A Tiny Town Kinda Tale

The Boston Herald editorial staff wrote a doozer today, on their website.

“So does anyone think Aramark Concessions went to the Yellow Pages and by chance picked a security firm owned by a Suffolk court official who also happens to have a sister on the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission?

No? Well, that’s what’s wrong with this whole business, which is beginning to smell worse than a keg of stale beer.

It’s no secret how this town works. Why should the folks who pump the beer at Fenway hire some Joe Schmoe without connections? What’s the point? Maybe hiring a firm owned by Suffolk County Register of Probate Richard P. Iannella and his wife doesn’t guarantee a thing. And maybe sister Suzanne Iannella does indeed recuse herself as one of three ABCC commissioners when any matter involving Fenway Park comes up. But community activists insist she was quite interested in Red Sox plans to use Yawkey Way as an outdoor beer garden, which doesn’t exactly sound like a hands-off arrangement to us.

Then there’s the register himself, who can’t seem to remember how long his firm has held the Fenway contract to help oversee alcohol sale compliance. Iannella told Herald reporter Kevin Rothstein he got the contract last year. Aramark officials say the firm was hired three years ago.

And how an allegedly full-time court official finds time to run a full-time business is another intriguing question. (Gosh, those nights and weekends must be brutal.)

This is a deal court officials and the state Ethics Commission need to take a closer look at.”