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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 arguably 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 raised over $20,000 in but days via primarily an online fundraising campaign of mostly mostly modest donation and were so able to retain Harvard Law School studentd and a faculty member to argue their case for short money.
Defense council c/o the firm of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe
A Patriot Ledger image
Mayor Koch, on the other hand, retained a private law firm using taxpayers money to pay for their 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 does not call for petition signatures to be rejected in the fashion that 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!
Image of Johnston Gate at Harvard University
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.
In turn, defense counsel posed a two prong response.
The opening prong was posing that the petition was problematic and should thus be summarily 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 seeking such 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, if not also curious, 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 of city spending something fierce.
Did the city council approve spending money on an outside firm? Seems wrong the mayor can just spend our tax dollars without any checks and balances? Unless there is a line in budget that says anything Koch wants. $35k isn’t pocket change.
Lower,
While the mayor looks to perhaps creatively tap funds shall we say occasionally, there are no limits on him for spending on legal and snow removal expenses as they are viewed as unpredictable.
Even so, state officials expect some effort by local officials to budget a reasonable amount for snow removal — say, the average amount spent annually or what was spent in the most recent fiscal year past.
Quincy, however, has budgeted $2,224,860.00 for snow and ice for the last three years even after going over last year by a serious chunk of change after cutting the appropriating by half a million from what budgeted in FY 2023 but is now running well over twice what was budgeted for this year and more even spending likely to follow.
On the other hand, as for funding the legal defense of the defendant in this matter — the City Clerk, what’s spending a mere $32,135.36 and likely counting spent to ultimately endeavor to protect his controversial to say the least and self-set 89% raise?
Lower my taxes: Jim Timmins is known as “O-Fer” at the Courthouse. Tough to win a case when you are sent on personal vendetta missions by the Mayor and you have no standing in law to proceed effectively. Whether it is a bridge, pay raise or statues, Timmins cannot win, so he has to go for outside Counsel. Hell, it has taken him and his son almost 1.5 years to build a building on Sea St. Now, they think they can get $700k for a 2 BR condo (+ taxes and condo fee’s). Why would we expect otherwise?
Quin,
A political leader spending stupid money on failed vendetta cases!?!?!?!?!?
Sounds vaguely familiar.
Please remember, and don’t ever forget, the Woodward school.
Mr. Dough,
Not to worry. Quincy Quarry is aware of a hearing scheduled in coming months tied to Mayor Koch’s de facto grand theft land seizure of the land underneath the Adams Academy when he only took the building five years ago via an adverse eminent domain taking as well as otherwise had tied up the property years earlier.
When the hearing happens, count on the Quarry to be in attendance and reporting on it
While it has long been assumed that Koch hopes to grind down the Adams Fund — the owner of the land as trustee for the benefit of the Woodward School and as has been confirmed all the way up to the Supreme Judicial Court multiple times — to settle for short money for a sale price, the longer the grind the likely worse for local taxpayers who will be stuck with the bills.
How so?
The final figure to compensate the fund is facing a likely 12% per annum simple interest penalty with the potential for seeing an 18% penalty instead imposed given the City of Quincy’s illegal seizure of the land and then long playing the Delay Game so as to at least defer paying for the land.
Net/net, local taxpayers are looking likely to end up stuck paying somewhere in the range of $10 million to $15 million to compensate the Adam’s Fund for Koch’s illegally taking its land with even more possible if punitive damages are sought.
Further as well as needless to say, “(w)ere he to be with us today, President Adams would, most assuredly, not be pleased.”