Defense rests in ‘Calling’ case
Organizer says threat of not getting permit wasn’t explicit
The government rested its case Friday in the City Hall corruption trial, as one of the organizers of the Boston Calling music festival testified that neither of Mayor Martin Walsh’s aides facing extortion charges told him the festival couldn’t go on in September 2014 without union labor, but he still feared it might not.
“You go to a meeting, and you were asked to take some union labor,” William Kettlewell, the lawyer for Kenneth Brissette, the city’s tourism chief, said to Michael Snow, the cofounder of Crash Line Productions.
“Correct,” Snow answered.
“They worked and did the job they were hired to do, correct?” Kettlewell asked. “Yes,” Snow said. “Certainly, Mr. Brissette never threatened you, correct?” Kettlewell asked. “No,” Snow answered. Brissette, 54, and Timothy Sullivan, 39, the city’s head of intergovernmental affairs, are charged with extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion for allegedly pressuring festival organizers to hire members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Workers Local 11 to curry favor with Walsh, a former labor leader who was swept into office in 2013 with broad union backing.
Snow told William Cintolo, Sullivan’s defense attorney, he thought the two aides might be union reps, but said while they never threatened to shut down the show, he felt compelled to hire unneeded union labor.
“You thought he was an employee or representative of some union,” Cintolo said.
“Correct,” Snow answered. “I did not know who he worked for.”
“You agree that neither one of these individuals said, ‘if you don’t hire union labor, you’re not going to be able to put on this festival?’ ” Cintolo said.
“Yes,” Snow replied. “But you still say you had a fear the concert would not go forward,” Cintolo said. “Correct,” Snow said. “They said we have information the union might protest,” Cintolo said. “Yes,” Snow answered. At a meeting before the festival, Snow testified, Sullivan and Brissette told him and his partner, Brian Appel, that members of the union were planning to demonstrate at the festival on City Hall Plaza with a 15foot inflatable rat.
“To have this conversation, you were stuck,” Snow told Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina Barclay. “You just felt stuck. A year’s worth of work goes into the festival, and you’re sitting down two or three days before thinking you might never open the doors.”
After the meeting with Sullivan and Brissette, Crash Line Productions hired nine union members.
When Cintolo asked Snow whether he felt “extorted” at that meeting, Snow replied, “I don’t know. I did something I didn’t want to do.”
“Did Tim make you do something?” Cintolo asked.
“It was both of them,” he said. “I was put in a position to make a decision.”