What's with the Rick Pond fiasco?

[janet118]

Doesn't the Mass. Democratic Party know how to vet candidates? This guy ran for Plymouth County Sheriff for over 2 years and then dropped out right after the primary leaving the Republican incumbent without an opponent. Nice, eh!!

Richard A. Pond, a Democrat from Hanover who dropped out of the race for Plymouth County sheriff without explanation Monday, was successfully sued for beating a man awaiting trial on charges he murdered a police officer.
A Suffolk County jury in 1995 found that two jail guards, Pond and Joseph Fitzpatrick, beat Albert Lewin unconscious and left him in his cell on May 14, 1988, the same day that a memorial to Boston police Detective Sherman Griffiths was erected in Griffiths' hometown of Milton. The jury in the civil case awarded Lewin $333,000.

A jury acquitted Lewin of the murder charge in 1990 after hearing evidence that Griffiths' partner in the Boston police drug unit had made up an informant to get a judge to sign a search warrant for a Dorchester apartment building. Griffiths was shot in the head and killed when he and several other officers raided the building on Feb. 17, 1988. Griffiths was 36.

Patriot Ledger

Not only that, but I have read online documents that seem to verify that Pond admitted to soliciting prostitutes, refused for years to pay court ordered child support, has had repeated incidents of domestic violence - in one case shooting a woman, assaulted a police officer, has had a questionable work history that involves multiple disability claims, and threatened his ex-wife's babysitter and referred to her as a "lezzie." The man is a thug and a creep. Why didn't we know about this stuff until now?

[Ian David]

1. This is the first I've heard about it. n/t

[Ian David]

2. Rick Pond's bumper stickers were the first ones for the 2010 election I ever saw.

People have been sporting those things on their cars since before the 2008 election.

I wonder if we've been Alvin Greened.

[janet118]

3. What's Alvin Green, Ian? n/t

[Ian David]

4. Alvin Greene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Greene

See also:

Republican Runs Street People on Green Ticket
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/us/politics/07candidates.html

[janet118]

5. Oh, that Alvin Greene . . .

Could be . . . Pond and his wife gave the limit to Romney's gubernatorial campaign against Shannon O'Brien. It definitely smells like a set up by someone. A group calling itself "Citizens United Against Domestic Violence" sponsored a website that had all kinds of documentation of Pond's indiscretions - OUIs, hiring prostitutes, assaults, threats, child support violations - including some original police reports. Yet, the site disappeared shortly after he dropped out. The newspapers are silent. Pond's website is also gone down the memory hole. It's like it never happened.

My question is . . . why didn't the state Democratic Party catch a whiff of this way before the primary. The guy has been running since 2007. A simple criminal records or deadbeat dads check would have done the trick. The campaign contributions to Romney should have set off some alarms. IMO it's either incompetence or collusion. I can't decide which is worse.

Now there is no Democrat on the ballot and no time to get a write-in campaign going without a candidate who already has name recognition in the county or has lots of money for media.

[Ian David]

6. I don't see any women here donating to Romney. Where did you get that info?

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=Pond&state=MA&zip=&employ=&cand=&all=Y&sort=N&capcode=2s942&submit=Submit

Also checked FundRace:
http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&oldest=1&lname=pond&fname=&search=Search&off=100

Checked the FEC database: http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/advindsea.shtml

Still nothing.

Do you have a source for the info?

Thanks!

[janet118]

8. Those look up lists you provide are only for federal candidates

not governors.

As for the documentation I saw . . . it's a long story. Suffice it to say, that documentation is no longer online. If there is an in-state contributors' list from Secretary of State's office for the 2002 gubernatorial election, it would be on that one, sometime between 2000 and 2002.

I will try to find it as well.

Thanks.

[janet118]

9. Here you go . . .

http://www.efs.cpf.state.ma.us/SearchItemResults.aspx

Her name would be Leslie.

[Ian David]

10. You are awesome! Thanks! n/t

[Ian David]

11. Leslie and Richard Pond both donated $500 each to Romney.

10 Leslie Pond 4 Damon Road
Hanover, MA 7/30/02
500 500
Marketing
Boston Globe Romney for Governor

<snip>

12 Richard A. Pond 4 Damon Road
Hanover, MA 7/30/02
500 500
Retired
None Romney for Governor


Is "Richard" the same person as "Rick?"

http://www.romneyfacts.com/money.php?lname=POND

[Ian David]

7. Looks like Rick Pond didn't have a Primary opponent.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/lakeville/features/x560099847/Lakeville-election-results-will-be-posted-as-soon-as-they-come-in