Mayor’s home repairs
As I stated in my column two weeks ago regarding Wendy Luzón’s deposition in the Gilda Durán’s case, she admitted under oath that Mayor Dan Rivera hired A & J Demolition Services, the company owned by her and her husband Raúl Polanco to do some alterations or repairs in his home. She swore not to know if he ever paid her company and under lots of pressure, confessed that the mayor paid the workers directly.
That statement led me to believe that the work had been done by city workers and I set out to find out. What I opened was a hornets’ nest! As it continues developing, I will bring you more news but, for now, I discovered that there are at least four DPW employees who regularly work in his house for the past few months.
Juan Tejada and Samuel Taveras (he retired on June 2, 2017) were appointed by the mayor as permanent employees. Also Jonatan Rivera, who is Kate Reilly’s boyfriend (the mayor’s secretary) as well as Alex Acosta who has been there since the Lantigua Administration.
These individuals have been working overtime at the mayor’s house on Saturdays getting paid time and one-half with our money.
Now, if I could only get a picture of who’s going to be called to mow the front lawn at the mayor’s house; it’s two feet tall! Please keep an eye out to see if we can catch him.
Mayor’s radio expenses
Has anyone heard a political commercial on the radio about the mayor’s reelection campaign? Of course not! He doesn’t have any. That’s why it puzzled me seeing so much money going to radio ads at Costa Communications and La Mega (WLLH 1400 AM).
Last year, Mayor Rivera paid over $7,100 (maybe more) to Costa Communications when he only has a weekly show there. I don’t know how much the station is charging him but I hear that the going rate is $75-$100, which doesn’t add up to that sum at the end of the year. Thus far this year, he paid Costa $1,625 on March 16; he has paid $300 on April 10 to Conexión Deportiva for the Saturday show and Luis Reyes several small amounts for radio production.
By the way, the laws require that when a radio show is paid for by the candidate, it should air the disclaimer that it is so, just like the line at the bottom of newspaper ads saying, “This ad is paid for by the Campaign to Elect…” This is heavily fined by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance and the Attorney General’s Office.
At La Mega, he paid $600 on April 24 and another $1,200 on May 25 so far this year. In his report to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (www.ocpf.us) he calls them “radio ads” but now we know they are not. Please check it out and you’ll have the work cut out for yourself for hours and days non-stop. If he spends $2 at CVS he calls it “office supplies” and Dunkin Donuts $6 purchase becomes “volunteer food.”
He charges hundreds in liquor and flowers and they are always labeled “constituent gifts.” Parking fines, gas, everything is charged to his campaign contributions and I hear that not all of them are legitimate expenses.
But the OCPF report contains many interesting things that at the same will leave you questioning what they heck he’s paying for. One of them is to Diana Vasquez of Methuen. So far this year, she collected $1,000 on March 21 as “fundraising consultant”; on May 3, another $500 but this time it was marked as “staff compensation” and on May 22 it was $1,000 as “consultant.”
Meanwhile, my online search showed that she claims to have worked at Lawrence City Hall as a Mayor’s Intern from Jan. 1, 2014 – Apr. 1, 2015; and she was Assistant to the Mayor from May 1, 2015 – Jul. 1, 2015. The last job she entered was as Development Coordinator at Esperanza Academy of Lawrence. She will have to issue a W-9 to the mayor and he will in turn have to send her a 1099 to file with the IRS. Yes, be prepared to pay taxes on that money you earned!
I shall keep you posted if I find out anything else.
Elections are here! Let’s hire DPW workers
There is a move from the mayor to hire 52 temporary employees and that is causing turmoil in the department. Danny insists in hiring them all at once and it poses a problem because the city doesn’t have the means to transport them to their assigned posts. Whether it is filling pot holes, cleaning somebody’s yard and sweeping the streets, the temporary workers are not allowed to drive themselves to the sites and the city is responsible to get them there. Considering that the vehicles are small, they’ll spend precious hours in traffic or having people just waiting around for a ride.
Suggestions have been made about hiring them in small groups at a time to make it more manageable but elections are in three months and the mayor wants to make them feel that he cares.
Please, again I ask of you, if you see city employees (even if they are temporary workers) working for any candidate during work hours, snap a picture with your cell phone and email it to me. First, I will embarrass them for allowing the mayor to use them and then, I can send that documentation to the Ethics Commission. That happened during the last elections and I was able to publish one. This year we should have more.
Wendy Luzón – alive and doing well
Someone criticized my comments divulging the truth regarding Wendy Luzón’s lies under oath about her educational background. She wrote on her resume that she had an associate’s degree when all she has is a high school education and insisted on that until the pressure from the attorney made her confess, along with other embarrassing issues in her private life.
“You have no consideration for her children who had to be exposed to that,” said my critic. “Her daughter works at the school department and now everyone knows about what her mother has done.”
My response to that was that she earned it herself. Besides, every time the mayor refers to the people he fired as being “corrupt,” he includes Gilda Durán, the position Wendy stole thanks to a political appointment. By the way, Gilda’s daughter is also a teacher in the school department yet, no one has empathized with her for the embarrassment of hearing those lies about her mother.
Council’s Personnel Committee
There is a question on my mind regarding the role of the council. They are divided into different committees and there is where decisions are made and are later brought to the whole city council. So, why is it that the mayor can get away with breaking laws and acting as a dictator and no one in the council has the power (or desire) to discuss his behavior before that body?
We elected them to represent us and that includes protecting us from this authoritarian bully. I spoke to Councilor at-Large Brian DePeña about the issue involving the hiring of someone incompetent and not qualified for a position that has such strict requirements.
As a member of the Personnel Committee, he will bring it up for discussion. The job application clearly states at the bottom that lying under oath is sufficient reason for immediate dismissal and I believe that the city council should be able to force the mayor to act accordingly. After all, he promised that he would only hire the best qualified candidates to work in his administration and he continues to go against his word by hiring his incompetent friends at our expense.
Police log updates
The Police Department continues depriving us from information. The last time the Police Log was updates was on May 4, 2017. By the time they actualize it, we would have forgotten what happened and when becoming worthless as a source of information.
Gilda Duran’s case
The trial for political persecution was postposed once again until November 27, 2017, with the excuse that he has to concentrate on his reelection campaign. The truth is that he cannot afford to have all the evidence about his lies to be made public before the election.
