Everett, Massachusetts. For years, the mayor of a suburb of Boston feared Wednesdays. That was the day when a local weekly would publish shocking accusations that he was in the take, sexually harassing women or under investigation by the FBI.
Friends destroyed the mayor of Everett Carlo Demaria on Facebook about what Everett Herald printed. His father threatened to repudiate him, about stories that the mayor knew were lies.
“They labeled me as a ‘Carlo Chickback’. Accusations that I was solving all kinds of demands for sexual harassment, which I put a knife in a girl’s throat and asked sexual favors,” said Demaria. “It was horrible. It was disgusting.”
An unusual victory in the Dead Law
Almost everything that the newspaper wrote about Demaria turned out to be false, which allows him to win a $ 1.1 million agreement in December that finally closed the newspaper of almost 140 years.
These defamation victories are extremely rare under the standard of “real malice” of the Supreme Court for public figures. That contempt arranged by the truth became abundantly evident when the editor of the juró newspaper in court tells the truth, and admitted to having manufactured a story after history in a relentless smear campaign.
But Demaria barely had time to celebrate. Now that he prepares for his seventh mayor campaign, he has been accused of padding his salary with bonus payments, a problem that the newspaper covered four years ago, and this time, the state of Massachusetts is pressing the City Council to take measures.
A mayor and a city on the way
F favoring sharp costumes and backward hair, Demaria was educated in a policy style based on personal connections with other residents in the working -class city of approximately 49,000 in the mystical river from Boston. As mayor in 2007, he has been praised for his leadership in improving infrastructure. Fortales can now look beyond the facilities of Monsanto and Exxon Mobil while reaching a dazzling casino and soon a professional football stadium.
Everett voters re -elected Demaria for landslides, and their annual compensation increased to $ 232,700, including a car allocation and a “longevity bonus”, which approached the salary of $ 250,000 from Mayor Michelle Wu de Boston, a city almost 14 times larger.
Then, after a brutal 2021 campaign, he remained in office for just over 200 votes.
Matthew Philbin had bought the Herald leader in 2017 and hired a reporter from the Boston area Joshua Resnek, to turn it into an attack machine, as shown by the judicial records. Demaria believes that Philbin was angry with him after he opposed his licenses from the pension house as a councilor and then refused to give him an insurance contract of the city after becoming mayor.
It was ‘Blue Suit’ v. ‘Chickback Carlo’
Resnek invented a city council source that called the “blue suit” and, in article after article, invented conversations accusing “Carlo recoil” of extorting the city employee in a land agreement, shaking people for contributions and sexually assaulting women.
In an emotional press conference to announce his victory in the Court, Demaria stopped with his wife and expressed vindication.
“The size and scope of this agreement, both in terms of the amount that the defendants have agreed to pay and in their agreement to close their newspaper, it is a reflection of how atrocious was their behavior and the volume of their admissions of their misconduct,” said Demaria.
Neither Philbin, Resnek nor his lawyers responded to repeated requests for comments, but the final edition of the document informed that “the agreement leaves all the satisfied parties that a pleasant agreement was reached, which makes the need for a trial a debatable point.”
Some residents complained about the loss of local news coverage.
“We need all kinds of voices,” said Everett Peggy Serino owner, regular at the meetings of the Council. “The fact that the administration did not agree with something does not mean that it closes it.”
Demaria’s joy proved to be short -lived
Someone complained to the State Office of the Inspector General about the bonus payments in 2022, after the leader Herald suggested that they were illegal and quoted a challenger of the mayor who called them “greedy.” Demaria rejected its 2022 payment of $ 40,000, and the Council limited its future payments to what other city workers obtain: around $ 1,700 a year.
After a long investigation, the Inspector General concluded in February that Demaria colluded with his finance officer and budget director to retroactively obtain $ 180,000 from 2016 to 2021, hiding payments within other line elements. The IG also concluded that Demaria could have violated the State Ethics Law by participating in the drafting and approval of the ordinance that caressed its salary.
The City Council has turned against him since the report came out. He cannot fire him, but the councilors demanded the reimbursement and launched an audit to almost a decade of payments to him. They also requested details that could contribute to the State Ethics Commission, which can fine an official of up to $ 10,000 for violation and refer evidence of any crime to prosecutors.
Demaria insists that “he dedicated himself to concealment” and that the police have not contacted him. Everything is only a small city policy, he said.
“Those who have falsely accused me of the years are those who are guilty of true crimes,” he said. “I will continue to fight to protect my family, but also to undo the damage that has been done to the reputation of Everett and its residents for these unnecessary and unfounded attacks.”
‘Think about your grandmother’
Demaria did not attend a special meeting full of employees of the city where his lawyer and his daughter came to defend him. By launching his re -election campaign weeks later, he asked the supporters to retain the trial until all the facts come out.
Not everyone is willing to wait. The City Council approved a vote without confidence and ended future longevity payments for him.
“This is a sad day for our community,” said City Councilor Peter Pietrantonio. “These are serious facts against the mayor and his administration … for me, it is frightening.”
Guerline Councilor Alcy Jabouin asked the many city workers to support Demaria to look beyond their loyalties.
“Think about your property taxes. Think about school that you are not getting enough money. Think about your grandmother, your grandfather who can’t pay your medications,” Jabouin said.
