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Two law-enforcement officials looking at running for mayor

Dan Rea reports that Boston Police Commissioner William Gross is pretty close to announcing a race for mayor this year.

He's already wrapped up the all important Doug Bennett endorsement.

Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins might also be looking at running, and he surely won't ruffle any feathers telling WGBH's David Bernstein that the race needs a male of color with executive experience who knows how to run a big operation, because that surely wouldn't be taken as a dig at the women of color either already in the race or thinking of it themselves or, for that matter at outgoing Mayor Marty Walsh and predecessor Tom Menino, neither of whom technically ran "a big operation" before they got elected.

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Comments

Why don't you just tell us who isn't running for mayor?

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Those two that announced they were running before Walsh was nominated are so PO’d right now. And that’s a fact jack.

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This is the way the game goes, and if they don't know that by now maybe they aren't ready?

I suspect that Wu isn't ruffled.

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Willie is a good man and a great cop. Not sure how those qualities will play in the political arena.

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That we won't be able to hear him give the state of the city speech clearly when he's busy licking Bill Barr's boots.

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Bill Barr has been a private citizen for almost 3 weeks now...

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But Gross licked Barr's boots when he was the fascist AG for the fascist president. And he tried to hide it. No pictures, no public announcement. It all came out later.

Look at 2 other interesting aspects of this story. The news was reported by Danny Rea, a long time right wing extremist. And Doug Bennett says he's on board. Doug's facebook page says he works for the NH Republican Party as a "Deputy Data Director for RNC".

Gross is gross.

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If Gross was going to roll over like a good boy for Bill Barr for a photo op at the height of BLM unrest, he's certainly lacking any moral backbone and shouldn't be mayor.

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“Roll over like a good boy” seriously? You can read up about their meeting. Not at all what you’re describing.

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...this is a real bad year to elect a cop as mayor.

And if Willie is an Actually Good cop, he should stay in the force, where we have a severe deficit of good cops.

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The winner of the Boston election is always the candidate with the most stars on their logo.

In 2013, Walsh had 5 whereas Connolly had 3.
In 2017, Walsh was so confident he only had 1 whereas Jackson couldn't even find that.

Sadly, neither Wu (my choice) or Campbell has a single star. At this point, Gross could win with just a single star, which is disappointing.

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I suppose his words taken literally don't say "this is a job for a man" but it sure reads that way.

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The same Boston police that get away with driving drunk and speeding into another vehicle and seriously injuring the victim? And then brushing their crime under the rug?

Screw that. No dirty cops will be mayor of Boston. We need a moral and educated mayor.

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Or are you simply shatting your pantaloons over the fact he’s a strong candidate you don’t like.

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Did Gross do that? What specifically makes him dirty?

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No Gross hasn’t done any of this, and as often happens, Kinopio goes over the top in his comment.

That said, Gross is not exactly going out of his way to right past or present Boston Police wrongs. One case that really brought this to light to me was watching the Netflix miniseries Trial 4. A must-watch for anyone interested in Boston recent history. In it, every past and current police commissioner and DA show how they would much rather keep a (very likely innocent) black man guilty of killing a cop and send him to jail for 22 years, rather than reopen the case that would expose what must be THE worst cases (a plural) of police misconducts. Gross is a decent guy, but he has spent too much time at BPD to be credible as a mayor.

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so you are judging him on a biased documentary about a case from the 90's?

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Yes, decades of police cover ups, still going on, and still highly relevant to this days.

Have you actually watched the documentary? Sean Ellis only got out of jail a few years ago and is still considered guilty in the eyes of law enforcement, including Gross and plenty of his fellows who are still on the job. What make you say that the documentary is less credible than the police themselves?

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but we really need to stop using the word biased to mean inconvenient

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not in Boston, not anywhere. That is the last thing any city needs right now.

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The longest-serving mayor in the state, Dean Mazzarella (leading Leominster since 1994) was a police officer prior to his election.

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The two men responsible for the blatant human rights violation that was Operation Clean Sweep want to be Mayor!

Maybe Tomkins will go back to flashing his badge at Black store owners and threatening them.

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What would be your solution to the problems in the Mass/Cass area. You regularly point out mistakes or deficiencies in others - feel free to offer a remedy.

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Excessive force in clearing the area.

Why?

BECAUSE it did not solve the root problems of too many people with no place to go.

Duhhhh!

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Same question to you - I suspect you and Brian Ricio maybe be the same person as you both tee off regularly with bombastic negativity but never offer solutions. Ricio is by all accounts a non productive internet troll but you have let us all know about your background as an MIT trained epidemiologist.
What actual solutions do you have other than internet comment section snark?

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“Bostonwoke” I don’t hide behind an anonymous screen name calling people trolls. In fact the only people who call me a troll are usually people like you who like to snipe incessantly or the racists I drive crazy when I get in their faces outside of this place.

As far as “non productive”, I just got PayPal to drop Turtleboy Sports over their vicious attacks on Monica Cannon Grant and Rachel Rollins. Effectively cutting off 70% of his revenue. I had a call with Stripe yesterday about them doing the same.

What have you done to combat hate speech this week?

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Double

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I'd be curious to see the overlap in that group with people who traveled to DC for a """""protest"""" on Wednesday

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"People are dying at the hands of the executive branch of the United States, people will become angry, they will say Black lives matter, and all lives matter, and it will be pretty tough for them to realize that BLUE LIVES MATTER," Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said at Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's virtual prayer vigil on May 30, 2020, in response to police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/boston-stands-together-against-inju...

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Bill repeatedly claims to not be political. Yet he plays in politics. His photo op was pure politics. Gross was also either naive or a liar in claiming that he didn't want the photo to be used for political purpose by Barr.

Bill is combative. He combats the ACLU, refuses to meet with groups he doesn't like (and probably figures he can not control).

Gross would represent one group of people as mayor: police. He would strengthen the belief that police are a superior segment of society.

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