Sun column ping
Hackey days are over for Mikey
By Howie Carr | Sunday, November 20, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
William Faulkner once said, “The past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past.”
Just ask Mike McLaughlin. Talk about out of the past — this 66-year-old hack has been in the headlines since the 1970s, and always the words have been the same: “Embattled ... grand jury ... job-selling ... court order to testify ... wiretapped ... denies ... mobsters...”
And now, on the cusp of his greatest score — a $278,000-a-year state pension — Mikey sees a new word in the headlines, and it’s the most ominous yet.
FBI.
I hate to give the Globe credit, so let me put it this way. A couple of ex-Herald reporters have been doing a great job revealing the latest chapter in the squalid biography of Mike McLaughlin. In case you missed it, until a few weeks ago he was running the Chelsea Housing Authority at a reported salary of $160,000. But his real, unreported pay was $360,000 a year — more than the head of the New York City housing authority.
As he was being forced out, Mikey began wildly shredding documents. He had his hand-picked accountant — an ex-bouncer — cut him checks for $200,000.
Did I mention McLaughlin is a Democrat — a “normal Democrat,” as his pal Vinnie Piro used to say in the days before he was indicted on an attempted-extortion rap, which he beat, with McLaughlin sitting there in the courtroom every day, ready to run errands back to Winter Hill.
Mikey fit in old Somerville like a glove. Half-Irish, half-Italian, he was originally from Billerica — Somerville with trees. He was a young state rep when Paul Tsongas quit as Middlesex County commissioner in 1975 after being elected to Congress. Mikey slid into the courthouse gang and soon was running the state’s most outrageous hackerama, Middlesex County government.
One example: The county had a road department ... but no roads.
Mikey wasn’t a lawyer, so he made his living running housing authorities — Somerville, Lowell, Dracut, and finally Chelsea. That’s how he learned to handle city councilors and aldermen — he soon discovered you could win their eternal loyalty by bribing them with a plate of wings and a pitcher of beer at Hooters.
Which brings us to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray. Remember, Tiny Tim was a longtime Worcester city councilor. Easy pickings, and Mikey picked him clean. Some have speculated that Timmy is so dumb that he didn’t even know the past record of the thug who was running his organization in the Merrimack Valley. Not true.
Here’s a verbatim answer of Timmy’s from September when a former AP reporter asked him if he’d spoken to McLaughlin about a coup at the Dracut Housing Authority.
“Mike McLaughlin?” Murray stammered. “Uh, maybe at some point he might have mentioned, you know, the, the, um, mentioned it.”
By the way, Mikey now lives in Dracut — Somerville with trees north. He has an unlisted telephone number. I haven’t spoken to him since his son was unsuccessfully running for the state Senate, the same son Murray engineered a $68,000 hack job for at the RMV Board of Appeals.
Mikey even bought a condo in Naples, Fla. — winter home of the previous top two legislative hack state pensioners, ex-Senate president Billy Bulger ($200G) and ex-Speaker David Bartley ($150G). Mikey was on the verge of topping his old bosses.
Back in the days when we all lived in Somerville, one of the guys Mikey hated most was John Buonomo, the future reprobate register of probate who would be recorded on videotape stealing cash from the Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
I’ll bet Mikey was laughing his keister off when Buonomo was sentenced to a short bit in the Billerica House of Correction. Now Buonomo’s back on the street, and McLaughlin appears headed toward yet another photo finish with yet another grand jury.
If you made this story into a film noir, the title would have to be, “Out of the Past, the Sequel.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1382401
Howie Carr is an absolute piece of crap. He and his dopey sidekick Sandy have to be two of the most shallow personalities on radio. His opinions are ultimately driven by what is best for his ratings. When Cain was being attacked by feral pigs Howie jumped right on board because sex and controversy sells. Sandy even passed him a completely unvetted caller who went on and on about a ‘friend’ that ‘knew’ Cain was a monster. Howie sucked it up and let her go on for a few minutes without a single question to discuss her credibility. What a ‘reporter’! Now Mitt is back to being his favorite because he knows he has a chance to win and Howie wants him on his show should he actually do the unthinkable and win. Sandy practically wets herself whenever Brown calls in and Howie would rather hide in a corner rather than ask him a tough question. Why post the columns of one of Mitt Romney’s biggest and influential supporters ??? If I sound pissed it’s because I’ve been a fan of Carr’s since his days with Jerry Williams and though I knew he had limited character, I wouldn’t have thought his antics would continue with this country in the situation that it is in. Absolutely a no character slime ball.
Some of my text got messed up so I’ll try again... Howie Carr is an absolute piece of crap. He and his dopey sidekick Sandy have to be two of the most shallow personalities on radio. His opinions are ultimately driven by what is best for his ratings. When Cain was being attacked by feral pigs Howie jumped right on board because sex and controversy sells. Sandy even passed him a completely unvetted caller who went on and on about a ‘friend’ that knew Cain was a monster. Howie sucked it up and let her go on for a few minutes without a single question to discuss her credibility. What a reporter! Now Mitt is back to being his favorite because he knows he has a chance to win and Howie wants him on his show should he actually do the unthinkable and win. Sandy practically wets herself whenever Brown calls in and Howie would rather hide in a corner rather than ask him a tough question. Why post the columns of one of Mitt Romney’s biggest and influential supporters ??? If I sound pissed it’s because I’ve been a fan of Carr’s since his days with Jerry Williams and though I knew he had limited character, I wouldn’t have thought his antics would continue with this country in the situation that it is in. Absolutely a no character slime ball.
I’m trying to get on the road and be in Las Vegas by Wednesday, so I can’t comment much, except to say that most of these comments are right on the mark.
Please don’t stop, rr.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.