Walsh banks nearly $30G in donations from police after striking a new deal
Mayor Martin J. Walsh received nearly $30,000 in donations from 70 cops in the month following a new contract for the Boston Police Patrolman’s Association that gave officers a $68 million pay hike, but the mayor said it’s not a gift from police grateful for the bump.
“There’s absolutely nothing to do with the contract,” Walsh said, adding many donors had given him money in the past. “The people that support me don’t support me because of a contract, they support me because they believe in me as the mayor of Boston.”
Walsh has received significant police support in the past, nearly $250,000 from more than 700 donors, according to state records. But more than 10 percent of that, $28,000, came after Walsh and the BPPA announced they had agreed on a contract that gave cops a 16 percent raise over four years and new mandatory step raises in mid-February.
The contract also fully funds Quinn Bill salary boosts of up to 25 percent when police receive law enforcement-related degrees in higher education. The city had previously been under contract to provide 75 percent of those salary upgrades.
While many of the donors had given to Walsh in the past, 16 were first-time givers. BPPA spokesman Patrick Rose did not respond to requests for comment.
Former City Councilor Michael McCormack said he did not think the union made a concentrated effort to support Walsh, but that city employees — from police to firefighters to City Hall staff — generally support the incumbent.
“City workers, no matter who they are, vote their pocketbook,” McCormack said. “Mayor Walsh has been good to city workers, why wouldn’t they?”