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Comments
Gross.
This is a big loss for Suffolk as the greater of two evils has prevailed. Not only has Hayden reversed the majority of Rollins’ popular reforms, he also was caught red handed covering up police abuse of power, took bribes (at least according to his own lawyer), and seemingly abused his post to cynically leak confidential information to hurt his opponent in the final weeks of the election.
Arroyo is no saint either (and may well have sexually assaulted at least one woman as a teen), but he was on the right side of the reforms badly needed to address our criminal justice system, police accountability, and the opioid crisis. Now we have a DA who has abused his power on multiple occasions and probably took bribes this year. There is no question Hayden is the greater evil and the wrong choice to advance equity and justice in Boston.
Grosser
Did you just imply the accusations against Arroyo and Hayden are equivalent? Now THAT is gross.
"Yeah, he might have sexually assaulted someone, BUT"
It was a shitshow, I depended
It was a shitshow, I depended on the mayor to help me understand her endorsements and she let me down. I am pleased that no woman needs to depend on Arroyo's ability to hear her.
Loose either way
Ignoring corrupt cops was the worse of the offenses between the two men, IMHO. I have no faith Hayden will be any more responsive to sexual assault victims than Arroyo.
After all, Hayden is the one who dropped the ball on the sex offender registry.
I blame the Globe for running non-stop coverage of Arroyo over the past two weeks and all but ignoring their previous reporting on Hayden.
Leaking sealed records of minors is pretty bad, too.
Arroyo was 16 at the time of the 2005 allegation and investigation. Please don’t take this as me defending Arroyo’s behavior in 2005, but rules are rules. Minor offenders get to have their records sealed and their name withheld from the public. It applies to everyone. Kevin Hayden abused his position to illegally leak these sensitive documets to win a primary election.
Minor victims of potential sex crimes have the right to privacy. Hayden violated the privacy of two women who were minors at the time that their complaints were investigated for the sole purpose of digging up dirt on his opponent. He chose to leak the sealed record of these then-minors and use these women’s trauma for political gain.
I think the 2005 complaint against Arroyo (age 16) is credible and some may find the fact that the law shields bad behavior by minors to be flawed. But it is the law after all and Kevin Hayden’s whole job is to lead law enforcement. It’s just so gross that Hayden would use current and former BPD personnel to leak and leverage the records of three minors, two of them were girls subject to sexual trauma, for ~5,000 votes.
What an endorsement
"He may be a rapist but he's our rapist."
Might be
Arroyo might be a rapist. Hayden is corrupt.
I couldn’t bring myself to
I couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of them, I’m sure there were others who did the same.
I did the same. There seemed
I did the same. Hayden looks like a return to the bad old days. There seemed to be a lot of grey areas about what Arroyo may have done or not done as a teen. The thing that mostly kept me from voting for him was his level of experience, competence and passion to get the job done. I just couldn't see it, it seemed more like political opportunism.
S A M E
I got to the ballot section for them and was like "I cant consciously vote for either one of these guys"
Haydens fliers just turned me off. It reeked of maga-like, fear mongering.
Yeah all set with that.
Arroyo just dug his own hole.
Same
I actually wrote myself in, even though I am not a lawyer.
Yep
I wrote in Rachel Rollins. What a disgraceful set of choices.
Hayden Should Be Impeached
I said this before, but I would hope Beacon Hill is looking into Hayden's behavior around this election and his actions described in the Globe article regarding burying of cops' misbehavior, because it sure seems like what he did was criminal, or at least conduct unbecoming a DA.
Misconduct
Hayden should be under investigation by the AG and the MA Bar. His misconduct is clear, recent, and demonstrable.
How could anybody trust his decisions as DA, knowing that he is dishonest and corrupt? Will his decisions be overturned in future on the basis of his personal and professional lack of integrity?
We need
a write-in candidate for the general election.
If I lived in Suffolk County
I'd write in Martha Coakley, if there is no better candidate.
Seriously. I haven't been as disgusted by a Massachusetts election since John Silber, and maybe even more so than that one. I do feel glad I don't have to vote in this one but for all of you that do ... I am so, so sorry.
Write-in: Daniel Mulhern
When Rachel Rollins resigned to take her federal position, she let it be known that she wanted to see Daniel Mulhern replace her.
I am going to write him in and I know of others who are doing the same.
I'm considering starting a campaign to bring more attention to this. Hopefully we can elect him instead.
Smoking gun?
How come everyone’s so sure that Hayden was behind the leak?
I dunno. Maybe because…
1.) Hayden’s BPD driver is the same detective whol closed out the Arroyo case in 2006.
2.) The leak is a crime.
3.) Hayden, as the county’s top prosecutor would know that it’s a crime. Instead of taking the opportunity to investigate and prosecute the leak, he hired a former BPD cop as a private investigator to harass the two alleged minor victims in this case who he not-so-subtly threatened that they “were about to be a part of a political scandal” all for the purpose of digging up more dirt on his political opponent.
Sleazy isn’t a crime (2x)
Seems like only item (1) is any indication of responsibility. Item (3) makes Hayden sound sleazy, but not necessarily culpable.
At least he wasn’t the only sleazy guy on the ticket.
Whatever the outcome here, I wish voters would stop prioritising candidate professions of right and orthodox views (aka, ideology) over qualifications and character.
That such a critical mass of voters were willing to sign off on a patently inexperienced guy for DA shows just how little regard they have for competence and the actual nuts and bolts of heading a major outfit. RR was boundlessly more qualified than Arroyo, no?
Corrupt, not sleazy.
It’s naive to believe (1) is a coincidence. The previously corrupt Hayden deserves no benefit of the doubt based on his track record.
And sleazy is too generous a word. It is blatantly corrupt and a solid indicator of his character. It’s an abuse of power. And the fact that Hayden is so inept in his three scandals (each of which should be wholly disqualifying in their own right) shows an astonishing level of incompetence and lack of qualifications. Like, at least be competent in your corruption.
Hayden had his hands on the criminally-leaked document well before the Globe told us about it and still hasn’t announced an investigation into who leaked it. Instead, he seized the fruit of the poison tree and ran with it to harass then-minor victims of alleged sexual crimes. Why isn’t Kevin Hayden investigating the source of the leak? Because he already knows where it came from.