By Evereth Woodruff 
There is a special club in Massachusetts made up of disgraced public servants. It’s a club no one willingly tries to join, yet its numbers increase with unseemly regularity. Its motto: “Indicted We Stand.”
The latest to rush this frat of the fallen: Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, who was arrested Friday on federal charges that he extorted a Boston cannabis company for pre-IPO stock.
Federal prosecutors say he used his position to bully company executives into allowing him to invest $50,000 in the company ahead of an initial public offering, after which his stake increased in value to nearly $140,000. The alleged agreement was that he would be refunded his initial investment, according to court documents.
He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
There was a time when such charges against a law enforcement official would be shocking. But this is Massachusetts, and the roll call of lofty careers tarnished by scandal is a long one.
There’s the State Legislature trifecta of Speakers of the House with criminal convictions: Charles Flaherty (1991-1996) on tax evasion; Thomas M. Finneran (1996-2004) for perjury; and Sal DiMasi (2004-2009) for extortion.
Former State Senator Dianne Wilkerson will forever be known for the career-ending photo of herself stuffing $1,000 in cash bribes into her bra. That snap was released by the feds after they busted her on federal corruption charges.
Fellow former State Senator Dean Tran joined the club earlier this year when he was sentenced to federal prison for unemployment assistance and tax fraud.
Two months later, federal authorities arrested State Rep. Chris Flanagan on charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from a trade association he worked for, covered up the thefts, and then used the money to pay personal bills and fund his campaign for elected office.
And of course, there’s Tania Fernandes Anderson. The former Boston City Councilor apparently learned nothing from the state ethics violation that saddled her with a $5,000 fine in 2023. That was when she hired two immediate family members to her City Council staff, giving them raises, and in the case of her sister, a bonus.
Fernandes Anderson then doubled down with a kickback scheme in which she doled out a $13,000 bonus to one of her Council staffers, a relative but not immediate family member, on the condition that $7,000 be kicked back to her. The handoff took place in a City Hall bathroom in June 2023.
She pleaded guilty to two of six public corruption charges from a federal indictment last December, when she was arrested
She slow walked her resignation from the City Council, and faces sentencing next month.
These sordid sagas are met with public disdain, even occasional outrage, but after a while, a certain numbness sets in. “How could they do such a thing!” becomes “Who is it this time?”
This can’t be our normal. Because it isn’t. A public office or position of public leadership shouldn’t ever serve as a base of criminal operations.
Tompkins is the latest big name in the spotlight. Massachusetts stakeholders need to act to make sure he’s the last.
