience being an asset is in the schools, but Joslin Murphy handles those cases. Is Murphy (wife of the police union’s president) going to handle police complaints? I hope not.
Connect the dots, folks.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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Shouldn’t the town be hiring music teachers and language teachers, rather than more lawyers? I don’t want to pay for more lawyers.
Lux,
Are you suggesting that wih three (3) attorneys serving as Selectmen currently (and even after this May’s elections since all three (3) candidates - including two (2) up for reelection - are attorneys) there is less need for filling the open slot in Town Counsel’s office? Since Dick Benka is a more experienced attorney than the two (2) running for reelection PLUS the fact that he is retired from the demands of the practice of law for billable hours and perhaps would have more time to focus on legal issues that come before the Board than the three (3) current attorneys busy with their demanding billable hours day jobs, his election might diminish the need for filling this slot in Town Counsel’s office.
PLEASE, THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF DICK BENKA. I CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO ENDORSE OR VOTE FOR ANY CANDIDATE FOR SELECTMAN OR TMM WHO DOESN’T PUBLICLY QUESTION THE WISDOM OF REPRESENTATIVE TOWN MEETING FOR OUR TOWN OF 55,000+.