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Wilkerson fallout: What about the Open Meeting Law?

By adamg on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 8:56am

Kevin McCrea, whose hobby sometimes seems to be suing the Boston City Council over Open Meeting Law violations (in cases he always seems to win), paid close attention to all the Open Meeting Law and state ethics violations in the Wilkerson affidavit (there's a whole section devoted to how Wilkerson's briber got a liquor-license OK from the Boston Licensing Board even though the matter wasn't on the board's agenda). One guess what he did:

I called the [Suffolk County] District Attorney's office today and spoke with the gentleman in charge of ethics and Open Meeting Law violations. Of course he had read the FBI indictment of Wilkerson. So I asked,"did you notice any Open Meeting Law violations?" and he said "you mean at the Licensing Board?"

Hopefully we will have the DA working on some of these cases soon, as the Feds are not interested in State Open Meeting Laws. ...

Meanwhile, west of 495, Jody takes note of our fascinating little case and announces: I am willing to stuff my bra full of any bribe money you want to give me - under one condition:

...[I]f you are going to take photos of me taking the cash and sticking it in my bra, can you make sure you use a flattering camera angle? The whole "under the table" thing really accents areas of my being that we should probably all just ignore.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
Crime
Free tagging: 
City Council
Dianne Wilkerson
Boston Licensing Board


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Comments

By liveinvt on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:49am.

I'm rather glad that Kevin does this, because the Open Meeting law is valuable and I think it is good policy. So since so many politicians would seek to circumvent it and break its spirit, I'm glad that Kevin is out reminding the state that this law exists and must be followed.

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By theszak on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 12:35pm.

With respect to ethics, FOI freedom of information public records, sunshine open public meetings a key person at our city's Boston City Council is the staff director. A new staff director is needed who'll put into practice not merely enunciate principles of open government.

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By adamg on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 8:43pm.

Robert Ambrogi, a lawyer, recalls when he testified before a committee chaired by Wilkerson last year on putting actual teeth into the Open Meeting Law:

Surprising to me is that when I testified before Sen. Wilkerson on the need for open meeting law reform, she spoke forcefully in agreement. As a matter of fact, she co-chaired that hearing on June 19, 2007 -- just one day after the alleged bra-stuffing incident. ... Could the BLB's "smoke and mirrors" be the smoking gun that leads to open meeting law reform?

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