Revere ethics probe focusing on Goodwin

REVERE – City general foreman Joseph Maglione is at the center of state bribery and conflict of interest violation hearings but it is his boss who is the subject of much of the questioning by hearing lawyers.The Ethics Commission is scheduled to decide sometime this summer if Maglione solicited bribes from former city Public Works Department employees Randy Adamson and Anthony Giannino.Prior to paying fines and resigning last year, the pair admitted to paying $3,000 to $4,000 in bribes to Maglione between 2002 and 2005 for private drain laying work they did.Adamson and Giannino were not licensed to perform the work but William Spallina, Maglione’s attorney, implied several times during commission hearings that it was Adamson, Giannino and DPW Superintendent Donald Goodwin, not Adamson, Giannino and Maglione, who had an association.Spallina asked city water supervisor David Fiore Thursday if he had heard of “GAG, Inc.” a reference to Goodwin, Adamson and Giannino. Like other city workers who have testified at the Ethics hearings, Fiore acknowledged he had heard the acronym but admitted under questioning by Commission Deputy Chief Karen Gray that he never saw written proof of any business association between the three.”Do you have any knowledge of Mr. Goodwin working on jobs with Mr. Adamson or Mr. Giannino,” she asked Fiore.”No I don’t,” he replied.Gray also sought to steer the direction of the hearing away from Goodwin after Fiore recounted his presence at a conversation between Maglione and Giannino’s father at the latter’s greenhouse.”You’re outside the greenhouse hearing Donny Goodwin is being protected,” Gray said to Fiore after asking him why he did not recount the conversation to city municipal union representatives.Goodwin has declined to comment on the hearing or the Ethics investigation that led up to it. But his name took center stage again Thursday when Gray questioned Ward 4 City Councilor George Rotondo.After hearing a complaint about the pipe work from a childhood friend in 2005, Rotondo pushed for an investigation into Public Works.”It’s fair to say you’ve been critical of Mr. Goodwin’s running of the DPW,” Gray asked Rotondo.”I think he should be fired,” Rotondo replied.”It would be fair to say you don’t consider him to be a friend,” Gray continued.”In fact, he says he hates me,” Rotondo said.But Rotondo denied saying to Goodwin, as Gray claimed he did during a March 21 conversation, “They’ve got something on you. You should resign.”