It's rare when the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald editorial pages agree on something, and this week marked an exception - which wasn't good news for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and his comments on former probation commissioner John O'Brien's guilty verdict.
According to the Herald, "Mayor Marty Walsh has made very few missteps since taking the oath of office. But professing his belief that former Probation commissioner John O'Brien did not do anything illegal was a pretty big one."
"By signaling his acceptance of the patronage system, Walsh undermined trust. The only way to get it back is to reverse his comments,and loudly proclaim that he expects city officials to hire workers on the basis of merit, period," the Globe said.
John Walsh, chair of Together PAC, said the jury's guilty verdicts did send a political message.
"I think legislators at the time this was put forward in the Globe made some really dramatic and important steps to reform it in 2011 ... and the issues aren't as simple as people want to make them," he said, adding that more discussion needs to take place.
Mass. state Rep. Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) said the guilty verdict in the case is the result of Democrats being in power on Beacon Hill.
"We had a 'rigged hiring scheme' that where people would apply for jobs on a Friday and be hired on a Monday because they came through the Speaker of the House's Office. As far as I'm concerned, that's not the role of the legislature, and we as a body need to get to the bottom of how can this happen," he said.
Politics
Walsh and Rep. Lombardo also weigh in on other top political stories of the week, including immigration, the midterm elections and the fate of protesting Market Basket workers.
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