Flags in Southborough and across the state are flying at half staff today in honor of Middlesex County Sheriff James V. DiPaola who committed suicide last Friday. DiPaola was the subject of an ethics investigation at the time of his death. You can read more here.
Flags will remain at half staff until further notice.
You got to be kidding me,… is this for real? This guy gets the honor of all the state flags flying at half staff??? I’m sorry, I feel bad for his family, BUT there is no way in hell he deserves this. Unfortunately we have a 1 party state and this type of thing is bound to happen. It just cheapened the honor though.
I have to agree. My heart goes out to the family, but this honor should not have been extended to an individual who was under investigation for ethics violations. I would like to ask what this has to do with MA being a “1 party state” though?
“Unitl further notice”?? Maybe – MAYBE 1 day. “Until further notice” sounds like it would be reserved for National heroes.
“1 party state” – that is quality humor. If the voters couldn’t clear the decks on this past election they never will and thus “1 party state” is more than accurate.
I am not questioning its accuracy, I am asking what it has to do with the decision to fly flags at half staff for this individual. I see no correlation with party lines and am a little sick of them being drawn for no good reason.
I am very tempted to agree that flags should not be lowered in this case, but I remind myself that “under investigation” is “not yet guilty”.
Cronyism is not a party-specific vice.
I too have doubts that this honor is appropriate. Perhaps in Middlesex County where he was Sheriff but statewide is a real stretch.
Let’s face it though this is a 1 party state and without a creditable opposition it is far easier to hand out favors to your friends and never have to deal with the consequences at the ballot box.
This has plenty to do with it being a one party State. Who do you think gets all those jobs with the probation department? (I don’t think its all those Charlie Baker Supporters) Its all about favors and kickbacks. I am guessing that is one of the reasons this guy was like so much was he handed out jobs and did favors. Why else would the governor want to give this honor to someone being accused of ethics violations. This type of stuff is (favors and handing out political jobs) has been going on for years and years. The guy admitted to trying to milk the system for an extra $100,000 +/- and collect a pension while he was being paid to be sheriff. What I love is when politicians refer to themselves as a “public servants” ,… Makes it sound like he was working for free all these years. I prefer the term “hack” for any politician that makes it a careers out of being a politician.
While we obviously base our laws on ‘innocent until proven guilty’ it seems it would have been best not to go out of the way to provide a flags-at-half-staff honor for someone under the circumstances of this investigation. I agree that such honors should be reserved for those who deserve them unquestionably.
As for cronyism, it’s bad no matter who’s doing it, and let’s not assume or pretend that any one party has the corner on it – there’s plenty of it going around out there across the board, and it stinks whereever it arises.
James DiPaola was also a police officer and state representative before he was elected Middlesex County Sheriff. Whatever you think of our public servants or the policy for flags at half-staff, or political parties, this is not the place for such remarks. This has nothing to do with a 1 party state. Please show some respect for your fellow bloggers.
Dan, respectfully, Susan is the blogger — we are commenters. And I’m sure she would agree that if “this is not the place for such remarks” then what is?
I have no opinion on this particular topic, but you shouldn’t try to chill discourse with which you disagree.