As the mayor has so properly noted, our report concerning his extraordinary expenditure of campaign funds for powerful, high priced criminal attorneys is accurate but not illegal.
The question remains, what exactly is he paying for?
What’s the big deal?
The possibility of indictment and having to protect himself from criminal charges is the big deal, and apparently his worry.
He is paying powerful and expensive criminal attorneys to represent him from the worst possible catastrophe that could befall him or any public official or businessman or woman – Federal prosecution for public corruption by the US Attorney in Boston.
Paying so much, in such large amounts, so often, to powerful criminal attorneys is an important sign that the government is looking closely at Everett and possibly at the mayor for wrongdoing.Protecting oneself from indictment or prosecution by the Federal government is an impossibility.
When the government wants to get you and you’ve done enough give them a foothold, you are quite often ensnared.
Once ensnared, they don’t let go until you are indicted and convicted or your reputation is ruined even if the charges don’t stick.
Lawyering up is what one does if one can afford it.
This is what the mayor has done.
Whether or not the mayor has broken the law or participated in illegal schemes, or given one developer an advantage over another is not for us to judge or to speculate about.
The FBI, the grand jury and the US attorney’s office are the ones who determine the mayor’s fate.
Hiring lawyers because the government might be coming too close for comfort is like buying expensive medication to make a terrible illness go away.
The publication of this bit of news regarding the mayor is no cause for celebration.
It is a reminder of what has been going on here for quite some time and a powerful indication that the government’s investigation into public corruption in Everett is not going away anytime soon.