One
week after the Phoenix featured the Boston Police Patrolmen's
Association (BPPA) and its racist newsletter on our cover, the union
responded with a letter on its web site – not just to us, but to
the general “media fury” that's exploded since the release of
their May-June issue. It is not an apology letter. Quite the opposite
actually; it reads, “We utterly reject the ugly accusations which
are currently being hurled against [Pax editor] Jim Carnell,
our Union, and our members.”
Prior
to this, the only BPPA response to recent inquires about the Pax
was to pull the archives offline (the union did not return calls
from the Phoenix or any other news outlets). This was seen by
some as an admission of guilt – not so, it turns out. “To
the extent that critics gratuitously call us bigots or racists,”
the anonymous message reads, “we wholly reject such scurrilous
attacks.”
The
letter continues, “For many years, Jim has taken on a thankless
task of trying to keep our members, the police community, and our
supporters apprised of the issues confronting us and the battles we
have waged.” In fact, Carnell is generously compensated by the
BPPA; he earns more than $6000 a year for his position as a union
representative – more than six times what most reps make, and the
biggest take for any delegate.
Furthermore,
the letter addresses the BPPA scholarship fund: “Most, and in recent years, all of the net
revenues derived from advertising in the PAX have funded scholarships
for the children of our members. These scholarships are distributed
by a lottery with each member having an equal opportunity to advance
his or her child’s education. For the support for these
scholarships we have received from our advertisers, we and our
members are enormously grateful.”
We've
turned up more information – a mere fraction of their revenue goes
toward such educational opportunities. In 2009-2010, for example, the
BPPA only gave away $44,000 in scholarships ($1000 to 44 recipients)
despite selling $336,494 in advertising. That was an improvement from
the year before, when they raised more than $400,000 in ad revenue
and reported no scholarships expenditures at all. (The BPPA did,
however, spend more than $100,000 on golf outings and retirement
parties between 2008-2010. In that time they also spent more than $500,000 on "advertising sales" to a "Commonwealth Production" at 264 Raynor Ave. in Whitman. According to the Secretary of State's records, there is no such entity at that address.
ETA: There is a record of a Commonwealth Productions, which stated in its incorporation papers that its purpose was "distributor of a trade or organizational publication," as well as "fundraising ... including 'charitable solicitation'" for the BPPA. The manager is listed as Lisa M. Hutchinson at an address in Braintree; property records show that she also owns or owned the property on Raynor Ave. in Whitman.
(But more on that later...)
Further
developments are being sought by a number of watchdogs, most notably
the ad-hoc Occupy Boston-related group Clean Up BPPA. In addition to
impugning the union's questionable tax filings, bloggers there have
also posted footage of what it looks like when the type of vitriol
that permeates Pax plays out in real-life, and becomes
more than just rhetoric. Stay tuned. Unlike times in the past when
the Pax has come under scrutiny, it doesn't look like this
story will disappear anytime soon.
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