New Bedford City Council ‘Source’ Dubbed ‘Sleaze’ By Fellow Councilor Comes Clean

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — New Bedford Ward 1 City Councilor Leo Choquette outed himself Wednesday as the “source” that provided WBSM’s Chris McCarthy with information about some councilors’ attempt to pass longevity pay for the councilors, which had led to a terse text message from Councilor at Large Linda Morad to the rest of council calling whoever leaked that info a “sleaze.”

In an appearance on SouthCoast Now Wednesday morning, Choquette told McCarthy it wasn’t that he had an issue with councilors receiving longevity pay, it was that he didn’t like the way Morad and others were going about it.

“I don’t want to take people’s pay away,” he said. “I’m not trying to be somebody who says you shouldn’t get your longevity pay, but it has to be done in a transparent manner. The voters need to know what’s going on.”

Morad, however, contends there was "no deceiving the public" in the situation, "no backroom deal." She said Choquette was "misleading" the public on the issue.

What Is Longevity Pay?

Longevity pay is additional wages or compensation provided to someone based on the length of time they have held a position. It was a hot topic on McCarthy’s WBSM show recently with the news that Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria was overpaid $180,000 in longevity payments.

What Does Longevity Pay Have to Do With New Bedford City Councilors?

Choquette informed McCarthy that earlier this year, Morad and Ward 2 Councilor Maria Giesta wanted to file a motion to discuss the longevity pay for councilors, which is a provision by City ordinance.

McCarthy brought that information to air, but did not name who it was that provided him with that information.

Morad Sends Out a Text to the Council

Councilor Morad sent a text message to the other 10 councilors seeking to find out who had provided McCarthy with that information.

Choquette told McCarthy he thought the text message could be a violation of the state’s open meeting law, as it was discussing council business with a quorum of councilors in a non-public forum. He also took exception to the tone and language of the text.

“If I was at my job at my firm and another employee wrote this to me or another colleague, you’d be in serious trouble,” he said. “You could be terminated.”

“The thing that really upsets me, too, you can point me out, Councilor Morad, if you want to say ‘Leo, you’re a sleaze,’ but I'm not going to sit here and let you insult my colleagues,” he said.

Choquette Said His Original Issue Was With the Way the Longevity Pay Issue Was Handled

“At the end of the day, it’s got to be on the up and up,” he said.

He said that the issue was originally going to be on the council agenda in January or early February, at the same time he and Councilor at Large Ian Abreu wanted the council to adopt the HERO Act, which grants extra benefits for veterans.

“I just thought it funny that in the same meeting, we would go from talking about longevity pay to talking about doubling the property tax abatements for disabled veterans, who in my opinion are the most worthy group of individuals,” Choquette said. “I’m not comfortable with those two topics being in one meeting together. It’s just a recipe for disaster.”

However, Now Choquette Is Concerned About Intimidation

Choquette said he believes Morad is “intimidating” himself, Abreu and Ward 3 Councilor Shawn Oliver.

“The three of us, the little troika that we have, we actually constitute, if you do the math, 27.8 percent of the city council vote, so three people can start to make a difference and they don’t like that,” he said.

He also took issue with Morad’s idea of the council being a “family.”

“I’ve been treated like the waiter at the third table around the corner of the dining room, as far as family. I’m the hired help is how I feel from Councilor Morad,” he said.

“Councilor Morad, I’m always here, I always have the candlelight in the window,” he said. “I’m waiting for your callback from 16 months ago, from the night I won and you won and I said, ‘Congratulations, Councilor, I look forward to working with you.’ Hey, for whatever reason, you don’t like me, I get it.”

“This isn’t personal, this is business,” he said.

Choquette Issues His Own “Challenge” to Morad

“I met your little challenge, you said I challenge you to send a text; we know that’s illegal, so I’m not going to send a text and violate the open meeting law,” he said.

“Here’s my statement on that: you made your challenge, I met it, so now I have a challenge for you, Councilor, respectfully,” he said. “Since you insulted Councilor Abreu and Councilor Oliver in a text message to the rest of the council, I think you should stand up at the next council meeting and give them a public apology.”

“You need to tell Councilor Abreu you are sorry for insulting him and Councilor Oliver,” he said. “If you do that, I would have so much more respect for you personally.”

Morad Responds to Choquette

“It’s really disappointing that a Councilor would mislead the public to thinking that the City Council was hiding something from them and attempting to violate the open meeting law,” Morad said in a statement to WBSM.

“As with every motion that is placed on the City Council agenda there is a public debate regarding the issue. This motion was withdrawn before the agenda was published. There was no deceiving the public. There was no backroom deal,” she said.

“It’s unfortunate that Councilor Choquette is unaware of how the process works, is misleading the public and maligning the credibility of his fellow colleagues for what appears to be some unknown self-serving reason,” Morad said.