Battenfeld: Boston Mayor Kim Janey’s promise of police transparency wilts behind closed door hearing

Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey hid behind a closed hearing into firing Police Commissioner Dennis White despite promising complete police transparency.

The question is why was the public kept in the dark, and was it to protect former Mayor Marty Walsh?

Legally, the city didn’t have to make the hearing public, but keeping it private goes against Janey’s sweeping statements about accountability.

“To repair the fabric that binds our communities together, we must prioritize transparency and accountability,” Janey said when announcing her new police oversight director, Stephanie Everett.

That’s a lot of flowery language but it’s not backed up by reality.

The reality is that the White hearing was perfunctory. Janey has already repeatedly said she’s going to move in a new direction with the police commissioner and has no intention of keeping White because of past allegations of domestic abuse.

White was allowed to make a statement and submit video testimony from his family but that was it.

The hearing, because it was not public, raised many more questions than it answered.

Why would Janey not let the public hear the evidence?

Why would she not allow witnesses to be called, especially in light of the statements by one of White’s daughters and former sister-in-law that it was White’s former wife, a police officer, who was violent.

Did Walsh submit an affidavit or have any input into the hearing and decision?

Was a financial settlement with White discussed?

Who was actually at the hearing? Was the hearing recorded or was there a stenographer present?

Will Janey release a full transcript of the hearing?

Meanwhile, Walsh’s legacy to the city he loves so much could be a massive lawsuit and payout to White.

White seemed to set the stage for legal action to protect his job, saying his good name has been tarnished and that it could affect his job prospects.

“If I am terminated under the current circumstances, I will never be able to resurrect my reputation,” he said in a sworn statement.

That could be a preview of what’s to come in the courtroom.

If White does sue, that becomes messy not just for Janey — who is in the middle of an election campaign — but for Walsh, too, who has refused to answer most questions about the White hiring, except to say that it was done without the proper vetting.

No kidding.

Walsh likely would be forced to testify and not just release canned statements from his comfy Secretary’s office in the Labor Department.

But there aren’t any heroes in this drama. White doesn’t cover himself with glory with his explanation as to why he threatened — whether he meant it or not — to shoot his ex-wife.

“It was a poor choice of words but it was an expression that many people use,” White said in a statement.

Still, the taxpayers and citizens of Boston deserve to get a full airing of the White fiasco, since they are the ones paying the bills and having to live in the city with the rudderless police department.

Janey released only a brief statement on Wednesday except to say she’ll make a decision “after careful deliberation” of what transpired in the closed-door hearing.

We need to hear more than that. And it can’t come too soon.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3cdaY1a