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— News and commentary about elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News
Looking at a haircut on his pending 89% raise?
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The lawsuit filed by the principals behind a ballot question petition drive to substantially reduce the 89% raise arguably grifted by Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch for himself along with mostly since voted out of office city council members acting as accomplishes and so scoring themselves a 50% raise concluded its Superior Court trial on Friday afternoon after roughly an hour and a half of oral arguments.
The lawsuit was filed given grievances over how over 1,800 petition signers signatures were rejected.
The plaintiffs raising over $20,000 in but days via primarily an online fundraising campaign of mostly mostly modest donation and so was able to retain Harvard Law School student and a faculty member to argue case for short money.
Defense council c/o the firm of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe
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Mayor Koch, on the other hand, retained a private law firm using taxpayers money to pay for the forms services.
Per the South Shore broadsheet, Mayor Koch has seen at least $32,135.36 spent so far to defend the lawsuit, a suit which was filed against City Clerk as she was in charge of certifying petition signatures.
During closing arguments by the plaintiffs’ counsel, the Harvard team compellingly argued how applicable law did not preclude petition signatures in the fashion 1,397 signatures were rejected by City Clerk personnel and thus a far greater number than the 828 certified signatures the petition fell short per the clerk’s count.
Fight on fiercely Harvard!
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The plaintiffs’ counsel arguments appeared to find favor with the judge even if it is usually a fool’s errand to endeavor to predict a judge’s ruling.
Defense counsel posed a two prong response.
The opening prong was posing that the petition was problematic and should thus be turned aside by the court.
Such was not the first time that the defense posed this argument and again the judge noted such a demur was for another time should the case be decided in the plaintiffs favor.
“Disorder in the Court”
An old Columbia Pictures playbill
The defense extended this argument by asserting that it was best to save time and money by pulling the plug on the case even though an easy counter that due process is not about such summary economies went without need of saying.
The defense also posed a line of argument that aped an arguing of the applicable law which to the Quarry was more a matter of posing a persnickety read of applicable law as well as a few leaps over gaps in the flow of the defense council’s view of the law.
In any event, if the court sides with the plaintiffs, the matter would then head to the Quincy City Council.
Generalissimo el Jefe Alcade Tomas P. Koch
A Quincy Quarry Photoshop Phun Team meme
In turn, the council can enact the petition as written, modify and then approve the modified text or the ballot question goes on the ballot as written as soon as November if the overwhelmingly new council does nothing.
Conversely, the defense can as well as likely would concurrently pursue various legal challenges as well as the mayor would likely also fund them on the taxpayers’ dime even if such will only add to the mayor’s ever-declining favor among local voters.
After all, the mayor wants to feather his nest at taxpayers’ expense regardless of the fact that local property taxes are soaring largely care of his koching-up things something fierce.
