Magnan v. Boisvert, The End

The State Ethics Commission wrote in a letter this week that School Committee member Patrick Magnan was wrong when he claimed City Councilor Norman Boisvert illegally voted on the city budget.

Magnan claimed Boisvert shouldn't have voted, because Boisvert's wife is a teacher's aide, and a raise was part of the school budget. The Ethics Commission said Boisvert was voting on the entire budget, which was fine. If he was voting on a specific line item that includes a raise, he would have been wrong.

So, Boisvert has nothing to worry about, but what about Magnan?

Comically, Magnan goes from protector of the public to weirdly secretive. He told the Sentinel he wouldn't comment, and said he thought the commission's letter was supposed to be confidential. But in June, the guy is standing up after the mayor's weekly presser, with all the city's media in one room at once, publicly accusing Boisvert of dealing in dark political corners.

At the very least, Magnan owes Boisvert an apology. It would help if he could explain his motivation behind all this a little bit, because it's just plain bizarre.