The Future of Flynn
by Bill Dusty
The Union News (AKA “the Republican”) has reported today that this is the big day for Springfield Commissioner Edward Flynn. He will be interviewing for the top cop job in Milwaulkee – a job he has said he didn’t seek out. If Flynn does get the job (and he accepts it), Mayor Charlie Ryan has said that Deputy Police Chief William J. Fitchet will be appointed acting Commissioner until a new permanent head is hired.
But what if Flynn does not get the job? What happens then?
Simply going back to the way things were – where a hostile rank-and-file at the Springfield Police Department already reviles their boss – is probably not going to be entirely feasible. No one – not least of all the betrayed Mayor – is going to forget the Commissioner’s “availability” to his friends in other places.
How many other applications or referrals does Flynn have out there?
The Commissioner’s future in Springfield, regardless of any severance pay concerns, is probably going to be short. If it is not, then there will probably be a very rocky road ahead of our city as the SPD operates with a boss few want and even fewer trust. Everyone knows where Flynn’s loyalties lie, now, and they are not on either Pearl Street or Court Street. Surely, Flynn must have known that it would one day come to this. If he thought the sniping and ill feelings were bad before, he surely must have known the hostile environment would only get worse after it became public that his buddies were putting his name on job applications elsewhere.
And what are we, the residents of Springfield thinking? Here’s a sample: Anything Flynn says now before the Finance Control Board – any statistics, any reports, any assertions – will largely be considered to be just him simply padding his own resume. How can even the most loyal of Flynn’s backers believe otherwise? There will be some, to be sure, who will always have his back (see Masslive.com forum poster “NoPol”, who never met an associate of Mayor Ryan’s he didn’t support 100%). But Flynn’s days of bridge building and confidence building are over.
At least now he can put out his resume in public.
REFERENCE:
From the Republican news brief:
Posted by The Republican Newsroom October 24, 2007 00:05AM
Commissioner to interview for Milwaukee jobSPRINGFIELD – Police Commissioner Edward A. Flynn is scheduled to interview for the job of police chief in Milwaukee today.
Flynn is one of five finalists for the job Milwaukee officials said they hope to fill by the middle of next month. While Flynn said that he wasn’t looking for another job and that officials involved in the Milwaukee search contacted him, he hasn’t said whether he would take the job if offered.
Flynn’s possible departure has become an issue in debates among mayoral candidates and sparked criticism because Flynn is only 19 months into a five-year contract. He makes $155,000 a year.
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