Federal Grand Jury Investigating Lantigua's Pre-Election Paving Projects In Lawrence
LAWRENCE (CBS) – A federal grand jury is looking at whether former Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua had his re-election in mind when he pushed to get the streets paved in the final weeks of last year's failed campaign.
Lantigua lost a tight mayoral race to challenger Daniel Rivera that was decided by 58 votes in a recount.
Lawrence DPW Director John Isensee told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens that Lantigua loved the praise he received from residents when their streets were getting paved.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
Federal Grand Jury Investigating Lantigua's Pre-Election Paving Projects In Lawrence
That happened a lot in the weeks before the November election
Isensee said Lantigua did not specifically say he wanted to paving done to help him get re-elected but the DPW chief said "you certainly got a good feel for it."
The paving contractor told Lantigua it was too late in the season to pave, and too cold to put down sealant.
But Lantigua signed a waiver absolving the contractor of responsibility for all the potholes that are now developing from the pre-election paving projects ordered by the mayor.
"Generally mayors don't go out and walk hand-in-hand with the guys doing the equipment" Isensee said. "In this case, some of that was going on."
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