Today is election day in Massachusetts, for what could be the most important and ironic political race of the last 100 years: A country swerving out of control; helmed by a supermajority Democratic machine that might just be slammed back on the rails by a one-party Democratic state, that in any other time but this one, is of the bluest kind.
I am a friend, political addict, and a newcomer citizen journalist for Andrew Breitbart. I looked at this race weeks ago, and I knew if Scott Brown won, it would make history and literally upend the political landscape of the US and the world.
I had stumbled into the citizen journalist role via an unintended run-in with ACORN in Los Angeles, and followed up with a piece on the interesting nepotistic habits of Senator Max Baucus. But this was bigger, and I knew it.
I contacted Andrew, who is quite busy trying to build a media empire, and told him several weeks ago that this election was the most important thing on earth: period. He didn’t quite get it at first as he has a million balls in the air. I said this race could be everything; nothing else matters, the millions of stories about Obama and the Reid/Pelosi Democratic agenda, healthcare, cap and trade; they can all go away in two weeks; the Achilles heel was left unarmored and few had seen it yet.
I had googled Brown and Coakley to get an idea of their respective scandals, and when I googled Brown, the only scandal I could find was his posing for Cosmo at 22. I googled Coakley, and after digesting the ten pages of google hits with “coakley” and “scandal,” I sent the links to Andrew and told him the facts.
I said, ” Your team needs to be on this: these stories need to get out,” and he surprised me by shooting back ” You write them. You do it. I trust you. Go for it”. He wanted me; a neo-journalist with a few words under my belt, to go after what we felt would be the biggest story in the world in two weeks’ time. And I finally got it; what Andrew had been preaching for so long. It is this empowerment of the average person with a passion for truth that is the essence of the new era of the Citizen Journalist. To bypass the elite, the opinionated, the party-liners who would kill any story that didn’t fit their worldview or would embarrass their chosen party leaders.
I locked myself in my bedroom for an entire day, and when I looked up I had written 16 pages: 13 separate scandals or boondoggles involving Martha Coakley.
In my research online, I came across archived radio shows of an ex-reporter and now radio show host and columnist, Michele Mcphee, at 96.9 WTKK. After listening to a few minutes, I realized she knew a lot about Coakley; I contacted her with newly minted “verbal” press credentials per Breitbart, and we talked at length.
I told Michele about the myriad scandals I had uncovered, and asked if I missed something. She said to google “curling iron,” “Coakley,” “rape” and “Somerville cop.” I said I was sick just imagining what it meant, and she said, “trust me,” and hung up. It turned out to be the lead story of our series and the most powerful symbol of Coakley’s mixed career: not bringing charges against a Democrat-union connected cop who raped his 23-month old niece with a hot curling iron.
After digging into the story and finding new leads, I came across the contact info for Frank Frisoli, brother of the deceased Larry, who valiantly represented the toddler’s family against an unwilling Coakley.
I called Frank Frisoli at his office number, not knowing what to expect or if he would take the time to speak with me. I gave his assistant my information and the theme of my article, and she put me through directly. Not only did Frank talk to me, he let it all out: I could barely keep my notes in order as he rattled off the details, timelines, and nuances of the case. Talking to Frank: this is how all of the details, the real “life” of the story was coming out: the things you could not read in the Boston Globe or Herald. The passion of defending the honor of his brother’s reputation and legacy, the disgust and anger in his voice when he talked of Coakley’s stalling and bungling of the case, and the horror of the family that the Frisoli’s dealt with everyday who couldn’t get justice for their molested and injured two-year-old.
The rapist admitted to being the only one alone with the girl and, and the two-year-old told the doctor “Uncle hurt me,” but Coakley wasn’t listening and told the grand jury not to listen either. That toddler stayed in the hospital for a month while Coakley looked the other way.
The greatest lesson I learned in all of this, was not from one particular case or scandal, but from studying several of the cases, and putting the facts of each case up against the other. And what I found is disturbing.
What Martha Coakley could never have guessed, was that in 2010, a citizen reporter would talk to Frank Frisoli and Frank would tell him an intimate detail of the case that has never been reported until now: and here is that most important detail:
That Coakley’s office refused to consider the testimony of a 2-year old and withheld that information from the grand jury.
Coakley’s office called Larry Frisoli and told him it was not solid or credible to rely on such a young girl’s words; even the clear and uncoached words “Uncle hurt me”.
And what Coakley could also never have guessed was that this information would be public one day, when the entire world was looking at her record in January of 2010, and they could see the Curling Iron Rapist and the Fells Acres Case side by side. That is when you truly understand Martha Coakley:
* In the Curling Iron Rapist Case, the victim’s testimony, un-coaxed and given to a medical doctor, was unusable against a connected cop.
* In the Fells Acres Case, where Martha was not even involved in the prosecution, with no physical evidence of any kind, she kept an innocent man in prison specifically on the testimony of 2-4 year olds, who were coached by child psychologists and whose “recovered memories” were created by suggestion over a long period of time. A unanimous parole board, a plethora of new studies showing the power of implanted memories, and the majority of the citizens of Massachusetts behind the innocent man: and Coakley turns a deaf ear.
She let a man rot in prison with no physical evidence using only children’s testimony, but she tried to let a rapist free with every shred of physical evidence against him by denying a child’s testimony. This is the legacy of Martha Coakley.
On behalf of Larry and Frank Frisoli, Michele McPhee, the parents of that child, and anyone in Massachusetts that expects justice in this world, I hope the words “uncle hurt me” never fall of deaf ears again.
And to all the readers out there who care passionately about this world, pick up your pads, pens, and cameras, get online, do your research, and see if you can shine a light onto some of the darker spaces of this world and empower yourself as a Citizen Journalist. As the last two weeks have shown me, you never know what you may find.