The Blue Suit
“Can you imagine. Carlo makes more than $191,000 a year in salary and gets another $40,000 a year as a bonus! Wow! Capone called that a fraud. What else could it be but that in Everett or anywhere!”
– The mayor’s Blue Suit speaking with Josh Resnek
By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT
The mayor of Everett or of any city for that matter, receiving a longevity bonus of $40,000 a year when the amount should be $2,500 a year, is committing a fraud. That’s what Councilor Fred Capone called it Monday night at the city council meeting where he tried to have the mayor’s longevity payment stripped from the books.
‘Even I know the payment is a fraud,” the Blue Suit said to me after the meeting. The Blue Suit called me on my cell. He was hiding inside Carlo’s closet inside Carlo’s mansion on Abbott Street. Carlo hadn’t yet arrived home.
“I watched the meeting on ECTV,” the Blue Suit whispered to me.
“Capone called it a fraud giving Carlo $40,000 a year when he should be getting $2,500 a year. Capone was ripped. Why wasn’t he like that during the campaign? He’s right though. The payment is a fraud. Carlo knows this. Carlo laughed all the way home. It was a $40,000 a year laugh. He was laughing so hard he couldn’t catch his breath at one point when he got inside the house.
“You know Carlo scripted the evening for Anthony and Mike. Capone met a solid wall of opposition from lawyers, the budget director and those who cannot allow themselves to vote against Carlo on the council, even if the vote would right a wrong if that meant giving Carlo less money,” the Blue Suit told me.
The Blue Suit told me that Carlo prepped Anthony and Mike before the city hall council meeting. He told me Carlo celebrated when the meeting was over, after nothing had been accomplished to deny him a payment of $40,000 which he should not be receiving.
“Carlo was delighted. Wouldn’t you be?” the Blue Suit asked me.
“Yeah. $40,000 a year when you’re supposed to be paid only $2,500 a year is a blessing. But isn’t $191,000 a year of salary enough for Carlo?
Isn’t he going to inherit a lot of money? Isn’t it true he doesn’t have to work or to worry about money?” I asked. “Isn’t it true he’s talking about never running again, about being done with all of this, about having a job opportunity?” I asked the Blue Suit.
At first, the Blue Suit didn’t answer.
“Hello? Hello? Are you still there?” I asked the Blue Suit. “Yeah. I’m here, Josh. I don’t believe any of that. I don’t know anything about an inheritance. About not running again, well, what the hell else can he do? About a job offer…are you kidding me! He has no work ethic,” the Blue Suit answered.
“Back to the $40,000 a year when it is supposed to be $2,500. How does such a thing work? How can such a thing come to pass? It is such a bold, in your face, blatant fraud as Capone put it. What do others think about it? How many firefighters and police officers think it’s right? How many DPW employees believe it is a good thing when that is more than half their yearly wages? Those employees work filthy jobs, dangerous jobs. They put their lives on the line and they don’t get paid extra for their sacrifices. Compare that to the mayor taking advantage of the system to enhance his salary by $40,000 dollars when he should only get $2,500. How many elderly who need meals on wheels to feed themselves think paying the mayor an extra $40,000 he doesn’t deserve is the right thing to do? How many homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages couldn’t use an additional $2500 a year, let alone $40,000 a year and on and on and on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum,” I wondered aloud to the Blue Suit.
“It is what it is, Josh. DiPierro does whatever the mayor asks and then gives a lecture that he has no conflict of interest in doing so. The city solicitor is blatant about her support for any of the mayor’s initiatives.
After she read the ordinance Monday night as she was asked to do by Councilor Jimmy Tri Le, I don’t think there was anyone in the council chamber who did not understand that the mayor should be receiving only $2,500 yearly, not $40,000 yearly. And what did she have to say in answer to Le’s questions? Well, she basically told him that he’s an idiot and that he does not understand how to read or to comprehend the ordinance. What a thing that was, Josh!”
“I know. I know. I sat through the meeting in absolute awe and wonder about the council’s ineptitude and do nothingness. I mean, did you listen to Rosa! Wow! She proves how little some politicians are unable to comprehend right from wrong. Of course that’s why she lost. All in all, the council went to a new public low – but not many seem to care as long as the mayor gets what he wants. I don’t understand how that works. I will never understand it,” I added.
“What did you think of Mike McLaughlin. I know you’re a fan of his, Josh,” the Blue Suit asked me.
“If Mike really believes what he said he should be institutionalized with DiPierro. Demas and Mejia should be tossed into the same asylum with that group,” I said.
“What about Demas? Josh,” the Blue Suit asked.
“He got off free. He’s the one that got away. He is the architect of this fake payment to the mayor that is hidden somewhere in the budget, the so-called award winning Everett City Budget that hides a $40,000 a year payment to the mayor when he should only be paid $2,500. Think about that,” I ordered the Blue Suit.
“What did you think about Marchese’s speech to the council?” the Blue Suit asked me.
“Many people have told me they consider Monday evening’s Marchese performance the best of his life. Let’s face it, Mike is one of the most generous people around from a patrician Everett family that has achieved great success by their own sweat and toil and intelligence.
Mike is not involved in any frauds having to do with money. He and Carlo used to be buddies but Carlo tossed Mike away, as he tosses everyone away when he is done using them. Mike says Carlo is a bum.
Mike says Carlo has no right to the $40,000 and you know what? Mike is right. Capone is right. Matewsky is right. Le is right and the rest…they can’t see beyond what the mayor asks them to do to power his money train, ie, the Everett city budget which he uses as a personal checking account.
“It’s all legal,” Mejia told the council.
That doesn’t make it right.