Battenfeld: Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s big moment turns into political mess

This was supposed to be a decisive moment in Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s brief tenure but it turned into an unresolved mess and political liability as suspended Police Commissioner Dennis White fought to keep from being ousted.

White hired a top gun lawyer and went to the courts to prevent Janey from removing him after an outside investigation uncovered more old allegations of domestic violence against White and what Janey called a “culture of fear and silence” within the police department.

It could be weeks or even months before the courts make a ruling — ensuring that the dispute drags on as a political albatross in the middle of Janey’s election campaign to stay in the mayor’s office.

It’s a tough spot for Janey, elevated to the mayor’s office amid glowing reviews as the city’s first ever non-white woman chief executive after former Mayor Marty Walsh left to join President Biden’s cabinet.

She’s now finding out the world is not just rainbows and unicorns and Converse sneakers and WGBH interviews.

Janey’s mayoral rivals started taking shots at her within hours after she announced White’s behavior “does not reflect our values” and “we have to move in a different direction” — but stopped short of naming a permanent new commissioner.

“Instead of moving forward to tackle the systemic reforms the people of Boston want, Acting Mayor Janey is in a standoff with Dennis White — and it’s not even clear who’s currently leading our police department,” mayoral candidate Andrea Campbell said.

Another of Janey’s opponents, City Councilor Michelle Wu, said “it’s disappointing that Boston residents continue to have no clarity about who will steer the police department over the next six months.”

Many cops, including former Commissioner William Gross, also won’t be happy with the decision to oust the popular White but Janey said she had no choice but to remove the “cloud” over the allegations of domestic abuse.

It was a difficult outcome to a messy situation that Janey inherited from Walsh, who appointed White without proper vetting to the top job after Gross retired.

Janey took only a few questions in her press conference before saying, “The report speaks for itself, thank you very much.” She then left.

You knew this wouldn’t be good when Janey scheduled a press conference at 4 p.m. on a Friday, typically a time when politicians dump bad news.

The acting mayor was hoping to extricate herself from the leadership crisis in the police department, reportedly by naming Superintendent Nora Baston as White’s replacement. Baston is widely respected and would be the city’s first black female police commissioner.

According to White’s attorney, Janey told White she was going to put Baston in the commissioner’s office.

WBZ-TV even reported that Janey was going to name Baston the commissioner on Friday.

But the TV report did not prove to be accurate and Janey denied in her press conference that she ever told White that Baston would be his replacement.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ydg5Yr