Well, the new Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni was sworn in this morning, and we all wish him good luck in the performance of his difficult duties. At least we can say that he will probably do a better job than the man he defeated for the office, Steve Buoniconti, a notorious hack with close connections to some of the sleaziest characters in the Valley. However, we can't welcome the new D.A. without a few parting words of commentary about the one headed out the door.
That would be William Bennett (above) who has occupied the office since 1990, despite a campaign promise that he would serve no more than two terms. Bennett deserves credit for professionalizing the office, which was run like a personal fiefdom by his scandal plagued predecessor Matty Ryan. Frankly, it wasn't hard for Bennett to look good following that act.
But while Bennett did a competent job prosecuting the murderers, bank robbers and other crimes committed primarily by the region's underclass, Bennett's great flaw was his inability to take any action against the high-level political crooks who operated with impunity during his tenure, until the FBI finally came in to clean things up.
Bennett's defenders say that it wasn't his jurisdiction to pursue public corruption cases, that such prosecutions are the responsibility of the Feds. While that may be technically correct, that is a lame cop-out. The D.A. is supposed to be the primary crime fighter in the Valley, sworn to pursue wrong-doing wherever it may be found. Bennett might at least have sent the FBI a few memos such as "Excuse me, but the Albano Gang seems completely out of control" or "Those Asselins look like they're up to some pretty outrageous stuff" or just plain "Hey Feds, shit stinks around here!" Instead there came from Bennett's office nothing but a deafening silence.
Now he's off to make some serious money with Springfield's machine embedded power-player law firm Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury & Murphy, which also happens to be the very same law firm that Matty Ryan golden parachuted into after his fall. Springfield - a town of the damnedest coincidences!
But at least let history record, that while Bennett can be credited with reforming some of the worst abuses of the Matty Ryan era, in one major respect the more things changed the more they stayed the same - that when it came to the sins of those in high places, under Bennett justice truly was blind.
Meanwhile in other news, UMass was declared the 43rd druggiest school in American by The Daily Beast. What?!! Back in the 70's, known unofficially by campus historians as The Stoned Age, we would never have settled for anything less than a Top Ten ranking!
The holidays are finally over, and here are a few final pics. This is Northampton's official holiday tree in Pulaski Park.
Here is the wreath over the mantle of the lobby of the Hotel Northampton.
At the Cumberland Farms on King Street in Northampton is this sign for a caffeine sale featuring someone holding a cup in front of their face with a smile drawn on it.
Of course the Northampton kids could not resist the implied dare of so ripe a target.
On Hampden County District Attorney candidate Michael Kogut's website, in the "Meet Mike" section, virtually no job held is too small to be included on his lists of accomplishments dating back to 1983. But mention of one job he held, however briefly, is conspicuous in it's absence - his tenure as former Springfield Mayor Michael Albano's City Solicitor.
There are a number of reasons why Kogut may have found it convenient for his memory to fail him on that subject, besides the fact that nearly everyone who ever showed the poor judgment to serve in the Albano Administration now finds it a burning mark of shame essential to be kept off one's resume. For one thing Kogut was pretty much forced out of the job by criticism from Springfield's City Council, which noted that he appeared to have no known background in municipal law.
Their criticism of Kogut was all the more remarkable because people getting jobs in Springfield with no known qualifications was hardly unusual. That was especially true during the Albano years, when someone like Gerry Phillips was able to become Police Commissioner and the head of a job training center despite having been little more than a State Bingo Inspector. So for someone to be declared unqualified by so sleepy a watchdog as the Springfield City Council, meant that Kogut's incompetence was exceptionally glaring.
But perhaps also contributing to Kogut's hasty departure beside the competency issues was the eruption of an ugly City Hall scandal over false accusations which were leveled against City Auditor Gennaro Daniele. Here is what I wrote at the time about that shameful episode:
Shortly after Albano was sworn in for his first term in 1996, never substantiated allegations of sexual harassment were made against City Auditor Gennaro Daniele (above). Albano's response was to fire Daniele at once, declaring a policy of zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
Interestingly, Danielle had been a real thorn in the side of Albano's predecessor, Robert Markel, because of Danielle's openness in making information about the city's finances freely available to both the public and the press. Albano himself had taken advantage of information provided by Daniele in his own successful campaign to unseat Markel. It was assumed that Danielle would continue his open book policies during the Albano Administration, which some critics suggest may have contributed to Albano's anxiousness to remove him.
Albano's fire first, investigate later policy backfired badly when a Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination investigation exonerated Daniele in the strongest possible terms, stating that not a "scintilla" (the tiniest shred) of evidence could be found to support the accusations in any way. MCAD Commissioner Charles E. Walker described the charges against Danielle as "totally lacking in merit." Not surprisingly, Daniele then turned around and sued the city. A settlement was reached but with an odd twist - the amount of taxpayer's money the city agreed to hand over in order to pay Danielle off was not made public.
It was an insult to the taxpayers to ask them to pay such a settlement without ever being told how much it cost. Happily, the Springfield Newspapers brought the city to court and finally got a judge to order the release of the amount of money the taxpayers lost - $100,000 dollars, with half of that going to Daniele's accusers!
According to the May 12, 1999 edition of the Union-News the two women who made the false accusations (Kathy A. Kelly and Joanne Reilly) are still employed by the City of Springfield. Ms. Kelly even has a new city job with a $16,000 raise! The least that should happen to these women is that they lose their jobs, considering the large sum of money that their apparently unfounded statements have cost the taxpayers. That they actually made money off of their groundless accusations is simply an outrage! Thanks to the efforts of the Springfield Newspapers, the public has at least been told how much they were forced to spend in order to compensate for Albano's rush to judgement.
As reported in the Springfield newspaper on May 14, 1999:
City Councilor William T. Foley, who was council president when Daniele was fired, said he believes there was a "rush to judgment" by Albano and former City Solicitor Michael Kogut in how the case was handled.
"I certainly hope a lesson was learned from this," Foley said. "Rushing to judgment is not a proper solution."
When justice was at stake, Kogut did nothing and an innocent man was made to suffer. Just imagine what it must have been like for Danielle to have had to go home and tell his wife and family that he not only had been fired from his city job, but had been accused of sexual harassment. Of course this was all over the media as well.
Fortunately his family believed his denials, but the public humiliation he endured before his innocence was finally proven must have been hellish. A widely circulated rumor at the time said that at one point in the ordeal the police were called to the Danielle home by a panicked caller who said that Daniele had locked himself in the bathroom with a gun. Allegedly the police talked him out of harming himself. Although that rumor was widespread and repeated as fact, to my knowledge it was neither proven true nor denied.
In any case Gennaro Daniele did not have long to enjoy his complete and full vindication, as he later died young from cancer. Although cancer can have many causes, at Daniele's funeral more than a few mourners suggested that the terrible stress he had unjustly endured at the hands of Albano and Kogut had shortened his life. As for Kogut, despite losing his job he went on to prosper from his insider connections during the Albano years, as reported by Maureen Turner in the November 1, 2001 Valley Advocate article entitled City for Sale:
Attorney Michael T. Kogut was Albano's original choice to head the city's Law Department, but was driven from the position in 1996 by opposition from the City Council. Kogut was gone, but not forgotten; since then, he's received $25,000 in city contracts to do work for the city's Department of Elder Affairs. Kogut has donated $700 to Albano.
We may never know the full story behind the tragic persecution of Gennaro Daniele. We do know however that Michael Kogut is now reaching for high office. Kogut has proven in the past that he lacks the character to hold such a position, and in the name of justice, he deserves to fail.
Hey I'm not crazy... oh wait, that's not true, I've got a blog... anyway here's this blogger overlooking Northampton from the gates of Smith.
Luke Averill and friend playing outside the Haymarket.
Pasted to a downtown door....
She wanted revolution but was scared to revolt.
A seeker will see better when they see this sign on the woodland way into downtown Hamp.
But what if they can't read the sign without their glasses?
The woodland way sure is pretty in late summer.
Alas it won't last much longer. My neighbor's garden has already sprouted its first Halloween pumpkin.
Some Amherst crazies made a film based on Springfield's Dr. Seuss.
