I'd like to put this behind us. Beyond its generous compensation, the contract also allowed Pellegrino to serve as criminal defense lawyer for suspects arrested by the Police Department, even while he remained on the department's payroll. But since being revoked by the Law Department five days ago, the contract has become something of a mystery document, with nobody willing to step forward to claim authorship. Indeed, disavowing responsibility for the deal has became something of a mantra within city government as police commissioners, city councilors, members of the Albano administration and even Pellegrino himself professed uncertainty over the author's identity.
Nobody wants to touch it.
Six weeks after Police Chief Paula C. Meara urged the commission to approve the deal, City Solicitor Peter P. Fenton killed it Tuesday after concluding that the full board never voted on it. The sudden reversal came after U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, the City Council and the Citizens Action Network Inc., a civic group, demanded to know why the position was never posted and why no candidates were interviewed. Even Phillips, who signed the contract along with Benjamin Ramos and Roberta Smith, expressed doubts about the deal in the days before it was undone. But none of them were able to shed much light on the document's origins last week. Albano referred all questions to Fenton and the Law Department, which writes and reviews most city contracts.