Bill comes due for free ride

By Maureen Boyle
Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON — The city's mayor spent a day on a 100-foot yacht owned by the founder of D'Angelo's sub shops while vacationing in St. Martin two weeks ago, but says he'll pay for the trip.

Mayor James E. Harrington, who said he plans to run for re-election in November, said he took a day trip with his wife on a boat owned by businessman Brian J. McLaughlin at the invitation of the man's daughter, but there were no strings attached to the offer — and he always intended to pay for the outing.

Harrington said he tipped the crew at the time and was being billed for the trip but declined to say how much the outing cost. However, he said “it is a substantial amount of money” and it was a gift to his wife.

Harrington said the boat is chartered and was available for use when he was in St. Martin on vacation.

When contacted last week by The Enterprise, Harrington didn't mention paying for the trip, and said he didn't consider going on the boat a conflict of interest.

“I really didn't think much of it, to be candid about it,” he said last week.

In a second interview later in the week, Harrington said, “It has always been my expectation that I was going to pay for this trip.”

McLaughlin said he charters the 15-year-old yacht during the Christmas holidays and the mayor was paying for its use. McLaughlin, through a corporation, owns commercial property in the city, including the strip mall on Belmont Street across from the Fairgrounds.

The mayor said he took the trip after McLaughlin's daughter, whom he knows from a Stoughton gym, learned he was going to St. Martin with his wife on vacation.

Harrington said McLaughlin's daughter told him no one would be using the boat and suggested the couple go out for a ride for a day.

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, said there's nothing wrong with taking a ride on a boat — as long there are no special favors granted in return.

“In a way, it can be a disadvantage,” she said. “Now the mayor has to be especially careful not to choose that developer. I don't think it helps the developer.”

Just because someone owns a yacht — or offers the mayor a ride on one — isn't bad, she said.

“I don't think we should discriminate against people who own yachts,” Anderson said. “We have to get over that.”

Former mayor John T. Yunits Jr. said McLaughlin doesn't need to curry favor with city officials.

“Brian is very successful,” Yunits said.

Yunits said he has known McLaughlin for years and was once on his boat in 1989 for a bachelor's party. He said he has not been on the boat since — and was not invited on it while mayor.

If he had been, Yunits said, he likely would have gone.

“I had four kids at the time. No one was inviting me out,” he said.

Maureen Boyle can be reached at mboyle@enterprisenews.com.