Methuen police chief doled out favors to councilors after they made him one of the nation’s highest-paid law enforcement officers

The Methuen city council had just approved a contract that would make police chief Joseph Solomon one of the highest paid law enforcement officers in the country. Over the next six months, the police chief handed out extraordinary favors to members of the council or their relatives.

– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

Cha-CHING!!!
Image via danieldervartanian.com

Methuen police chief doled out favors to councilors after they made him one of the nation’s highest-paid law enforcement officers.  At least so reports the Boston broadsheet.

In moves that bring to mind how things look to work in Quincy, first the Methuen city council approved a contract that would make police chief Joseph Solomon one of the highest paid law enforcement officers in the country.

And then in the following months, the police chief surely but coincidentally then handed out all manner of extraordinary favors to members of the council or their relatives.

The real “Quincy Way!”
A Quincy Quarry meme

Granted, in Quincy it is usually the mayor who lards up the taxpayer-funded City of Quincy budget with hack hires, including regularly making eye-opening hires at the Quincy Police Department run by mayor’s brother-in-law, but modius operendi in Methuen is ultimately the same: you take of me and I will take care of you.

The only difference: in Quincy the mayor also rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign “donations” — including arguably leading the pack when it comes to taking in illegal straw contributions – and then hands out tens of millions of dollars of favors to certain of those who have dropped but a fraction as much money upon him.

Always follow the money and the family trees …
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Fortunately, for Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch, such pay to play is possible in Massachusetts for elected officials even if on occasion Mayor Koch has had to disgorge (some of the, ed.) straw contributions that have come his way. 

Source: Methuen police chief doled out favors to councilors after they made him one of the nation’s highest-paid law enforcement officers – The Boston Globe

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