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Flaherty says Lara needs to resign
By adamg on Fri, 07/21/2023 - 5:17pm
City Councilor Michael Flaherty, a former prosecutor, says Councilor Kendra Lara needs to quit now because she'd been driving without a license for years even before she crashed into a house on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, NBC Boston reports.
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Comments
I Agree
.
Same
And I wonder if people think she should be barred from re-applying for a license for a period of time or permanently.
I find it hard to believe that she drove without a license/insurance for years and this was her first instance of reckless driving.
That's on BPD who ignores all but the most egregious road violations, gotta wonder if she was pulled over and they just looked the other way.
I Agree
.
Of all people...
"Five Car" Mike Flaherty? Lara isn't resigning kids. She's going to face the court system not the lynching of ignorant racist townies. Then the voters.
You know
It's possible for two people to both be wrong.
The thing about the Lara case is there's absolutely no ambiguity. It's not a technicality where someone could plausibly misunderstand or be unaware of the law. It's not comment that might taken out of context.
Lara woefully disregarded many basic laws that absolutely every adult understands with perfect clarity. And she did so for a decade.
I'm not excusing
Lara's glaring lack of responsibility here, but to step down to satisfy the blood lust of the ignorant is ridiculous..
What blood lust?
What blood lust?
Egregious disregard for the law and for public safety are obviously disqualifying for a position of public trust, and people are calling on her to resign.
Haven't read a comment section in the Globe
or Twitter? The townies want her lynched.
Now just stop for a second
Maybe, just fucking maybe councilors should be held to a higher standard, or even a standard. Like for example say one is caught and fined by the ethics committee and also was conspiring with the US Attorney to use her office to assist his campaign, he would resign.
Just maybe when a councilor has been driving without a license for years, crashes her car, she should resign.
Just because some of the people calling for the resignation are detestable accounts on Twitter, does not make the issue invalid. Twitter is not the real world. Those accounts are largely the same collection of sock puppets. They do not represent a large number of people. They are absolutely irrelevant here.
What is relevant is that people with glaring red flags in their history and conduct should not be in office. It is just that simple.
Clear cut
My problem with people who support her is that this isn't the place to make a stand. Her actions are indisputably wrong. There's no subtext. It's rare everything is so cut and dry.
And there it is...
The claim that calling out a scofflaw who happens to be a person of color is a form of racism.
Everyone has lost their minds!
Five-Car focus
Focus on your own departure and don't let the door hit you on the way out "Five-Car".
Oh Please
She only made {counts on fingers}, like 8 avoidable mistakes, and only 5 were serious, and only 3 were continuously the last 10 years.
Lets be honest: who hasn't driven without a valid license for the past 10 years, drives unregistered & uninsured cars, goes twice the speed limit on residential streets, and skipped out on court appearance?
It's like I tell my wife -- the past ten years of seeing other women was only a misunderstanding, and I'm sorry, so lets just drop it.
/S
Just tell your wife
You are looking to be held accountable and you really embrace the process
My guess
Her pension will vest more by serving her full term. Usually people are motivated by financial reasons.
Let's hear from the devil
Let's hear from the devil advocates Karl, llb, etc
At the least, she should not run for re-election
There's a good argument that a vacancy leaves a district unrepresented, so she should serve out her term. But she definitely should not be re-elected, and she needs to recognize that.
The other argument would be
I’m safer with her not driving to work.
Some argue the Council needs to be shrunk. There’s less need because of technology now. Let’s try it out, I doubt I’ll notice her absence.
her district would notice
There is no excuse for her behavior, but conservatives never resign. Taking the high road has hurt the progressive movement. We need to play hard to win.
Taking the high road?
In a hysterical rush to inject racial diversity into local government, people were chosen willy nilly, and may I say, based on THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, NOT THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER. Many of them spend no time on the "high road". This is on those progressives, who are being just as arrogant and entitled as the old guard that they so loudly complain about.
As a white person who was rooting for more diverse representation, I'm frustrated as hell. And really tired of living in fear of being called "racist".
a little off topic
this is really the whole thing, isn’t it?
Kendra has done good things.
Kendra has done good things. What she did was wrong, so why are you afraid to let the voter's decide?
We're safer with her not
We're safer with her not driving. yes.
There are ways to get to work other than driving your own car--walk, take the T, take a cab or Lyft/Uber, get a bicycle....
Conversely, resigning from the city council wouldn't keep her off the roads: nobody here believes that only elected officials ever drive without a license, or while drunk, or dangerously fast.
is this true?
i’m not defending Lara’s actions at all and I agree that she should not seek re-election.
unless her license was revoked for safety reasons, i’m not sure how driving without a license is anything but a clerical issue.
It's significant
She had traffic offenses in MA and CT and skipped out on court appearances.
If you don't have a valid license, you can't have valid insurance. And without insurance, you're probably unable or unwilling to cover damage you cause. It's also less likely you're going to stop at all unless you total the car and literally can't drive away.
So the fact she didn't have a license isn't inconsequential. Keeping a valid driver's license is a low bar.
fair enough
re: insurance.
Honestly, fuck Mike Flaherty.
Honestly, fuck Mike Flaherty. I'm one of Kendra Lara's constituents and I'm looking forward to voting for her again. Despite what all the pearl clutchers in these comments (most of whom aren't even in her district) keep saying, I don't think traffic violations have anything at all to do with the good work she's been doing in the city council. The Venn diagram of people who were opposed to her candidacy in 2021 and the people who are calling for her resignation now is pretty close to a circle.
How do you trust her judgement?
She's allegedly been routinely operating a motor vehicle unlawfully for a decade? That's not running a red light once or sliding through a stop sign when no one is around.
She's in a position of responsibility in city government, one that sets rules for others to follow, but she won't follow a simple law we are all obligated to abide by, maintaining a license to operate a motor vehicle if we so choose to do so, and to operate one that is registered, inspected and insured.
Licenses in Massachusetts must be renewed every 5 years, if she lost her license in 2013, she's missed 2 renewals, which would make it very hard to claim ignorance about her status as a licensed driver. How do I trust someone to make sound policy decisions for me when they seemingly willfully do not follow the policies that they do not want to follow?
One of the charges she is facing is not a simple traffic violation, it is recklessly permitting bodily injury to a child.
She doesn't have to resign, and you can vote for her again, but if I was her constituent, I don't see how I could rationalize trusting her to make prudent decisions on my behalf at this time, based on the circumstances we've become aware of through this recent incident. If I can't trust someone, I don't care how good their work seems to look.
The child seat part
is the one part that doesn't bother me. As a parent who doesn't drive much, I've found it difficult to ensure that we always have a child seat, when we need it, of the correct size and style. Mostly this becomes an issue when we travel (you have to somehow get a taxi that has a child seat, of the right kind etc.) or you have to lug one of those huge things around along with your suitcase etc. -- but it's difficult even locally. We manage it, but I'm not going to demonize someone for a lapse.
The speeding, though? The lack of apology? Not renewing the license over a 10 year period? Entirely discretionary.
Councillors are in a position of public trust
and one of their primary duties is defining and upholding our laws. How can you justify voting for someone who not only was knowingly breaking the law in multiple ways, but hasn't even taken responsibility for it?
The best part is that she said she’s taking responsibility
For her actions, then pleads not guilty! Additionally, she’s sticking the homeowner with a big repair bill because she didn’t have insurance.
How anyone can support this woman is insane. She told the cops she has a license, but left it at home. She broke 8 laws in one swoop, never took responsibility for her actions, screwed some poor old lady because she doesn’t know how to drive, and issued the biggest joke of an apology.