Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s campaign isn’t sweating the optics of fundraising on union turf — despite his association with a federal probe of union strong-arm tactics — and he’s forging ahead with a breakfast Sunday May 22 at the IBEW Local 103 hall in Dorchester that’s expected to draw 1,000 people.
Michael Goldman, Walsh’s campaign spokesman, said plans for the $25-a-head breakfast were not reconsidered in light of a report that Walsh, when he was a union leader in 2012, was recorded on a wiretap saying he’d warned a developer to hire union on a Somerville project or risk permits in Boston. Walsh has denied making the threat.
“We’re not worried about it at all,” Goldman said, adding that the Freeport Street locale was picked for reasons other than its union ties, including location and capacity. “It’s the biggest hall in the area, and we booked it months ago. It’s not like it’s being put on by the union or for the union.”
Walsh’s campaign will pay IBEW $1,000 to rent the hall.
IBEW 103 has also come up in association with the federal probe. Its former business manager, Michael Monahan, reportedly has been subpoenaed as a witness, and his time on Boston’s zoning board has drawn scrutiny.
Longtime city watchdog Joe Slavet said Walsh now needs to navigate more carefully when associating with unions.
“Those are not neutral venues anymore,” Slavet said. “It’s kind of been difficult for him to cut off his old ties. Even if they’re sentimental, he’s got to be careful.”
A copy of the fundraiser invitation obtained by the Herald invites residents of from Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, South Boston and the South End for a “community event” with Walsh, with seniors and kids getting in free.
Goldman said Walsh’s predecessor, Thomas M. Menino, also held regular events at the IBEW hall, and that the low-priced event is more designed to give locals a chance to interact with the mayor than to bulk up his sizable campaign war chest. Walsh is up for re-election November 2017.
Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at University of Massachusetts Boston, said it might arouse more suspicion if Walsh were to suddenly disassociate himself from union events and venues.
“As long as he’s not culpable, he’s not going to behave as though he has done anything wrong,” Watanabe said. “If the situation should change, if there should be any indictments that appear of people close to the mayor’s office, he may have to adjust that behavior.”
Goldman said the fundraiser is the second in a series of $25 breakfasts Walsh is planning across the city. The first was April 24 in East Boston, the day news broke about the labor probe. Despite the news, Walsh said he received a standing ovation at that event.
![MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s once most powerful drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is claiming he cannot get phone calls or visits in the maximum security U.S. prison where he is serving a life sentence. Guzmán, who in the past was able to break out of Mexican prisons seemingly at will, wrote a letter […]](https://www.bostonherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mexico_Drug_Lord_30442.jpg?w=525 "MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s once most powerful drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is claiming he cannot get phone calls or visits in the maximum security U.S. prison where he is serving a life sentence. Guzmán, who in the past was able to break out of Mexican prisons seemingly at will, wrote a letter […]")
