I’d like to clarify for the public why I offered to recuse myself from selection.

1. I have a large network of colleagues in Massachusetts municipal finance. Last night I did a quick scan of the phone numbers in my cell phone, and counted 102 state and municipal officials from 45 MA cities and towns and state government. That list did not include colleagues with whom I speak infrequently, which might have doubled the count. Neither did I count retired or out-of-state colleagues. And yes, I have golfed with several. One reason that I made that offer was to make sure that the City Manager knew that I was committed to objectivity despite my connections.

2. The second reason was that in 2008 when we hired David McGurl as treasurer, we received considerable pressure from an insider to hire an unqualified candidate. I anticipated that this would happen again and wanted Mr. Lynch to be able to consider this pressure if he felt that it would expend too much political capital to resist. Fortunately for Lowell, he stayed true to his principles and remained committed to hire the best candidate.

Finally, if I was such a “good friend” of Mr. Labreque’s, why did I not recommend him for hire in 2008?

Tom Moses