The Globe reports that to aid the private organizing group's Olympic bid, he agreed to ban "city employees from criticizing Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Games."
No word on just what sort of penalties city workers would get for daring to criticize the private, un-elected group of rich business owners attempting to jam something down the throats of a city that may or may not want the games, let alone saying anything untoward about the undemocratic plutocrats at the IOC who see the games as their own personal plaything.
Read the document for yourself.
Update: The mayor's office has issued a statement:
Mayor Walsh is not looking to limit the free speech of his employees and, as residents of Boston, he fully supports them participating in the community process. This was standard boilerplate language for the Joinder Agreement with the USOC that all applicant cities have historically signed. The Mayor looks forward to the first citywide community meeting that will be held next week.
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Comments
Can I take back....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:51am
... my vote?
I'm horrified
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:57am
Who is advising this guy?
so am I
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:59am
This crap I don't tolerate..
The unions and real estate
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:33pm
The unions and real estate interests have told their puppet to dance and dance he shall.
Let me be the first to say...
By dmcboston
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:53pm
...I think the Olympics here is an excellent idea and I fully support it. The MBTA will have totally new (um, old new) engines spinning on the finest of Chinese bearings, the coaches (the rolling stock kind, not the football kind) will be second to none and Herbert Matter will design a new logo.
http://vimeo.com/7100682
So...
By dmcboston
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:57pm
...tends to strike a blow for anonymous comments.
Micheal, you get what you pay
By Boston_Bloke
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:15pm
Micheal, you get what you pay for. Everyone knew Walsh was a tool of the unions during the campaign. So why would one expect him to behave differently regarding the Olympics?
Shame on you Marty
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:53am
I am very sorry I voted for you. Can we have a recall election?
I don't think Mass law....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:33pm
... provides for recalls. While some municipalities do offer this remedy, i do not think Boston is one of these.
How do we find out?
By Emmanuel
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:07pm
I can ask around--work where there's lot of lawyers.
Fall River just had a special election for a recall. It's a city in MA which suggests Boston might be able to recall Walsh if there really were interest.
http://wpri.com/2014/10/09/date-set-for-recall-ele...
I think a city or town has to get state legislative approval...
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:47pm
... in order to allow recall elections for municipal officers (here in Massachusetts). For instance, Lancaster was grantyed the authority to permit recalls just last year. I have a strong suspicion that Boston has never wanted to give its citizens this sort of power over city government.
No recalls in Boston
By Anonyme
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:51pm
Boston does not have a provision for recall elections, for mayor or city councilor.
Connolly.
By SoBo-Yuppie
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:55pm
This is exactly why i voted for John Connolly.
I'll be voting for whoever is running against Walsh in 3 years.
Wait, what?
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 4:45pm
Do the IOC overlords permit regime change until after the games?
Yeh!
By mplo
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:22pm
What makes you think that John Connolly wouldn't have done likewise?
Connolly wasnt in bed with
By SoBo-Yuppie
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:24pm
Connolly wasnt in bed with the corrupt unions.
Profits doubled over 30 years, wages fell by exactly same amount
By Anonymous
Fri, 01/23/2015 - 4:13am
This is why we have unions
By Kaz
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:53am
A lot of city workers are unionized (most?). I'm going to bet whatever retribution he has in mind for them will violate their HR due process.
This should be fun to watch.
THIS. I keep having to
By Irmo
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:57pm
THIS. I keep having to explain to Mrs. Irmo that much as she does not support the Democratic Party and dislikes the way teacher unions tie in with it, those unions are the same reason she can speak her mind and keep on teaching, and the reason I can speak my mind and not have her suffer retaliation.
Indeed People ,unless they
By kvn
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:16pm
Indeed People ,unless they have been in that particular situation , do not understand that unions restore human dignity back to the worker. I never had a boss that was better than me because he was a boss. I may have had smarter bosses for sure. There are social issues on this site that people seem to get the vapors over , but everyone for the most part seems to hate unions here. America only works when America works, be productive out there ,and respect your tools!
Bonus combo fun pic , America at work , and Hydrogen is our friend,
https://lh5.ggpht.com/_SS_090GhwNYfqHvC8iuNaw0aG_A...
Unions are nothing more than
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:16pm
Unions are nothing more than another level of bosses and management. You don't DARE vote or voice against them unless you want bad things to happen.
Need balls I guess sometimes.
By kvn
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:42pm
Need balls I guess sometimes , a Union is only as good as its members.
That's nice dear
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:48pm
My husband grew up in a public employee union household. He had healthcare, dental care, braces if he needed them, scholarship money, etc. When inflation hit, his dad's wages kept pace more or less.
My dad worked for a state government, but did not have a union. We didn't have healthcare or dental care. When inflation hit, his wages were frozen in a screw the poor attempt to reign in inflation. When we became eligible for foodstamps as a result, he got just enough of a raise to prevent that.
Please take your empty rhetoric and shove it.
What is Anectodal? For 500
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:00pm
What is Anectodal? For 500
My My We We My We My
By relaxyapsycho
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:23pm
No one cares Swirl
I repeat
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 3:17pm
Shove it.
I didn't grow up in a union household or marry someone who did
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:31pm
I didn't grow up in a union household or marry someone who did but it's pretty clear who own all the assets in the country and who get all new incom-- the 1% get 95% of all new income-- and they don't give a rats ass about paying people a livable wage for a full time work. Public sector unions are the only counter balance to rapacious corporate greed, whose profits have hit record highs year after year since the end of the great recession
Does not compute
By Rob O
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 4:27pm
What do "public sector" unions have to do with "corporate" greed? One of the biggest knocks on public sector unions is that they bargain against the officials they elect and NOT "corporate fat cats."
Your point about income inequality getting worse is a good one, but reasonable people can disagree on whether unions (public or private) are a good way to address that.
Oops, I meant private sector unions.
By Anonymous
Fri, 01/23/2015 - 4:25am
How would you address income inequality, or livable wage for full time work?
Dental Plan
By SomerVillain
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:30pm
DENTAL PLAN
Swirly needs braces
DENTAL PLAN
Swirly needs braces
DENTAL PLAN
Swirly needs braces
DENTAL PLAN
Swirly needs braces
DENTAL PLAN
Swirly needs braces
DENTAL PLAN
Swirly needs braces
DENTAL PLAN
Swirly needs braces
Your "examples" are quite
By Boston_Bloke
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:13pm
Your "examples" are quite anecdotal. Your husband, your dad. Meanwhile you have never been in a union.
Unlike you I have been in a union sweetheart. My opinion of unions is based on experience, not what others tell me to think. They function well as a collective bargaining agent , but are largely corrupt, stifle innovation, and foster inefficiencies.
Simplistic much?
By whyaduck
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 3:06pm
Methinks you need a primer course: Unions 101
First Amendment
By Hyde_Parker
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:59am
Hello?
Walsh is coming across as a bully during his first year in office.
doesn't matter
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:01pm
doesn't matter when you are an employee. Many 'rights' go out the window..
(I agree with you but this has been tried and tried again and individuals have lost, and companies have one)
Government as employer makes it much stickier
By Kaz
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:10pm
http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt1cfrag5...
yeah
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:13pm
thats the caveat to my statement :) But yes you are correct.
Great info Kaz, helps answer this: Does he have the authority?
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:16pm
Apart from whether folks approve of this style of governance, does he have the authority?
thats my question
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:17pm
who is Mahty working for really? the citizens of the city of boston, or the USOC/IOC and the 1% who are 'supporting' the Olympic bid.
Seems to me that its not the citizens.....
Its clear who
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:57pm
This statement from the Globe found here says it all (this may be a paywall)
Marty who do you work for? The taxpayers or the USOC.. sounds like you work for the USOC and putting their best interests first over the city's.
Time for you to go.
The IOC _demands_ this sort of ...
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:19pm
... authoritarian BS. The IOC is close to pure evil.
("Mom, Dad, don't touch it, it's evil..." Did they listen, no.)
I definitely
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:24pm
I definitely don't approve of this style of governance. The IOC is unaccountable that's why they think these demands are reasonable. Marty is accountable. He'll hear it from people on the street, in the newspaper, and on Election Day.
Corruption
By BlackKat
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:25pm
It's hard to say who is more like a James Bond super villain. The IOC? Or FIFA?
Photo finish....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:30pm
...deckared a tie.
The IOC, USOC, the whole
By lbb
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 3:05pm
The IOC, USOC, the whole "Olympic Movement" manages the most amazing feat of simultaneously maintaining a wholesome, clean-cut image while being one of the most corrupt organizations on the face of the earth. And don't get me started on WADA/USADA...
Walsh is being an idiot, in plain terms. He better tear up that agreement before the ink dries or it'll come back to haunt him.
(edit: and I bet I'm one of a very few who got the "don't touch it" reference)
It's evil....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 3:13pm
Time Bandits.
;-}
Lawyers can settle that
By Kaz
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:27pm
It's going to come down largely to what the person says that ends up being a "violation" of this rejoinder (e.g. "The Olympics are going to be allowed to execute 20 people at random each day was in part of the paperwork I just worked on!" versus "The IOC members just passed by my office and they smell like burning grease, children's tears, and brimstone had a baby then ate it.").
In all seriousness...
By Tommy Jeff
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:59am
...fuck this guy.
Censorship, Mahty?
By Kaz
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:11pm
I'm pretty sure the First Amendment trumps his rejoinder agreement. This isn't some company-to-company rejoinder where the companies are agreeing to not screw each other. This is the government telling its citizen employees that they can't say or write whatever they please. There's a different, more entangled, working relationship between Marty and Jack and Jill in BTD than there is between Rupert Murdoch and Shawn Hannity. When the government is the employer they also have the pesky responsibility of also being the government too.
See my link above regarding when and how Marty can and can't restrict his employees' speech.
on record, off record
By MadMax
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:27pm
In what info the article had, critically, it didn't distinguish between employees making on the record comments versus off the record.
It seems reasonable for the mayor to recommend that the gov-t be consistent. Now if the joinder limits off the record comments, that sounds baldly unconstituitional.
We need more info on the joinder before we read into this.
Info?
By Suldog
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 6:42pm
[If any typos, they are mine. I could not copy this from the source I found, so I typed it in here.]
In Section 2.05, the joinder says "The City, including it's employees, officers and representatives, shall not make, publish, or communicate to any Person, or communicate in any public forum, any comments or statements (written or oral), that reflect unfavorably upon, denigrate or disparage, or are detrimental to the reputation or statute of the IOC, the IPC, the USOC, the IOC bid, the bid committee, or the Olympics or Paralympic movement. The City, including it's employees, officers and representatives, shall promote the Bid Committee, the USOC, the IOC bid, U. S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls, and the Olympic and Paralympic movement in a positive manner."
What more info could anyone possibly need? It is, in its entirety, an abridgement of the United States and Massachusetts right of free speech as given in the two Constitutions. Passing it off as "boilerplate" is either disingenuous or wholly deceitful. Any public official who knowingly signed such a document should be not only summarily dismissed from office for his failure to uphold the state Constitution, he should probably be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail.
If he signed it NOT knowing what that provision said, he should be dopeslapped by every citizen of the city who wishes to avail themselves of the opportunity.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Well, this changes my mind
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:03pm
No Olympics.
I can take the disruption. I can take the security. But suppressing free speech purely to land the games is a bit too much.
And yes, I do realize that employees, private or public, do lose some liberties while they are working, but this just seems extreme.
EDIT- Marty is walking this back, so I will too. Perhaps I won't change my views on the Olympics, but I am more than willing to wear a "no Olympics" button to work. Just because.
This is an EXCELLENT point
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:09pm
10 years before the Olympics come to town, our city government's chief exec. Mayor Walsh tries to enforce an embargo on free speech speech by city employees if they would say anything critical about the Olympics.
The Olympics are already making Boston less democratic.
Free Speech Cages (I Mean "zones") coming soon?
By peter
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:08pm
Were you here during the DNC in 2004? The security setup for that is being held up as a model for the Olympics here. One of the "features" we had were free speech zones, surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by snipers, which you were required to enter if you wanted to exercise your 1st amendment rights.
I think Marty should allow employees to say whatever they want, but only if they're in a similar kind of cage.
The DNC Was A Gas
By BlackKat
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 1:27pm
I worked on Canal Street at the time of the DNC. Nothing like getting tear gassed just trying to go to a sub shop for lunch or having a cigarette break out front.
"Walking back"
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:08pm
Short of getting the IOC tot delete or significantly amend this provision, promising "I'm going to ignore the legally bonding agreemen I signed" is meaningless.
Well
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:18pm
I can promise this to you personally. Get me an anti-Olympics button and I will wear it, if only in relation to work. Let's see how the IOC or the City takes it.
Not really
By Kaz
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 3:24pm
Let's say someone says something bad about the USOC and it gets to the press. Marty has a decision. He can violate the rejoinder and let the comment stand or he can enforce his part of the rejoinder and crack down on the employee and apologize to the USOC.
If he's not going to enforce the rejoinder, then if the USOC has a problem with that, they'll have to sue Boston. If Marty is going to enforce it and crack down on the staff member, then he's going to have to deal with the inevitable lawsuit from the employee. So, at this point, he's being sued either way. If he's willing to take on the USOC rather than an underling, then that's what he's saying. I'd be surprised if the USOC would sue its designated host city just because no other city would want to work with them for the added risk. So, he's probably made the politically and legally expedient decision.
Something tells me your mind
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:49pm
Something tells me your mind was made up before Marty's comment.
Isn't everyone's mind made up?
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:39pm
Unlike you, anon (not verified), I've actually posted my position on this very UHub (the Olympics would be great as long as the taxpayers aren't fleeced in the process).
However, I don't like being told by out of towners to play nice.
It has been decided
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:05pm
Every day the evidence mounts that it has been unilaterally decided by the Illuminati, excuse me, the "International Olympic Committee" that the Olympics will be held in Boston and that the people of Boston have absolutely no say in the matter.
Don't talk ill of donors
By anon²
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:10pm
Seems to be the implication. Must be nice to be rich and influential that your only concern is to bring this budget catastrophe to Boston and make sure your political buddies grease the wheels as much as possible while insuring your feelings aren't hurt.
Public Library Department Librarians banned from blogging...
By theszak
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:14pm
City of Boston Library Department Librarians are banned from blogging about Boston Public Library. It limits the public learning more about BPL Collections from Librarians with particular expertise. BPL Librarians/Staff should be encouraged to publish and blog about their expertise/interests !
Don Saklad! That's where you
By lbb
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 3:07pm
Don Saklad! That's where you went to!!!
Oh, come on
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:40pm
You never noticed the Sakladian writing style before.
one term mayor
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:13pm
Keep it up, Marty.
So
By El Danimal
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:16pm
in order to host the Olympics, you have to turn your city into Pyongyang? Well then, count me out.
YOU MUST NOT CRITICIZE THE DEAR LEADER!
well done..
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:20pm
..equating Marty Walsh with Kim Jong-un.
Well technically
By El Danimal
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:24pm
the IOC would be Kim Jong-Un in this scenario, but you get the point
Don't blame me...
By King.of.Brighton
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:17pm
I voted for Kodos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlcngdW2Ju4
yeeesh
By bibliotequetres...
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 12:18pm
He can probably forbid them from badmouthing the Olympic plans while at work, but can he do anything about their non-partisan, absolutely legal activities outside of work? And this can't possibly have any legs unless the IOC actually picks Boston, right?
In short, WTF?
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