Posted on 06/20/2003 2:34:21 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
UMass President William M. Bulger failed to help his shaky political standing during a daylong grilling yesterday, with Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly accusing him of deliberately thwarting a congressional panel probing FBI corruption.
Reilly, a Democrat who is leading the call for Bulger's immediate resignation, charged the University of Massachusetts president with giving ``evasive'' answers and said he had ``no interest in helping that committee . . . find the truth.''
``Clearly he was not forthcoming; he was evasive, he had a convenient memory,'' Reilly said at a press conference minutes after Bulger's testimony in Washington concluded. ``He knew the day his brother came out of Alcatraz but he didn't seem to know much more, and that was in 1965.''
The attorney general added: ``They (committee members) were legitimately trying to get at the truth with a witness that wasn't going to help them.''
Reilly said the ``spectacle'' of Bulger's testimony only validated his call for the UMass president's resignation.
``Today was not a proud day for the University of Massachusetts . . . I worry about what the students must be thinking. I worry about what the nation must be thinking,'' the attorney general said.
Asked whether he believed Bulger committed perjury before the panel, Reilly hedged, and said it would be difficult to prove. ``The answers were so vague,'' he said. ``Perjury's a very hard crime to charge and prosecute, particularly with someone that's skilled and evasive.''
Reilly's harsh comments indicate the former state Senate president did nothing yesterday to help his campaign to continue to head UMass.
Gov. Mitt Romney, who also is trying to force Bulger's ouster, was in Washington on business yesterday but did not watch the congressional testimony, a spokesman said. Romney is expected to review a tape of the testimony and make comments today.
``The governor has already expressed his view that Bill Bulger should resign,'' Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said. ``Nothing has changed his mind.''
Bulger's fate rests with the UMass Board of Trustees, and a source said the board expects to be ``reviewing everything'' about Bulger's testimony. Board members are being provided with transcripts and tapes of the testimony.
``They're paying very close attention to every detail (of the testimony) but you're not going to see a knee-jerk reaction,'' said the source close to the board.
The source said the board discussed holding a special meeting to talk about Bulger's testimony, but decided against it.
Reilly, who has emerged as Bulger's top foe, said the ``most troubling part'' of Bulger's testimony was his claim that he was reluctant to help capture his brother, fugitive gangster James J. ``Whitey'' Bulger, because he was afraid Whitey Bulger would be killed by an FBI agent.
``He forgot today that it was his brother who was doing the killing,'' Reilly said.
Romney is likely to increase the pressure on Bulger today, despite the failure of his attempt to convince the Legislature to eliminate the UMass president's job.
Rob Gray, a Romney political consultant, said while Bulger didn't provide any smoking gun to trigger his ouster, he didn't help rally public support.
``Most reasonable people will conclude he was so evasive he must have something to hide and that doesn't help his long-term prospects,'' Gray said. ``This may not have been a death blow but it may end up being the death of a thousand cuts.''
Connolly was and is Whitey's own personal FBI agent in the pocket and fellow boyo. So had Flynn hired Connolly, the Bulger boys would have been running the Boston Police Department because they had all the goods they ever needed on the erzats Chief of Police.
Chew on that one. :-}
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