Walsh: 'No Smoking Gun' Connecting His Office To City Hall Extortion Case
BOSTON (CBS) -- Now that two members of his administration have been charged with pressuring music festival organizers to hire union labor, the big question is whether or not Mayor Marty Walsh, who has strong union ties, had anything to do with it.
On WBZ NewsRadio 1030's NightSide Wednesday night, Walsh told Dan Rea he had nothing to do with the alleged extortion.
"There's no smoking gun to the Mayor's Office, I can tell you that," Walsh said.
Just hours earlier, a second Boston City Hall official, Timothy Sullivan, was charged with conspiracy to extort a company and extortion of that company. The U.S. Attorney's office says Sullivan and Kenneth Brissette, the city's Director of Tourism who was indicted last month, withheld city permits in 2014 for the Boston Calling Music Festival on City Hall plaza last September until the production company agreed to hire union members.
Mayor Walsh said that pressuring anyone to hire union labor is something he's never done--not as a mayor, and not as a state representative.
"I hope some contractors or developers that were non-union, open shop, call in tonight and have an interaction with me," Walsh said. "I'd be willing to bet nine out of ten are going to say, 'He's a good, fair guy to talk to.'"
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
