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— News and commentary about elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News
Advised reading for sentenced dummies
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Thomas “Steak Tips” Clasby, Jr, former head of the City of Quincy Council on Aging as well as purportedly now former BFF of Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch, was sentenced today for variously stealing $136,000 in City of Quincy’s funds via his senior position of trust as the head of the city’s senior services operations.
The federal prosecutor laid out a recap of Clasby’s sordid lootings of city funds for his own benefit, ranging from grifting a snow blower to providing financial support to a female not his wife over the course of at least the five years documented.
Also brazen was his several grifting of city funds to buy a total of 153 pounds of bourbon marinated premium steak tips.
Especially appalling, however, was how Clasby was cited as openly stole cash from senior fees charged programming and snack bar proceeds in front of his staff as well as threatened them to stay silent as he was tight with Mayor Koch and thus protected.
Eventually, however, two long put upon senior service staffers bravely dimed out Steak Tips.
Deep Throat leaking information to the Washington Post in a parking garage
A Warner Brothers Pictures image
Unclear, however, is to whom dimes were dropped, meaning was it to local officials, the Norfolk District Attorney and/or perhaps the feds, much less who dropped them.
Conversely, the defense attorney talked up Clasby’s good deeds and mostly done over the years prior to his misdeeds.
Defense council further talked up Clasby’s mental and physical health care needs as well as motioned to the over forty people attending the hearing in a showing of support.
Say what?
A Judge Judy/Paramount Television image
Her honor, on the other hand, noted that past to long good deeds do not wash away subsequent bad deeds as well as that the sentencing guidelines are the guidelines, guidelines which she well-knows as she was the federal court system’s commissioner and chair of the United States Sentencing Commission from February 16, 2011 until her term expired on January 3, 2017.
In short, her honor well-knows the book she would be throwing when she pronounced sentence for Steak Tips.
Her honor also underscored how public corruption crime was especially corrosive to the public trust.
I didn’t know nothing
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Additionally, her honor asked if the City of Quincy, the technical victim of Clasby’s crimes was present in the courtroom dand to which the prosecutor stated that Quincy had been duly advised of the hearing’s date and time but no one from the city was in attendance and so available to present a victim’s statement on behalf of seniors and taxpayers who were ultimately the ones fleeced by Steak Tips.
Her honor shortly thereafter pronounced a half and half sentence of six months in federal prison followed by six months of home confinement, and then one year of supervised release (a.k.a., probation).
Exhibit #3
Image via the US Attorney
Further, Clasby will be tendering $136,000 in restitution as well as lose his city pension benefits which were worth somewhere in the low seven figure range on a net present value basis.
Net/net, Steak Tips is facing hard hits even if not as long and hard time in prison as one might think appropriate.
In any event, Clasby was ordered to report to a federal prison to be named later on August 19, a day later then originally proposed, as the 18th is his son’s birthday.
That and will so be the third person with close ties to Mayor Koch to serve time in federal prison during his tenure in office.
Another loss for Timmons (not directly but on him but….). His law license should be suspended for wasting the Court’s time and creating mayhem. He swore an oath to do better.
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.” Shakespearean but actually was Sir Walter Scott.
We need a full audit and some adults to show up at the table. Find a way to get ENC and reshuffle the priorities.
However, the Mayor is so stubborn, he will not even broach the issue. He sends Walkby (Mr. wipe my face comb my new hair, copy and sneer at the Council) out there to say everything is encumbered. Shame on Koch, Timmins and the entire Administration. We have seen 2 of the Mayor’s BBF’s go to jail for Larceny and Fraud. Who else is dirty?
Who paid for Walkers new hair? Clasby, ARPA? I want to see receipts.
No wonder the Council has questions. Their constituents do too.
Come clean Tommy. Was it really legal to buy the Munroe Building and a Marina with ARPA funds? A leader would come to the table and negotiate instead of inciting hate through a few plants at City Council meetings. Nobody wants to see sausage made but most like it with breakfast.
Either Tommy comes clean and the Administration starts to work with the Council or bring in the Feds. Timmins thinks he’s the personal attorney to Koch and refuses to fulfill his duties to OUR city. Cancel his department and go to outside Counsel as he does already. As such, why pay him to be the middleman?
Time for a complete audit with some house cleaning. Start that and you’ll see all the co-conspirators retire. I wonder who else is looking over their shoulder and not sleeping well tonight. Timmins (0-fer), Graz, Hinds, Prendeville, et. al.
Quincy makes Minneapolis look clean.
My last question and again: who paid for Walker’s hair transplant. Seems an ego thing like Koch, Timmins, Flynn, Clasby, Hinds… I could go on. CLEAN UP THIS CITY!!!
Off topic but here goes…
A developer is proposing a 520-unit housing project next to the North Quincy MBTA station, at 100-150 Newport Ave, replacing a parking lot and two Granite Telecommunications buildings under a state zoning law. About half of 150 Newport Ave. Extension sits inside the FEMA’s 2025 flood zone map.
Billionaire Robert Hale, the founder and CEO of Granite Telecommunications, currently owns the two locations, which total about 9 acres and contain two four-story office buildings built in the late 1970s. Hale moved Granite Telecommunications’ customer service center from the site in September 2024 into a 240,000-square-foot office building at 1 Heritage Drive across the street. The move was facilitated by as much as $8 million in local and state tax breaks.
In 2024 The city council has approved a roughly $2 million tax break for billionaire Rob Hale’s Granite Telecommunications and FoxRock Properties, according to the mayor’s chief of staff. Granite will not pay taxes on some of its property until 2037.
In return, Granite pledged to invest more than $13 million in the property and create 75 jobs on top of the more than $4 million in investment and 250 new jobs it pledged in 2016.
This in addition to the 25-year tax exemption, in addition to the state mandated 15-year tax exemption BRH received for the medical office building now under construction.
I believe all of the buildings noted above will have elevators and the taxpayers of Quincy will get the shaft.
John,
If it is any consolation, Hale’s plans will probably be less of a Charlie Foxtrot than is the Abby.
“It would not require zoning board approval, as it fits within transit-oriented zoning overlay district passed by city council in 2023 to comply with state’s MBTA Communities Act.”
Hmmm. This makes me think this between BRH and MTK has been in the works for a few years now.
Will this be considered “high density” housing?
The Steak Tip Caper: Accountability Comes to Quincy (No Thanks to Baghdad Bob)
What a beautiful, blinding flash of reality at the City Council meeting last night. It turns out that when you try to rob the taxpayers in broad daylight, sometimes the taxpayers actually show up with flashlights.
In a shocking twist of civic sanity, the citizens managed to kill the absurd 79% raise—and the hilarious $225,000 “consolation prize”—that Mayor Tom Koch tried to hand himself. Not bad for a guy whose resume peaks with a high school diploma and a history of cutting lawns, while the people actually running our future—teachers with Master’s degrees and mountain-high college debt—are told to smile and stretch a 2% raise.
But don’t worry, the circus isn’t leaving town just yet.
The Ultimate Guide to Quincy Meritocracy
If you want to understand how the gears really grind in this city, you just have to look at the math:
* The $285k Price Tag: Taxpayer money was literally used to hire a consulting firm just to tell Tommy he’s worth more than the Governor.
* The Subscription Fee: City workers fork over quarterly “donations” to the campaign fund just to keep their desks. One hand washes the other, and both hands are in your pockets.
* The Family Plan: A designated insider negotiates contracts that directly benefit immediate family members. If you share even a fraction of DNA with the administration, congratulations on your new municipal career.
* The Teflon Circle: Connected people simply don’t get in trouble. Just check Facebook to see the local “Copper Thieves” who twice tried hawking metal from city buildings, or the public safety folks collecting a “heart” pension after putting a bit too much numbing medicine up their nose.
Enter the Minister of Misinformation
Then we had to sit through Walker trying to convince us everything is totally on the level. Let’s be real: Baghdad Bob was an amateur at rewriting history compared to this administration.
And the story about the Feds asking if they could get involved? Pure fiction. I’m sure bored FBI agents in Boston were just sitting around saying, “Forget the mob, we really need to sink our teeth into the Quincy steak tip caper.”
The new Council members are hated by the old guard for one simple reason: Accountability. They are terrified because a little bit of public disclosure is a dangerous thing. Keep digging, because Walker isn’t the only minister of misinformation hiding in City Hall.
Didn’t a convicted Department Head hire a consultant too? Hmmm…
City Council Match-Up: Tyrus vs Mahoney
The main event featured a city employee completely blowing her top at council members. The sheer aggression was nostalgic. It instantly brought back memories of wrestling legend Gorilla Monsoon throwing down at the Boston Garden. The only thing missing was a steel chair.
She looked less like a Department Head and more like a 1970’s Dorchester High Girl in the parking lot of the Pony Room after a case of Schlitz & Walker was the embarrassed boyfriend trying to get her back in the car.
After watching this episode I was thinking Vince McMahon might be able to help the City raise revenue with Pay Per View Council Meetings.
Koch is sending us his best.
What was she ranting and sniveling about? The audio system in the chamber was, as usual, sketchy, and watching on QATV didn’t help clarify. What actually seemed to trigger her blithering idiocy? She did seem hostile right from the start — was it that the councilors were doing what they were elected to do, like asking real questions and expecting real answers?
As the saying goes — whom the gods would destroy, first they anger. (or something to that effect)
Asterisk
Couple of my favorite quotes:
“Me thinks she doth protest to much”. Bill Shakespeare. (Hamlet)
“The more she spoke of her honor the faster I counted my spoons”. Ralph Waldo
Emerson.
Excellent!
F&M,
Two theories.
One, perhaps she has been suffering an external investigation of the city’s purchasing records and things are not looking good for her.
And the other, her rant about someone mistaking using her husband’s sounds very similar last name when referring to her suggests perhaps a little trouble in marital paradise.
F&M,
My retinas are likely scarred forever with the image of her relying on sausage casing as a dress.
To compress and paraphrase Walker’s statements:
“Trust us”
Then there was the women who entered the council chamber sporting a “I (heart) Jesus” cap and later exited the chamber with a police escort, and gave a very un-Christlike parting comment of “F*** you” to the councilors.
Mr. Dough,
Did you miss how after being ejected from the city council chamber, the F-bomber snuck back into building and was lurking in the chamber’s anteroom? That and so ended up again escorted out of the building by a Quincy police lieutenant and perhaps also by the Chief of Police arguably doing what Jesus would do.
I missed that part of the circus act.
Mr. Dough,
Catching the shitshow live is better as QATV video sucks on a good day. Just be sure to wear personal protective equipment.
The City Council needs to get an Ombudsman for Quincy. Someone who doesn’t report to the mayor.
Employees and citizens deserve a non political person to be able to hear the complaints or issues and then bring them before the city council and/or the administration or refer them to law enforcement when necessary. Joe Citizen can’t meet with the mayor unless he is a donor or has the right last name.
If you make a complaint as a citizen or an employee you have to watch your back. Everyone in the city government, Law Enforcement, School Department, DPW …. is related to someone and sometimes multiple relatives in departments. Go down the mayor’s donation list. It’s like the city payroll list. The Winter Hill Gang with Blue License Plates.
Let’s do something about the waste, fraud and abuse. We need someone NOT APPOINTED BY THE MAYOR. We don’t need a Ombudsman with the Koch name or any of the usual donor/employee names. Not some fat cat who can berate the council either. We need a truly independent third party Ombudsman.
The mayor and city council should come together on this because everyone wants a government free of nepotism and where employees and citizens can report fraud, waste and abuse right? I think there will be plenty of work for the Ombudsman in Quincy.