Lucas: Nothing ‘petty’ about alleged corruption in Boston City Hall

Road Rage Rollins is on a roll again.

This time Rachael Rollins, the outspoken former U.S Attorney, is mocking her successor for going after “petty” corruption at Boston City Hall.

This “petty” corruption was the indictment and arrest of Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson for an alleged kickback scheme to gain $7,000 in cash from a staffer in exchange for a$13,000 bonus.

Maybe inflation was not taken into account.

U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said Fernandes Anderson orchestrated “a scheme to funnel public funds into her own pocket.”  He said she “betrayed the trust of constituents and violated her fiduciary duty as a public servant.”

Rollins, the onetime Joe Biden appointed U.S. Attorney, said the charges were, “bullsh–.”

Rollins was forced to resign as U.S. Attorney after in 2023 after only 14 months in office after she was reportedly accused of misconduct and lying to U.S. Justice Department investigators, according to the department’s Inspector General.

On the public payroll for most of her adult life, Rollins is now paid $96,000 as an employee at Roxbury Community College.

Rollins made her Fernandes Anderson comments in an online forum hosted by Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia last week. “Did you see what bullsh— this is?” Rollins asked, comparing Fernandes Anderson’s alleged crime to crimes like drug running or human trafficking.

The cash in question was allegedly turned over to Fernandes Anderson in a City Hall bathroom. Anderson, 45, a two-term councilor from District 7 (Roxbury, Dorchester, the Fenway and a part of the South End), has refused to resign despite calls to do so from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and others.

Rollins, among other things, is known for her outrage over a 2020 Christmas Eve road rage incident when she was Suffolk County District Attorney.

She allegedly sounded the siren of her vehicle and activated the blue lights to win a right of way dispute with another driver at the South Bay Shopping Center parking lot. The driver said Rollins threatened her and she filed a complaint.

“Everyone is scared of her,” the complainant said after her accusation was brushed off by then Attorney General Maura Healey and the State Ethics Commission.

Which was true at the time when Rollins, who is black, was known to bully critics by aggressively calling them or their behavior toward her racist.

Rollins again brought up race when she attacked Levy in her online remarks for not naming “wealthy white men” or “white nationalists” caught up in a pending vast prostitution case.

“We can find a federal nexus for anything we want,” Rollins said.

Not that Rollins would have gone after johns paying for sex when she had the authority to do so. That is because she was soft as marshmallow when it came to crime.

As Suffolk County District Attorney in 2018 Rollins listed fifteen crimes she would not prosecute.

These crimes included shoplifting, drug dealing, resisting arrest, breaking and entering, driving with a revoked license, and so on. She probably would have included prostitution if she had thought about it.

Were she district attorney or U.S. Attorney today she presumably would have let Anderson walk over the alleged “petty” theft of $7,000.

The fact of the matter is that Rollins never should have been appointed U.S. Attorney in the first place because she lacked the skill, temperament and judgement to do the job properly.

But President Joe Biden, with gushing support from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Ed Markey, named her to the post in 2021 anyway, and she became the first Black woman to hold the position.

Unfortunately, it backfired.

And now she is taking her rage out on Levy, demeaning him for his action against Anderson. She also mocked him for allegedly “begging” her to become her assistant when she held the top job.

Levy, of course, did not respond. His record, which is outstanding, speaks for itself.

Rollins’ record speaks for itself too.

And that’s no bull.

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com

Boston City Council member Tania Fernandes Anderson leaves federal court in Boston after pleading not guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft earlier this month. (AP Photo/Steve LeBlanc, File)
U.S. States Attorney Joshua Levy (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald, File)

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