Bribery and Corruption in Boston

Boston's history is full of Irish political leaders like Hugh O'Brien, Patrick Collins, Martin Lomasney, Patrick Kennedy, and John F. Fitzgerald. More recent Irish leaders include recent mayors of Boston: James Mich'l Curley (who left Boston with his legacy of political corruption) (Hirsch, 996), Maurice Tobin, and John B. Hynes (O'Connor, xvi-xix).

One of the most legendary of Boston's mayor is the late Mich'l Curley. Curley is also thought to be the first in a line of several corrupt politician who hailed from Boston. From 1914 to 1949, Curley served four terms as mayor. The Democrat was later elected to U.S. Congress and then became governor of Massachusetts, he was later indicted and spent six months of his Mayoral Term in 1947 in federal prison for a mail fraud conviction. What some observers claim is even more unbelievable is that Curley was elected to his fourth term as Boston's Mayor while sitting in jail!

Years ago, when Boston was struggling with the problems of desegregating its schools and complying with court-ordered busing requirements, some political observers felt that the

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dollars. When two hundred fifty thousand dollars was discovered missing from Flynn's campaign funds, the electorate began to worry about Flynn's integrity. Flynn seemed like another corrupt politician. The State Department was also cracking down on Flynn for participating in political functions while acting as an ambassador, and so, by 1994, he withdrew his name from the governor's race. Flynn had served three terms as mayor but, even after revitalizing urban areas, his inability to account for the missing money permanently marked him as another politician who was capable of dishonesty. In 1994, Thomas Menino became the first Italian-American mayor in Boston's history. To some, this was the beginning of the end of the Irish rule of Boston politics. Others question whether his term as mayor will end the corruption which seems to have plagued every mayor in Boston's recent history. One thing that stands out about the problems with corruption in Boston politics is that at least three mayors were accused or indicted for corruption and yet all of them severed more than one term in office. Some political observers believe that the corruption could be limited if their were shorter term limits, much as we have for the presiden
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