Bad blood dominates in Plymouth district attorney race
By Marc LarocqueEnterprise Staff Writer
Posted Nov 2, 2018
The backstory of the race in the election for Plymouth County District Attorney has come to the foreground, with a longtime incumbent fending off a challenge from an employee he fired in 2012. That employee, Democrat challenger John Bradley, sued Republican incumbent Plymouth County DA Tim Cruz and others from his office, in a case that ended last year in a $248,000 settlement.
BROCKTON – With one candidate working to unseat his former boss, following a wrongful termination lawsuit that ended in a $248,000 settlement, the battle to serve as the top law enforcement officer in Plymouth County has been fueled by bad blood.
Marshfield Republican Tim Cruz, who has been in office for 17 years, is seeking re-election to a fifth four-year term in the Nov. 6 election. He is being challenged by his former prosecutor, Democrat John Bradley.
Cruz, 59, said he wants to focus on his efforts to address issues like child abuse and domestic violence, along with protecting seniors from scams and providing outreach to drug overdose victims. But Cruz responded to questions about why he fired Bradley in 2012, he reacted to criticisms his former employee leveled against him and accused the former prosecutor of running out of spite.
“He’s not from Plymouth County,” Cruz said in a telephone interview. “He’s not a Democrat. He’s an independent from the Seaport District of Boston. The only reason he’s running like this is because it’s vindictive and it’s personal. That’s really what this is about.”
Bradley, 52, a criminal prosecutor for nearly 30 years, who first worked at the Plymouth County DA’s office starting in 1991, said he stepped up to run against Cruz when no one else would, only because he knows first-hand how the office has become “toxic” and “dysfunctional.” Bradley pointed to stories that he says demonstrate malfeasance and incompetence in Cruz’s office, including the claim in his lawsuit that the current district attorney requires employees to contribute to his political campaign fund. He also cited Cruz’s six-month delay in acting on an allegation that his former top prosecutor, Frank Middleton, groped a woman working for his office.
“His signs say he’s protecting us and he can’t even protect his own staff members,” Bradley said. “The people of Plymouth County deserve better than that. The only reason I’m doing this is to try to save an office that’s suffered from failed leadership for a long time. He can call me a carpetbagger in as many different form of words that he wants. But that’s why I moved into the county, to run. It’s not out of vindictiveness, at all.
“I would suggest that Mr. Cruz is just upset because he has for the first time an opponent that has a chance to defeat him. I think it’s sour grapes on his part.”
Appointed when former district attorney Michael Sullivan became U.S. attorney, Cruz has been challenged twice. He won with 62 percent of the vote in 2002 and 67 percent in 2010. He was unopposed in 2006 and 2014.
Cruz declined comment on Middleton’s resignation, but said he has a policy to act on allegations of sexual misconduct.
Bradley ran a write-in campaign as a Democrat after the state Ballot Law Commission knocked him off the ballot as an independent. The commission said he acted in a “deceptive, manipulative and misleading manner” by claiming in a registration form that he lived in Plymouth when he was still living in Boston. Bradley now lives in a rental property in Plymouth.
“As a district attorney, you can’t have those monikers attached to your name,” Cruz said.
Cruz also continues to deny Bradley’s allegations that he requires staffers to contribute to his campaign.
“He has absolutely not one scintilla of evidence of that,” Cruz said.
Cruz said Bradley was fired in 2012 for being insubordinate and disgruntled.
“Obviously, he was not happy there,” Cruz said. “He refused to resign like he said he would.”
Cruz also pointed to “nasty” emails Bradley sent him while work in the district attorney’s office.
“I am not your child,” wrote Bradley, in a 2011 work email to Cruz, after being told to wait for his permission to speak to a reporter. “I have done a lot of important work in this office both before and after you became DA. You can start showing a little more respect in the future.”
Cruz also said Bradley was caught “breaking into my office” to take documents after he was fired.
Bradley said he was only able to reach the $248,000 settlement because of convincing evidence that he was fired for failing to contribute to the Cruz campaign. That includes a document he copied from Cruz’s office without permission – a memo written by a current assistant district attorney to Cruz, with references to Bradley not participating in Cruz’s 2010 campaign. Bradley said it’s not fair to refer to his retrieval of the document as a break-in.
“I still had a key,” said Bradley, adding that he had permission to come to the building to clear out his possessions by himself on a weekend after his firing. “I did enter his office and I took a smoking-gun document. I didn’t take it, I copied it. Should I have done it? No, if you remove the context. But I was beside myself with anger, and I knew that this would help me in a lawsuit. And it did.”
When it comes to campaign financing, Bradley is facing an uphill battle.
Cruz has spent more than $140,000 on his re-election campaign, with a balance of $52,000 as of Oct. 15. Over the same period, Bradley has spent about $85,000, with $7,300 left.
On the issues, Bradley has espoused his “progressive ideals,” such as his wish to abolish the cash bail system, arguing that it disproportionately affects minorities. Bradley said only those charged with major felonies or who represent a danger to the community should be imprisoned before trial.
“We’ve taken a deep dive into specific policy issues on how to change things for the better,” Bradley said.
Cruz said he opposes eliminating bail.
“My opponent calls it bail reform, but it’s really just about putting the rights of defendants ahead of public safety and victims,” Cruz said in an email.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS
CANDIDATE WEBSITES
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DA MAKES SURVEY
Cruz did not respond.
The deadline for registering to vote has passed. Early voting has begun and continues until Nov. 2.
John Bradley, Democrat
Address: 27 Burgess Road, Plymouth
Age: 52
Education: Boston College and Georgetown School of Law
Occupation: Career prosecutor
Family: Wife, Lisa, 9-year-old son, Jeremy
Other: Tried over 30 murder cases and argued 25 cases to the Supreme Judicial Court
Tim Cruz, Republican
Address: 141 Aunt Lizzies Lane Marshfield
Age: 59
Education: Boston College, Suffolk Law School.
Occupation: District attorney since 2001′ previously owned private law firm, started career as assistant district attorney
Family: Wife, Rose Marie, sons, Tim and Alex
Other: Appointed district attorney by former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift, filling vacancy left by Michael Sullivan, who became U.S. Attorney
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