Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBSY, Boston's Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, welcome back everyone, Thanks very much, Carol, and we
Speaker 2: moved to the second hour tonight, nine o'clock and we're
Speaker 2: going to talk with Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn. For
Speaker 2: a long time council of Flynn has talking about some
Speaker 2: ethics reform at the Boston City Council. I'm suggesting there
Speaker 2: should be ethics reform throughout Boston City Hall. Ed Flynn,
Speaker 2: welcome back to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm doing well, Dan, It's great to be with you.
Speaker 3: It's great to be with your listening audience as well.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: I really appreciate the way you have conducted yourself over
Speaker 2: over your career and of course over your when your
Speaker 2: dad was mayor. This we've got some we've had some problems.
Speaker 2: This is the second city councilor that has really, I
Speaker 2: think disgraced the council. And we're talking about Boston City
Speaker 2: Councilor Tania Fernandez Anderson. It was interesting The Globe today,
Speaker 2: I think described her in their front page article as
Speaker 2: an embattled counselor. And I just think that that's an interesting,
Speaker 2: uh choice of adjective to describe the situation that she
Speaker 2: finds herself in. I mean she she apparently has agreed,
Speaker 2: has has agreed to plead guilty. She's not been sentenced yet,
Speaker 2: but she could be facing up to a year and
Speaker 2: a day in jail under the under the agreement. That
Speaker 2: should not reflect on other members of the City Council,
Speaker 2: but it does. Would you agree?
Speaker 3: And Dan, I definitely agree. It should not reflect on us,
Speaker 3: but it certainly does. And I was at three events
Speaker 3: last night and people coming up to me and asking
Speaker 3: me about the case, and they were saying, well, Ed,
Speaker 3: what is the city Council going to do about it?
Speaker 3: You know, we don't want the status quo? Ed, what
Speaker 3: changes are you making? How are you going to improve
Speaker 3: the ethics on the city council. This is a poor
Speaker 3: reflection on the city of Boston, the residents of Boston,
Speaker 3: Dan so ys to answer you directly, It's a reflection
Speaker 3: on every residence of the City of Boston, whether we
Speaker 3: like it or not. It is a reflection on us,
Speaker 3: especially elected officials as well.
Speaker 2: So what can be done? When you think about ethics,
Speaker 2: you sort of draw the line between ethics and a
Speaker 2: criminal act and Obviously the councilor, Tanya Fernandez Anderson was
Speaker 2: indicted and now she has pled guilty, apparently to this
Speaker 2: sort of payoff system where she gave she gave a raise,
Speaker 2: as I understand the charge to a relative, but with
Speaker 2: the understanding that part of that thirteen thousand dollars raise
Speaker 2: that she gave to the relative would be kicked back.
Speaker 2: My question is why are city councilors employing relatives.
Speaker 3: Well, they're not allowed to dan by law. She hired
Speaker 3: her a relative anyway, and maybe the relative didn't have
Speaker 3: the same last name. I don't know exactly what the
Speaker 3: circumstance was. It's going back several years. But by law,
Speaker 3: you're not able to hire your relative.
Speaker 2: How did they define relative? In other words, obviously a
Speaker 2: member of your immediate family as a relative. What about
Speaker 2: if I'm your brother in law and I need a job.
Speaker 2: Am I a relative as your brother in law?
Speaker 3: I believe so. I believe that would disqualify you from
Speaker 3: working for a city councilor who is a member of
Speaker 3: the family, whether it's a brother in law or sister
Speaker 3: in law. But I think that would preclude you from
Speaker 3: working in a city council's office.
Speaker 2: So how how is that then at this point without
Speaker 2: the ethics reform that I guess you're looking for, how
Speaker 2: is that monitored? Or who's in charge? I mean you
Speaker 2: see someone in their office and there they have a
Speaker 2: different last name. Uh, and are they supposed to prove it?
Speaker 2: Who has the burden of proof? Is the burden of
Speaker 2: proof on the the counselor that that they have not
Speaker 2: had any relatives on their staff? How does how does
Speaker 2: that work? I mean, how does that happen? I guess
Speaker 2: is what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Well, it's not. It's not necessarily monitored as as strictly
Speaker 3: as as it could be. And you know when an
Speaker 3: elected official does. When the elected official is sworn in,
Speaker 3: they signed documents saying that they would not hire relatives,
Speaker 3: and they understand what the rules are. And if you
Speaker 3: have a different last name, you know, it can be
Speaker 3: challenging to prove otherwise.
Speaker 2: No, I've never been an elected official, and god knows
Speaker 2: the people of Massachusetts, I'm sure would be appalled at
Speaker 2: the possibility of me being an elected official in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: But I would think from a point of view of
Speaker 2: an elected official, it would be good to have an
Speaker 2: ethical rule because as long as you had that ethical rule,
Speaker 2: you can say to some cousin who says, jeez, i'm
Speaker 2: kind of hitting on tough times here, I wouldn't mind.
Speaker 2: They're doing a little work for you if you could
Speaker 2: find me a spot on your staff.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: It gives the elected official not only the obligation, but
Speaker 2: it kind of gives them the ability to say to
Speaker 2: that relative, gee, you know I was up to me.
Speaker 2: But it's a different story. But I'm precluded by by
Speaker 2: I assume it's as simple it's a city council regulation
Speaker 2: that does that, or is that a City of Boston regulation.
Speaker 3: That the city council regulation? A city councilor cannot hire
Speaker 3: someone from their immediate family and I do know that's
Speaker 3: sister in law or brother in law.
Speaker 2: Okay, So how long has that been on the books?
Speaker 2: Is if that's on the books, it should be enforced.
Speaker 2: Was that I assume there must have been a time
Speaker 2: when that wasn't on the books.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been on the books for a while, and
Speaker 3: it is. It has been enforced in the past under
Speaker 3: various scenarios. But each city councilor knows clearly that that's
Speaker 3: against the rule, and you cannot do that.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's do this. We'll take a break. I want
Speaker 2: to come back and talk about it. And I also
Speaker 2: want to talk this particular counselor. And I don't want
Speaker 2: to dance on anyone's grave. But she's been very controversial
Speaker 2: even today at the at city Hall. I watched some
Speaker 2: of the reporting on the local news to and she
Speaker 2: doesn't seem at all ashamed of this. She was very
Speaker 2: overtly arrogant to some of the reporters. She picked which
Speaker 2: reporters she would talk to. She hasn't actually announced she's
Speaker 2: announced an intention to resign, but she hasn't given a
Speaker 2: date by which she will resigned. Do you when I
Speaker 2: get back, I want to ask you about that. And again,
Speaker 2: I'm not looking to, you know, kick someone when they're down.
Speaker 2: That's not my style. But I was kind of appalled
Speaker 2: by the demeanor that she appeared to strike. I was
Speaker 2: watching some of the newscast tonight and it seemed to
Speaker 2: me inconsistent with with her situation, with her circumstance. If
Speaker 2: you get my drift, we'll come back with Boston City
Speaker 2: Councilor Ed Flynn, And I'd also like to hear from
Speaker 2: residents not only of Boston, but in the surrounding area.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's too much to ask elected officials
Speaker 2: that they don't put their own relatives on the payroll. Uh.
Speaker 2: And it's also not too much to ask elected officials,
Speaker 2: UH if they do ever elective or anyone in the payroll,
Speaker 2: don't give them a raise and then expect to get
Speaker 2: a kickback in cash in a bathroom, which is what
Speaker 2: Fernandez Anderson I believe has has played guilty to. That's
Speaker 2: that was the primary allegation for which he was indicted.
Speaker 2: We'll talk with Ed Flynn and you if you'd like
Speaker 2: six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one seven,
Speaker 2: nine thirty And if you are a Boston resident, you
Speaker 2: know Ed Flynn's done a good job for the city
Speaker 2: of Boston. Wouldn't be a bad idea to give us
Speaker 2: a call and uh and give him a pat on
Speaker 2: the back, because frankly, we need more Ed Flynn's in
Speaker 2: the Boston City Council. In my humble opinion, more people
Speaker 2: like Ed Flynn, longtime Boston residents who are there for
Speaker 2: the right reason. Back on night said, right after.
Speaker 1: This, it's Night Side Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: We're talking with Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, and we've we've,
Speaker 2: we've you know, uh, the I was watching. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you saw any of her demeanor today the
Speaker 2: city councilor who is now you know facing apparently is
Speaker 2: going to plead guilty, has signed an agreement to plead guilty,
Speaker 2: and it's facing actual jail time for you know, what
Speaker 2: you would say is a fairly craven exercise of not
Speaker 2: only authority over a subordinate but also, you know, something
Speaker 2: that a politician should not be doing. I mean, she
Speaker 2: should have, she should not. She does not necessarily need
Speaker 2: to know all the rules and regulations of the Boston
Speaker 2: City councilor the What she did was wrong in my opinion,
Speaker 2: and she walked around there today like she almost had
Speaker 2: something to be proud of. Did you did you watch
Speaker 2: any of that today play out outside of the chamber
Speaker 2: or no. I don't want to put you on the
Speaker 2: spot here, but I just want to find out if
Speaker 2: what I saw on television you may have seen yourself.
Speaker 3: Dan, I didn't see any of it. I didn't see
Speaker 3: any of any of it play out. I didn't see
Speaker 3: the television stations. I did hear about it, but I
Speaker 3: didn't witness it myself.
Speaker 2: Okay, last last question before we get to start to
Speaker 2: get the phone calls. Do you know when she's going
Speaker 2: to resign? Is she just going to hang in there
Speaker 2: as long as she can until the court date.
Speaker 3: No, I think she's going to resign in the immediate future.
Speaker 3: I would I would expect that she would resign in
Speaker 3: the next seven days, although she hasn't committed.
Speaker 2: Twenty things is I think that in order to have
Speaker 2: a special election in that district, if she can hang on,
Speaker 2: I think to like May seventh or something like that,
Speaker 2: then there would be no special election, and even when
Speaker 2: she vacates the seat, the people in that district would
Speaker 2: not have representation. You're I'm sure you're aware of that
Speaker 2: loophole in the law. They would not have a special
Speaker 2: election that close to an election because it would be
Speaker 2: a lot of money to have somebody serve for two
Speaker 2: or three months. That's apparently the underlying reason for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's accurate, Dan. So I think she would have
Speaker 3: to resign by mid mid May for there to be
Speaker 3: a special election, and then so there would be literally
Speaker 3: two elections in that short period of time. So it'd
Speaker 3: be basically like July and August and then September and November.
Speaker 2: So what other reforms ethics reforms are you proposing and
Speaker 2: what sort of reaction are you getting from it? Colleagues,
Speaker 2: give us some examples that people will understand that, in
Speaker 2: your opinion, need to be adopted by the city council.
Speaker 3: Well, Dan, several months ago, I proposed having a standalone
Speaker 3: ethics committee like the State House does. The mass House
Speaker 3: of Representatives has a ethics committee. I would want one
Speaker 3: for the Boston City Council. I propose this, and my
Speaker 3: colleagues voted it down for various reasons. But I think
Speaker 3: it's time for us to revisit that. And maybe it
Speaker 3: would not be just city council is on the ethics
Speaker 3: committee itself. Maybe it might be people throughout the city,
Speaker 3: maybe some type of college professors or ethics professors or
Speaker 3: business people. But I do think we need some type
Speaker 3: of committee that would hold city councilors accountable. That was
Speaker 3: voted down, but I'm I'm going forward with it again.
Speaker 3: Maybe a different type of opportunity for us to do that.
Speaker 2: How close was the vote when when it came? What
Speaker 2: was the vote? Do you remember?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 3: I don't, but I don't believe it was close. My
Speaker 3: colleagues advocated against it. They didn't think it was necessary
Speaker 3: for various reasons. In one of the reasons was they
Speaker 3: didn't want city councilors holding other city councilors, you know,
Speaker 3: responsible or accountable.
Speaker 2: But you would you just addressed that if you could,
Speaker 2: they could put together a committee. I have, you know,
Speaker 2: a couple of former judges. There are retired judges who
Speaker 2: who are always you know, involved in sort of these things, mediations, arbitration.
Speaker 2: They could be easy to put together a five member
Speaker 2: committee which would which would not meet very often, and
Speaker 2: I suspect they would probably do it at for for
Speaker 2: no cost, and that a lot of the judges would
Speaker 2: be willing to give back some time. I suspect a
Speaker 2: couple of judges, a couple of lawyers or whatever, maybe
Speaker 2: a citizen representative. I think that there's a lot of
Speaker 2: ways to do that so that none of the councilors
Speaker 2: are put in the position where they have to stand
Speaker 2: in judgment or sit in judgment of their colleagues.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, I agree.
Speaker 3: I think that's a great, a great avenue to pursue.
Speaker 3: And that's that's something I would like to pursue. And
Speaker 3: the other the other couple of options besides having an
Speaker 3: ethics committee, which I desperately think we need to, but
Speaker 3: i'd also like city councilors in the mayor, but focused
Speaker 3: on the city councilors to release their state in federal taxes.
Speaker 3: I think I think that's important and maybe over the
Speaker 3: over the past five years. And we also dan have
Speaker 3: to to file a form a financial interest form Statement
Speaker 3: of financial interest in that form is yearly. It goes
Speaker 3: to the city clerk and we signed it under the
Speaker 3: pains and penalties of perjury. But I think we also
Speaker 3: we also should be sending that document as well to
Speaker 3: the mass State Ethics Committee, not just to the city clerk.
Speaker 3: And I think that form should be public.
Speaker 6: It is.
Speaker 3: It is public now if you if you go into
Speaker 3: the city clerk in person and request it. But I
Speaker 3: do think any state or reason why you want it.
Speaker 3: But I do think that type of form should be
Speaker 3: should be public inaccessible as well.
Speaker 2: In this day and age of you know, the Internet
Speaker 2: and UH and computers and AI. No reason why because
Speaker 2: at that point obviously the you know, they probably can
Speaker 2: play all sorts of games well you've got to file
Speaker 2: a Freedom of the Nation request and then you have
Speaker 2: to pay ten dollars a page, and they that's that's
Speaker 2: many ways in which people get frustrated when they're trying
Speaker 2: to figure out what's going on. I agree with you.
Speaker 2: It should. It just should be made public and there
Speaker 2: for everyone, for all the world to say. Simple, simple
Speaker 2: as that. And I want to take a break, and
Speaker 2: I want to hear what people think. The lines are
Speaker 2: full at six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
Speaker 2: We got Jack, Bob and Ron there and I got
Speaker 2: a couple of lines at six one, seven, nine three, one,
Speaker 2: ten thirty. We'll be back on night side right after
Speaker 2: the news at the bottom of the era. My guess
Speaker 2: is Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn. His dad was mayor
Speaker 2: of this city for about ten years from nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: three to on nineteen ninety three. Uh did a great
Speaker 2: job as mayor. Just you know, I thought one of
Speaker 2: the series of great mayors in Boston. UH and UH.
Speaker 2: And Ed is following in his footsteps. As you probably know,
Speaker 2: Ed served in the US Navy for over twenty years,
Speaker 2: and then he's following in the footsteps of his father
Speaker 2: as a Boston City councilor family that gives a lot
Speaker 2: of genuine service, genuine service, not self service, but genuine
Speaker 2: service to residents in Boston. We'll be back on Nightside
Speaker 2: right after this.
Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: My guess Boston City council Ed Flynn, councilor. Let's get
Speaker 2: some phone calls, see what people think about this. This
Speaker 2: is this is a stunning fall from grace for a
Speaker 2: Boston City councilor who actually came here from another part
Speaker 2: of the world. And I don't know, maybe maybe somehow
Speaker 2: Someway didn't understand what the standards of in this country are.
Speaker 2: But boy, she disgraced herself, and she disgraced the city
Speaker 2: council and disgrace the city of Boston. Let me go next. First,
Speaker 2: Jack is a Newton Hey, Jack, welcome you. Next on
Speaker 2: night Side, you're on with Boston City councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 5: Hi, how do you do, Jack Porter or pleasure to
Speaker 5: talk to you. I think I have.
Speaker 6: On this.
Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you. I handle on this as a sociologist,
Speaker 5: uh mental health stress. I know that people in the
Speaker 5: Cape Verde and community. I've talked to psychologists there. They
Speaker 5: have a lot of stress. In one case where you
Speaker 5: know sister guys in childbirth and cavebrity. Another one, a
Speaker 5: brother you know dies in an accident. If you told
Speaker 5: me that, you know, death and is very prominent. And
Speaker 5: that's one stress. The other is if you're a woman,
Speaker 5: if you're a woman of color, if you're a single
Speaker 5: woman of color, there's going to be you know, more
Speaker 5: stress on you. So you need to have mental health.
Speaker 5: Part of your bill that you want to introduce is
Speaker 5: mental health. It's not an excuse, though you're right, you
Speaker 5: can't excuse.
Speaker 7: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I think Professor Dershwitz wrote this book called the excuse defense.
Speaker 5: That's because you have this doesn't mean you can get
Speaker 5: away with breaking the law. You still have to be punished.
Speaker 5: But I think we have to understand distresses that Dominican
Speaker 5: uh death for American women and capability and women I'm
Speaker 5: talking about, I mean Wilkinson member, she also built the
Speaker 5: law term that.
Speaker 2: Was the state senator who stuff who stuff pictures of
Speaker 2: dead presidents in her in her bra on camera. If
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, she was under a lot of stress.
Speaker 5: Do you think that that that's a factor here.
Speaker 2: You're asking me or ed Flynn. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 3: Counsel Jack, I don't know. I don't want to dismiss
Speaker 3: that outright. I just don't know the answer to it.
Speaker 3: I do know what what what I do. What I
Speaker 3: know about is, you know, she she entered the guilty
Speaker 3: play today and she she accepted or she's going to
Speaker 3: accept responsibility. I think there will be some type of
Speaker 3: commitment to federal prison. But I could not speak about
Speaker 3: mental health related issues at all. I'm sorry. I don't
Speaker 3: have a I really don't have an answer or an
Speaker 3: opinion on that.
Speaker 2: You know, Jack, I think you I think you're painting
Speaker 2: with a broad brush. I really do. I think that
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people in different groups, different groups, men, women,
Speaker 2: older folks. There are folks who are more your age
Speaker 2: and my age who are are seeing the sunset of
Speaker 2: their lives approaching, and some of them, you know, are
Speaker 2: facing financial problems. I mean, a lot of people have stress.
Speaker 2: It doesn't justify doing you're familiar with what this city
Speaker 2: councilor has admitted to doing. I assume you're familiar with
Speaker 2: the case. I'm not gonna yeah, yeah, right, that's what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, I mean, this is this is not someone
Speaker 2: who understress blew up and yelled inappropriate words during a
Speaker 2: city council hearing. This is someone who engaged in what
Speaker 2: would be considered to be a pretty craven act. I mean,
Speaker 2: giving money to a raised to a relative who shouldn't
Speaker 2: be on the payroll.
Speaker 5: See how angry she is. You can see that it's
Speaker 5: just not normal behavior. Cal lend her actions not normal.
Speaker 2: The woman that that that that crashed the car. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well again, I don't know. I think that there were
Speaker 2: plenty of people of Cape Verdian extraction and and and
Speaker 2: all sorts of groups of minority and majority who conduct
Speaker 2: themselves very well. I mean, we could turn around and
Speaker 2: we could we could say, look at the stress that
Speaker 2: Harvey Weinstein was under. The Hollywood producer.
Speaker 4: Maybe he was.
Speaker 2: Maybe, you know, Jack, you can't. You can't use stress
Speaker 2: for every person who breaks the wall.
Speaker 5: I know that I agree with Hill. They should bear.
Speaker 5: And I'm saying it's a factor to understand what is happening.
Speaker 5: You know, stress on baseball players, the stress on people
Speaker 5: who are in politics, one of the factors is that
Speaker 5: they are women and a minority. It doesn't mean I'm.
Speaker 2: Feeling stress right now, Jack is a talk show host.
Speaker 2: Because they think you're getting angry at me, Jack, I'm
Speaker 2: feeling stress. I need to get to a counselist. Oh yeah, okay, Jack,
Speaker 2: I appreciate that point of view. Very thoughtful. As always,
Speaker 2: we you and I might see it a little differently,
Speaker 2: But thank you for your call. Have a good mine.
Speaker 2: Let's keep thank you, Jack, Let's keep rolling. He're going
Speaker 2: to go to Bob and Walpole. Bob, you got any
Speaker 2: stress you'd like to let us know about.
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, work, what's the maximum sentence that she can reserve?
Speaker 2: I don't know what the maximum sentence is. I will
Speaker 2: tell you that apparently the US Attorney's Office is apparently
Speaker 2: going to recommend a year and a day in custody
Speaker 2: and the three years of supervised probation upon release. You
Speaker 2: got to turn that radio down, Barb. We got a
Speaker 2: lot of noise in the background. I don't know if
Speaker 2: that's going to cause your stress.
Speaker 4: Okay, I shut off the radio. But here's my thing.
Speaker 4: She knew exactly what she was doing. Why do they
Speaker 4: always get off almost scott free? Why don't they get
Speaker 4: the maximum sentence? She knew on purpose.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, well, first of all, it's part of a plean
Speaker 2: a plea negotiation. Uh. And the the U. S. Attorney's
Speaker 2: Office probably takes into consideration a lot of factors. The
Speaker 2: fact that she did this while in a public in
Speaker 2: elected public office, that works against her, frankly, because the
Speaker 2: argument is that she would have betrayed the trust not
Speaker 2: only of all the City of Boston residents, but also
Speaker 2: the people who elected her. Think she was elected twice
Speaker 2: to the council, maybe three times, Ed, you would know
Speaker 2: that better than she's been elected twice or three.
Speaker 3: Times, I believe to him twice twice.
Speaker 2: Okay, go ahead, Bob. I interrupted you to go ahead
Speaker 2: and made your act. Go ahead, Bob.
Speaker 4: But you know, listen, she know what she was doing.
Speaker 4: I've been around a long time on some of you,
Speaker 4: and you know, these elected officials are supposed to take
Speaker 4: care of the people, and they don't, and they go
Speaker 4: out and they try to rob people.
Speaker 2: Well rule, not all of them, not all of them,
Speaker 2: particularly Ed Flynn, who comes from a family that has
Speaker 2: really given a lot of service to you know, Ray
Speaker 2: Flynn ran a very clean mayor's office for ten years
Speaker 2: at a top time in the city. Okay, so let's
Speaker 2: not paint with that broadbrush. But go ahead, go ahead,
Speaker 2: your point.
Speaker 4: No, my point is, why should she get off without
Speaker 4: a maximum sentence when she knew she was doing wrong.
Speaker 4: You can't say that she didn't know what she was doing. No, no, no.
Speaker 2: I would assume the lawyer sat with the prosecutor and said, look,
Speaker 2: would you consider a plea, or maybe she was offered
Speaker 2: a plea, and maybe her lawyer counselor then said, look,
Speaker 2: they kind of have you dead to write, and you
Speaker 2: go to trial, You're going to get convicted, You're going
Speaker 2: to spend more time, and therefore this is probably the
Speaker 2: best deal you can get under the circumstances. Let's deal
Speaker 2: with it. Do with it. You're forty, I think she's
Speaker 2: forty six years of age, learn from it, come back
Speaker 2: and pick up the rest of your life. I mean,
Speaker 2: some lawyers will say that to their clients. Because you
Speaker 2: go through a trial, it's more expensive, the lawyer is
Speaker 2: going to get paid. And if all of a sudden
Speaker 2: you get a conviction, and if the case, if the
Speaker 2: evidence is overwhelming, now you might be looking at five
Speaker 2: to ten years.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think I think you're right. Dan, and and the
Speaker 3: the federal government. And when I was in the Probation Depontment,
Speaker 3: we did guidelines, sentencing guidelines, and you know, the guideline
Speaker 3: range could be you know, one year to ten years.
Speaker 3: But when you do plead guilty, you do get a
Speaker 3: better deal. And in one of the factors is they
Speaker 3: do consider if you have a previous criminal background. That
Speaker 3: plays into it. And also if you accept responsibility by
Speaker 3: entering a guilty plea, that's also factored in in your
Speaker 3: in your favor as well. So there's there's a lot
Speaker 3: of there's a lot of pluses in terms of lead
Speaker 3: and guilty, especially if you've done something something wrong and
Speaker 3: you know you've done something wrong, you're going to be
Speaker 3: found guilty, so you might as well take the best
Speaker 3: deal you can that. That's that's what I'm what, That's
Speaker 3: what I'm thinking.
Speaker 4: Ye well, oh tell me what what's your opinion, Dan?
Speaker 2: Well, my opinion is exactly what what ed Ed said.
Speaker 2: And again I've you know, been involved in legal situations, uh,
Speaker 2: not only as a journalist, but as a lawyer. And
Speaker 2: your client comes to you, you have an obligation to
Speaker 2: the client. You can't say to the client, let me
Speaker 2: take this, I'll take it to the Supreme Court, and
Speaker 2: we'll win at the Supreme Court and raise money. And
Speaker 2: you have to be honest, and you have to uh,
Speaker 2: you ethically, have to sit across from your client and
Speaker 2: sometimes deliver them to the bad news that this case
Speaker 2: is not very winnable again, depending they may have audio tapes,
Speaker 2: they may have videotapes. They they you know, in the
Speaker 2: case of Diane Wilkinson, they had pictures of her stuffing
Speaker 2: money inside her bra I mean, you know, do you
Speaker 2: remember when they had the abscam case back in the
Speaker 2: early nineteen eighties and they had several members of Congress.
Speaker 2: They set up a sting and these guys walked into
Speaker 2: the hotel room and they accepted the money, and oh
Speaker 2: they was. They were glad, handing and shaking hands and
Speaker 2: patting each other on the back. They were dealing with
Speaker 2: undercover agents who you know, the only the only argument
Speaker 2: you can make in that case is entrapman and that
Speaker 2: and that wouldn't have worked either. So so on I
Speaker 2: understand rather, Bob, I understand your frustration. As a citizen.
Speaker 2: You probably have worked your entire life, done the right things,
Speaker 2: and now you turn around and you realize that. Hey,
Speaker 2: you know some some people look at it differently. So
Speaker 2: I appreciate your your comments and your observation. I appreciate
Speaker 2: you call to night Okay.
Speaker 4: Thank you for taking my call. You're very good. I
Speaker 4: listened to you every single life.
Speaker 2: Well, Bob, I appreciate you doing that, and I hope
Speaker 2: you call more off and I really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks.
Speaker 2: We got Ron and Newton coming up, and Paul and
Speaker 2: need him. Maybe a little room for you if you
Speaker 2: want to join us. Back with Boston City councilor Ed
Speaker 2: Flynn talking about some real substantive and specific ethics reform
Speaker 2: that the Boston City Council should adopt, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: and they need to adopt at this point. Back on
Speaker 2: Nightside after.
Speaker 1: This, you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, we got three calls. We're going to try
Speaker 2: to get to. Let me go to Ron and Newton. Hey,
Speaker 2: we're on next on Nightside. You're on with the City
Speaker 2: Council of Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn Grudhead.
Speaker 7: Hi, Dan, thank you very much.
Speaker 8: I think I want to thank you for the service
Speaker 8: the public service that you've given to our country, both
Speaker 8: you and your dad and the military service. My dad
Speaker 8: was in the Navy, and so currently my nephew is
Speaker 8: on an aircraft here somewhere. But thank you for your service.
Speaker 8: Thank you for saying that I have what could be
Speaker 8: a very simple question.
Speaker 7: I don't know if it's naive or not, but Dan
Speaker 7: has always encouraged us to ask the question, regardless of
Speaker 7: how how simple it may seem. I'm paraphrasing, but anyway,
Speaker 7: it's a part of the reform. I'm wondering. I work
Speaker 7: as a part of our disaster medical response system, and
Speaker 7: every year we have to pass an ethics exam as
Speaker 7: a part of our annual tournament. We have to pass
Speaker 7: not only that ethics exam, but we also are issued
Speaker 7: United States government credit cards for which we can only
Speaker 7: use for certain purposes. We have to we have to
Speaker 7: satisfy one hundred percent of the UH of the exam.
Speaker 7: We have to pass with one hundred percent before we
Speaker 7: are deployable. So I'm wondering whether I don't know, if
Speaker 7: it were to help put the ethical matters more in
Speaker 7: the fourth snag on sprain, if you have to satisfy
Speaker 7: that standard annually or I'm not sure. It may be
Speaker 7: a very I'm not sure practical gat question.
Speaker 2: It's a great question. Let's see. Let's let's see what
Speaker 2: ED says.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, Ed, Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 6: We do.
Speaker 3: We are required to attend some ethics training annually, but
Speaker 3: it's nothing like it should be. It should be more,
Speaker 3: as you say, Ron, I think there should be probably
Speaker 3: an exam, a more hands on, instructed based approach to it.
Speaker 3: Interactive with city council is interactive with the person given
Speaker 3: the training, But just listening to a couple electure for
Speaker 3: an hour and a half and two hours and signing in,
Speaker 3: I don't think that covers it. I think it has
Speaker 3: to be extensive. And you know, in the military, we
Speaker 3: had ethics training and you're held to a higher standard.
Speaker 3: And when you're a city councilor or you're an elected
Speaker 3: official and you're placed in you're placed in a in
Speaker 3: a position with authority, you owe it to the public
Speaker 3: to be ethical, transparent and held accountable. And I don't
Speaker 3: think we have a system right now that holds elected
Speaker 3: officials accountable in city government in Boston.
Speaker 2: All right, great answer, Ron, I got two more. I
Speaker 2: want to try to get in here. Okay, buddy, appreciate,
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, thank you, you're welcome. PAULI got
Speaker 2: time for you and one more go ahead, Paul, Paul
Speaker 2: and need him his own with Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn.
Speaker 6: Yes, mister Flynn, thank you for your service. You're a
Speaker 6: good man.
Speaker 3: Thanks.
Speaker 6: As an outsider looking in, I live in Needham, it
Speaker 6: appears to me Boston has a strong mayor for a
Speaker 6: weak council. The city council is a body very seldom
Speaker 6: questions the mayor on some of her actions, and an
Speaker 6: example is this. Then I'll get off the air. She
Speaker 6: went down to Washington testify in front of Congress. In
Speaker 6: prior to going down there, she spent six hundred and
Speaker 6: fifty thousand dollars on legal fees in getting coached on
Speaker 6: how to testify in front of Congress. Did you or
Speaker 6: any of your fellow counselors question that type of an expense.
Speaker 6: She's an attorney. What counseling does she need to get
Speaker 6: down to testify in front of It's.
Speaker 2: A good question. Did you have any authority? Were you
Speaker 2: knowledgeable of that expenditure? Did seem to be a bit much?
Speaker 3: No, we didn't know about it. We didn't know how
Speaker 3: much it costs until it was reported in the paper.
Speaker 3: But I think I think you are right that the
Speaker 3: city council does not hold the mayor accountable. We don't
Speaker 3: ask tough questions. We're more of a rubbish stamp. And
Speaker 3: you know, a lot of city councils, it's about the
Speaker 3: next election. And when you're concerned about the next election,
Speaker 3: you want to cozy up to the mayor and to
Speaker 3: the mayor's administration so you'll you'll get re elected the
Speaker 3: next term. That's what most of my city city council
Speaker 3: colleagues believe. That's how they conduct themselves. City councilor Aaron
Speaker 3: Murphy is not like that. She's very honest woman. She
Speaker 3: challenges the city on neighborhood services and quality life issues.
Speaker 3: But most of them just go along to get along,
Speaker 3: and it hurts the city, it hurts the residents.
Speaker 6: I'd love to see a breakdown of that legal bill.
Speaker 6: And well, well.
Speaker 2: Let's uh, I think that's a great question, and uh,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe we will, maybe a Freedom of Infmation Act.
Speaker 2: Maybe the Globe of the Herald, more likely the Herald
Speaker 2: will get a hold of it. That'd be a good one, Paul,
Speaker 2: I gotta grab one more here. I got a Boston
Speaker 2: resident want to get in as well. Thank you for
Speaker 2: ask you great real quickly, Michael, you've called late, but
Speaker 2: we got about a minute and a half for you. What
Speaker 2: can you do with it?
Speaker 7: Oh, I can do it. I just wondered I have
Speaker 7: been wondering for several years when she took miss Anderson
Speaker 7: the oath of office and she refused to put her
Speaker 7: hand on the Bible or raise her hand, what was
Speaker 7: theo Didn't that raise a red flag and tell us
Speaker 7: all there's going to be here? How did that end?
Speaker 3: Mister Flynn, Yeah, you are right. The city council in
Speaker 3: question did not raise her hand or did not did
Speaker 3: not did not say the oath of office. I believe
Speaker 3: she went to the city clerk a couple of days Lada.
Speaker 3: She may or may not have given the oath there
Speaker 3: as well. I don't know. It's there's add of questions
Speaker 3: that remained unanswered.
Speaker 2: I think she said a style from the from the
Speaker 2: day that she was elected, or probably even before that,
Speaker 2: she was going to do things differently. And obviously the
Speaker 2: one thing that she did very differently was to solicit
Speaker 2: funds from an aide who was a relative and who
Speaker 2: in fact she now is admitting she took part of
Speaker 2: that raise from. So you know she she pushed. She
Speaker 2: pushed it in a lot of ways, and this is
Speaker 2: the one that got her in big trouble.
Speaker 7: Dan that do I have fifteen seconds?
Speaker 2: Shoot?
Speaker 7: Go ahead, well, compleat squid. I live in Copley Player,
Speaker 7: I've been here for thirty six years. The tents went up.
Speaker 7: You got garbage around the bottom of the fence there.
Speaker 7: This has been ongoing for will be four years. We've
Speaker 7: missed tourist seasons. It's on the tourists lists. Couple he
Speaker 7: squared the library scene at church. What is the underlying
Speaker 7: problem there? It can't positively take over through years to
Speaker 7: put some brick, take out some gratch.
Speaker 2: They've done, You've done the thirty seconds. You've put it
Speaker 2: on ed Flynn's radar, and that's a good thing, and
Speaker 2: I suspect you'll see some action on it. Michael, thank
Speaker 2: you for your call, Thank you for raising that issue,
Speaker 2: and I hope that you get a chance to maybe
Speaker 2: do something for that constituent, even though he may not
Speaker 2: be a consent of yours. He's still a citizen in
Speaker 2: Boston and Flint. Thank you so much. Keep us posted.
Speaker 2: We'd love to come have you come back.
Speaker 3: Thank you Dan. It was great to be with Ian.
Speaker 3: It was great to be with the listening audience tonight
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 2: Okay, please say how do your dad and mom. I
Speaker 2: saw them the other day at the Mary at the
Speaker 2: Mary Beth, Mary and Brett food pantry and they look great.
Speaker 2: They thank you all right. Thanks you. I talk to
Speaker 2: you soon when we come back. We're going to talk
Speaker 2: about the stock market, and I have a very interesting
Speaker 2: guest on the other side of the ten o'clock news