While not-resigned Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner was figuratively hip bumping (sorry for the image) with Lyndon LaRouche's people yesterday, Wilkerson was spinning her legal cloth exceedingly fine. She has experience cutting deals at both the state and federal levels for money and records offenses. I had figured she'd go the same way here.
In what was apparently an exclusive with the daily, and an attempt to control the coverage, she said that:
"...she took individual financial contributions of up to $10,000 to help pay off mortgage and federal tax debts. The contributions, she said, were approved by the state Ethics Commission, vetted by lawyers, and within state and federal laws...While she declined to discuss anything about the criminal charges, her description of the highly unusual personal fundraising effort provides a possible window into her planned defense."She claims to have a letter from the State Ethics Committee that okayed taking tens of thousands for such things as mortgage payments. "The only caveat from the Ethics Commission, Wilkerson said, was that she not take any actions on Beacon Hill that benefited contributors."
Of course, that's true for all legislators. It's a reverse way of looking at the tit for tat that she and Turner have been accused of by the FBI and U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan.
It's a whole other matter for a jury and judge to believe that what she admitted was over $70,000 bought nothing but one of her expansive smiles and gratitude. That's a harder sell if hundreds here and thousands there form a clear pattern of unreported gifts or contributions.
I call magical thinking on her.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Chuck Turner, Wilkerson, corruption
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