Sheriff admits he used his official ID to get his opponent’s campaign signs removed
Suffolk Country Sheriff Steven Tompkins admitted to showing his official identification in eight Roxbury stores and asking the owners to take down “Vote for Sheriff Bennett’’ signs during the 2013 election, The Boston Globe reports.
According to the Globe, Tompkins violated a conflict-of-interest law by using his official position to get something unavailable to other people. He agreed to pay a fine of $2,500 in a settlement with the State Ethics Commission.
“It is unreasonable to think that any shop owner in this situation would have felt comfortable denying what appeared to be an official request from a law enforcement official,’’ said a statement from Karen L. Nober, executive director of the ethics commission, according to the Globe. “Under these circumstances, the requests made by Sheriff Tompkins were an inherently coercive use of his official position to aid his candidacy, and therefore were prohibited by the conflict-of-interest law.’’
Read the full story at the Globe.
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