Front page at the Boston Globe today:
BRA official asked help from mosque backer
Pushed for mayoral visit to Mideast during talks
Oh dear. I'm betting the Islamic Society of Boston folks rue the day they started with their lawsuit nonsense. The things that have come to light during the discovery process have been fascinating indeed.
"A Boston Redevelopment Authority official involved with the city's decision to reduce the price of land it sold to the Islamic Society of Boston for a Roxbury mosque asked a Saudi Arabian supporter of the project to help plan a trip to the Middle East for Mayor Thomas M. Menino and two of his political allies, according to BRA documents."
".....But the document, reviewed by the Globe, raises new questions about Ali-Salaam's role on the project, as well as his relationship with the Islamic Society and outside advocates of the mosque while he negotiated a land deal on behalf of Boston taxpayers."
"The state conflict of interest law prohibits public officials from seeking or personally receiving anything valued at $50 or more if it is being given to influence a present act, induce a future act, or reward a past act, according to State Ethics Commission guidelines. The law also prohibits officials from engaging in activities that create the appearance of a conflict of interest, unless they disclose potential conflicts to their appointing authorities."
Oopsy. In addition to the fund-raising trip to the United Arab Emirates made by Muhammad Ali-Salaam on behalf of the ISB, there is that little matter of Ali-Salaam helping the ISB lower they price they'd pay for the BRA parcel.
"In one memorandum, marked 'confidential' dated Sept. 22, 1989, Ali-Salaam tells Islamic Society trustees that the BRA sold a Roxbury parcel to the US Postal Service several years earlier for $16 per square foot, but he advised the trustees that a Bank of Kuwait appraisal of the potential society land put the value at $6.50 per square foot. He advised the society that the lower figure could be used when negotiating a purchase and said the purchase price could be reduced further by adding community benefits to the project."
Hmmm, whose interests are you looking out for, Mr. Ali-Salaam, the City of Boston or the Islamic Society of Boston?
"Another piece of correspondence in the documents sheds more light on Ali-Salaam's fund-raising for the project and suggests he was aware of the potential for a conflict between his interests as a public official and as a representative of the Islamic Society."
Maybe! As for the other religious organizations that have supposedly benefitted from similar arrangements with the BRA, the BRA hasn't provided many details:
"The BRA provided a list of religious organizations that have received land under the renewal program since 1962, but declined yesterday to provide details including the size of the parcels sold or the total prices paid by the religious organizations. Elsbree also declined to say whether BRA officials who were members of the churches advocated on the organizations' behalf in the deals."
Let me hazard a few guesses here. 1) Nothing compares to the ISB-BRA deal in size of parcels or in total prices paid. 2) No BRA officials made overseas trips to raise money for the other projects, or advocated so very strongly for the other religious organizations. Just a hunch. Can you imagine the outcry if a BRA director went to the Vatican to raise money for a Catholic organization, or if the BRA cut a sweetheart deal for, say, an Evangelical group? Where's the ACLU when you need them?
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