Mary WhitfillThe Patriot Ledger
QUINCY − The leak of an investigation into Quincy's refusal to permit a Long Island Bridge rebuild is one of a laundry list of violations U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins is accused of committing by the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general.
Rollins has said she will resign following a watchdog report released Wednesday that accused her of ethics violations. The report centers on her visit to a Democratic Party fundraiser last year but also accuses her of leaking sensitive, nonpublic information to several news sources. Among them is her disclosure of a civil rights investigation into the City of Quincy, which she is accused of leaking to former Patriot Ledger reporter Sean Cotter while he was employed by the Boston Herald.
"I understand this is all still under investigation, but even at the time I felt like (the investigation) was a real stretch," Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch said Wednesday of the civil rights accusation. "It's disappointing. And if these allegations are true, that it was leaked directly from the U.S. attorney, that's also very disappointing."
May 2022: Are Quincy's efforts to stop the Long Island Bridge rebuild a civil rights violation?
Rachael Rollins slammed in alleged leak of Long Island Bridge investigation
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz says Rollins texted photos of the letter she sent to Koch informing him that her office was opening the investigation. Horowitz says the texts came from Rollins' personal cellphone and were sent to the reporter moments after a sending him a message reading "DISCLOSURE CANNOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO ME.”
"Rollins’s text messages appear to have been unprompted, as call detail records show no phone calls between Rollins and the Herald reporter during this period, and her previous text messages with the Herald reporter were over a month earlier and unrelated to Quincy," the report reads.
The Herald reporter texted back, “Oh interesting, thank you. Can this be a ‘letter obtained by the Herald,’” to which Rollins replied, “Absolutely. Don’t say I never gave you anything," the report says.
Horowitz asked Rollins why she disclosed a nonpublic letter concerning a Justice Department investigation. He wrote that she "believed the Quincy bridge issue was something that should have been looked into years ago, and she 'wanted there to be public attention on the matter.'"
She further told investigators she did not want the disclosure attributed to her because “the letter spoke for itself" and that she did not tell anyone in her office she had sent it because she "just didn't think (she) needed to."
The report also accuses Rollins of leaking information on a probe of racism within Everett's city government to The Boston Globe, and of sharing information about a potential investigation into interim Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden with the Herald.
The Justice Department's confidentiality and media contacts policy gives local U.S. attorneys' offices the right to “'exercise discretion" on media relations consistent with the policy and says the U.S. attorney must act with "sound judgment" when sharing information with reporters.
"We concluded that Rollins failed to act in this manner," Horowitz wrote.
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The report states that reassuring the public that the Justice Department is investigating a matter is done by conducting the investigation, "not by sending a letter to the subject of an investigation or preliminary inquiry and then secretly disclosing the letter to the news media using a personal cellphone in an effort to avoid creating a federal record and with a demand that the disclosure not be attributed to the U.S. attorney."
The report goes on to state that unauthorized leaks have "the potential to have precisely the opposite effect" of assuring the public.
Quincy under investigation for civil rights violations amid bridge fight
Boston and Quincy have been at odds for more than five years over plans announced by former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to rebuild the Long Island Bridge, which was shut down in 2014 because of safety concerns. Walsh and his successor,Michelle Wu, said they wantto put a substance abuse recovery campus on the island, which hasn't been used for almost a decade.
The bridge would connect Quincy's Moon Island to Long Island and would be accessible only through Squantum, which neighbors say would be a traffic nightmare. Quincy has passed ordinances that restrict the bridge's reconstruction; the Quincy Conservation Commission rejected Boston's proposal to rebuild the bridge; and Quincy sued both the state Department of Environmental Protection and Boston's public works department.
Rollins' office in May 2022 informed Koch it would be investigating Quincy. In a letter to cityofficials, Rollins suggested that blocking the development of a recovery campus on Long Island could be considered discrimination against those with substance abuse disorder, a protected class under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We are investigating the City of Quincy’s various efforts regarding the reconstruction of the Long Island Bridge,” Rollins wrote. “This includes, but is not limited to, the Quincy Conservation Commission’s denial of an order of conditions for rebuilding the bridge, the Quincy City Council’s enactment of new permitting requirements for bridges, and the Quincy City Council’s enactment of restrictions on vehicular access to Moon Island.”
Koch, who opposes rebuilding the bridge, said at the time that he does not oppose the idea for a recovery campus on Long Island. He said he wants to work with Wu and the U.S. attorney to "understand what is planned" for Long Island and "together develop a plan that will work for Boston and Quincy and the broader issue of opioid treatment and recovery."
"The issues are access points through Squantum that Boston’s own analysis stated were inadequate and the flawed bridge proposal that poses practical and environmental issues that the Quincy community has every right to raise," Koch said last year. "Isimply will not accept any premise that suggests Quincy has not done its part to protect and support the most vulnerable members of our community."
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Report: U.S. Attorney Rollins violated law, regulations and ethics
The bulk of the investigation focuses on Rollins attending a Democratic Party fundraiser in apparent violation of federal law and providing nonpublic information to try to influence a primary election to choose her successor as a local prosecutor,according to the report.
Rollins attended a fundraiser featuring first lady Jill Biden in Andover on July 14, 2022, after being driven in a government vehicle by a subordinate employee in her office, Horowitz's report states. The federal Hatch Act limits federal employees' political activities.
While investigating that incident, Horowitz wrote, he discovered that Rollins secretly disclosed sensitive information to the Boston Herald about a potential department investigation of interim Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden. Rollins may have released the information before the Sept. 6, 2022, Democratic primary to help candidate Ricardo Arroyo beat Hayden, according to Horowitz. Rollins had been the district attorney until becoming U.S. attorney in January 2022.
Rollins is accused of testifying falsely under oath during the inspector general’s investigation about the newspaper leak, according to the report. She admitted providing the information during later testimony, after being confronted with texts showing she had been a source for the reporter, according to the report.
“We found Rollins’s conduct described throughout this report violated federal regulations, numerous (Justice Department) policies, her ethics agreement, and applicable law, and fell far short of the standards of professionalism and judgment that the department should expect of any employee, much less a U.S. attorney,” Horowitz concluded in the report.
Other allegations against Rollins in the report include:
- Soliciting 30 free Boston Celtics basketball tickets, including two for herself, contrary to ethics advice.
- Accepting nonfederal travel expenses twice without advance authorization and without advising her office.
- Calling a local radio show to discuss a case from which she was recused.
- Participating in a news conference to discuss a draft opinion of the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
- Using her personal cellphone to send texts to her staff about Justice Department business.
- Accepting donations to her Suffolk County district attorney campaign fund after she was sworn in as U.S. attorney.
See our earlier coverage of the Long Island Bridge issue
July 2022: Quincy says latest court ruling 'not a green light' to rebuild Long Island Bridge
July 2022: Long Island ferry service just got a vote of confidence. Here's where things stand.
May 2022: Are Quincy's efforts to stop the Long Island Bridge rebuild a civil rights violation?
January 2022: Long Island a 'big piece' of how Boston plans to fight opioid crisis
January 2021: Quincy councilors: Let's help pay for Long Island ferry
December 2020: Judge throws out Quincy's denial of environmental permit for Long Island Bridge
February 2020: Legal spending grows over bridge battle
May 2018: Quincy council advances anti-bridge proposals
Reporting by USA Today's Bart Jansen was used in this report. Reach Mary Whitfill at mwhitfill@patriotledger.com.
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