By: Tom Duggan – November 12, 2012 Just days after taking office in 2010, Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua, his Chief of Staff, Leonard “Lenny” Degnan of North Andover, and then DPW Director Frank Mcann of Haverhill, were involved in a transaction with Patriot Ambulance Company, a private contractor that provides ambulance services to The City […]
October 30, 2012 Essex Superior Court Judge Thomas Murtagh has once again ruled that the City Of Lawrence must turn over public information that the Valley Patriot has been seeking since February. Lawrence City Attorney Charles Boddy had refused to turn over public records sought by the newspaper concerning School Department employees and payments made […]
By: Tom Duggan – October 28, 2012 When Hampton Beach NH resident Helen Bousquet was admitted to the Holy Family (Caritas) Hospital for Knee surgery last month, her son, Haverhill native Brian Evans, says he had no idea she would never be coming home again. “It’s been unbelievable from A to Z,” Brian Evans told […]
Legislators Blame Deval Patrick Administration for Not Addressing the Lawrence Crisis By: Tom Duggan – October, 18, 2012 More Legislators on Beacon Hill are stepping forward this week to say they are tired of the state tax payers footing the bill for what Andover State Rep. Jim Lyons has called “an ongoing criminal enterprise” in […]
Local Legislators to File Bill Adding Penalties to Public Records Law Violators By: Tom Duggan – October 17, 2012 (2:30pm) TOWN HALL, NORTH ANDOVER, MA During a press conference today endorsing Karin Rhoton for the 14th Essex Rep. seat, Rhoton, Senator Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R) Gloucester, Representative Brad Hill (R) Ipswich, and Representative Brad Jones […]
Local Officials Come Forward Calling for Lantigua’s Removal By: Tom Duggan – October, 2012 In the wake of two more members of Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua’s administration being indicted last month, local officials are calling for Lantigua’s resignation and a complete state takeover of the entire city and one state representative calling he […]
By: Joe D’Amore October, 2012 With headlines announcing indictments of key public officials in Lawrence the city has reached an historic crossroad which will define its emergence or decline from the current state of turmoil. At stake is the well- being of the city and all the surrounding communities as results that stem from […]
Attorney Violates Judges Murtaugh’s order to Turn Over Public Documents Lawrence City Attorney Charles Boddy has turned over half of the public documents requested by the Valley Patriot back in February of this year (and refiled in July). The documents that the city did release had the amounts paid to the Law Firm of […]
October 11, 2012 Essex County Superior Court Judge Murtaugh ordered the City of Lawrence to turn over public documents sought by The Valley Patriot “forthwith, and that means immediately, sooner than immediately, I want these records produced,” Murtaugh said this afternoon. At issue is Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan’s claim that the City of […]
City Hides DiAdamo Payments – Double Dipping in School Department By: Allan Knowles, Staff Writer – October 3, 2012 Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan filed court action Wednesday against The City of Lawrence, Lawrence City Attorney Charles Boddy and Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s Office for purposely refusing to turn over public documents that […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL August – 2012 The Valley Patriot submitted document requests to the City of Lawrence under the Massachusetts Public Records Law on February 22, 2012. The documents we requested are public documents that must be turned over within ten days by law. Yet, as of the date we published this edition, (August […]
By: Joe D’Amore – June, 2012 The community action movements that swept Lawrence “It’s Your Right” and “Uniting Lawrence” appear to have initated derivative actions that speak to a yearning for change in this city. These have manifested themselves in unique ways such as a proliferation of Face Book groups, radio programs, letter writing […]
By: Gerry Nutter – May, 2011 On April 26th for the 2nd time since February the Lowell City Council received a “White Paper” dealing with suggestions of how the Council should spend taxpayer dollars from a Political Action Committee based here in Lowell named Move Lowell Forward. In the 2009 election this “non-partisan citizens […]
By: Rob Eno – May, 2012 After completing work on a $32.5 billion budget, Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) said the budget process was, “the most open and transparent we can have”. The non-partisan Center for Public Integrity, among others, strongly disagrees. They recently gave Massachusetts an F for openness and transparency in our budgeting […]
By: Joe D’Amore – May, 2012 Here is my response to questions raised by a reporter of a local newspaper. Groveland’s Candidate’s Night is the only event that offers an opportunity for citizens to view candidates and discuss issues for upcoming elections. The event occurred on April 12th at Town Hall and was not […]