We are now just two days away from Truck Day for the Boston Red Sox. It may not feel like spring up here in New England but Truck Day for us here cancels out what the groundhog said because it means spring training is near. In fact, it’s just 8 days until pitchers and catchers report to Ft. Myers. That is unless you’re Jon Lester, then you are already there.
Speaking of Ft. Myers, I don’t know if anyone has been following the whole new Red Sox spring training site saga. Recently they narrowed down the fields on the site for the complex and also the builder. Now it turns out that one of the people on the commission is dating one of the builders and people don’t want her to vote.
County Commissioner Tammy Hall has the right – and obligation – to vote when the board decides whether to approve a construction manager for the new Boston Red Sox spring training complex, according to the county attorney.
Hall’s boyfriend, Howard Wheeler, is president of Chris-Tel Construction of Fort Myers, one of two subcontractors for manager Kraft Construction on the project. The other is Casey Construction.
“Boyfriends are not included in the (state) statute,” County Attorney David Owen said Friday. “It is not a conflict of interest.”
If there is no conflict, Owen said public officials are bound to vote.
“That is their obligation, that is their duty,”Owen said.
Commissioner Frank Mann is concerned the relationship could derail the entire Red Sox project, he wrote in a Monday memo to Owen.
Wait, it gets better.
The wait for a state ethics agency’s ruling could delay the hiring of a construction manager for the new Boston Red Sox spring training stadium.
Lee County Attorney David Owen recommended Tuesday Commissioner Tammy Hall get an opinion from the state about whether it will be a conflict of interest if she votes on hiring a construction manager for the complex.
And just when you thought it wouldn’t get any better.
This week Bigelow brought the issue to the table again, this time handing the “undue influence” tag to the Boston Red Sox.
“It’s come to light to me that we have placed a Red Sox official on the selection committee, so we have one appointee who’s backed up by the ability to veto.”
Commissioners did vote in December to make an exception and allow a team representative – Florida operations manager Todd Stephenson – a vote on the committee that has already chosen a design firm and construction manager and has yet to select a stadium site.
Now does it really matter who she’s porking. For the past year or so, she’s been voting on contracts involving her boyfriend, what makes this so different. My only guess would it has to do with the expenditure the county will have to put forth in this economy. I’m sure it doesn’t look good to the taxpayers when you’re going to have to shell close to $60 million but yet make cuts in other areas.
I have an idea, “if you build it, they will come” and then you can recoup some of your money when people flock to Lee County to see the new complex.
Hall reluctant to vote on boyfriend [News-Press.com]
Hall urged to get ethics opinion before Red Sox stadium vote [News-Press.com]
Lee commissioner asks why Red Sox rep is on committee [Naples Daily News]
Lee County Red Sox sites get green ranking [News-Press.com]
Let’s stay out of the politics and see what else is making news for the Red Sox after the jump.
First Pitch: Q&A with Fox and Francona [Inside Carolina]
Spring will bring 9 answers for the Red Sox [redsox.com]
Could Varitek do it all again next offseason? [WEEI.com]
Curt Schilling is all over the internet these days [Red Sox Monster]
In baseball-crazed Boston, sponsoring the Red Sox earned Exotic Flowers a marketing award and a mass of new fans [Entrepreneur.com]
For starters, the Red Sox are looking good [Boston Herald]
The Starters [Boston Herald]
A position-by-position look at the Red Sox as they prepare for spring training [Providence Journal]
