Jeff Perry (politician)
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Davis "Jeff" Perry (born January 8, 1964) is a former member
of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
who represented the 5th Barnstable
District from 2003-2011. He was the Republican Party
nominee for United States Congress
in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district
in the 2010 election, losing to Democrat Bill Keating
.
(A.A.) from Bristol Community College
, and a bachelor of arts
(B.A.) degree in sociology
from Curry College
. He completed an executive management program at the Law Enforcement Executive Center at Babson College
, graduated from the Plymouth Regional Police Academy, and served for eight years as a Wareham
police officer. After leaving the police force, Perry started a private investigation
business.
plus portions of Barnstable
, Bourne
and Mashpee
. He was last reelected by a 70% to 30% margin in 2008. In 2010 he resigned to run for the U.S. House; his term ends in January 2011. He was succeeded by Republican Randy Hunt
He served on the following Legislative Committees: Joint Committee on Education; Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security; House Committee on Ways & Means; and Joint Committee on State Administration and Oversight.
, where he was recognized as "the student who has shown the greatest promise of outstanding contributions to public service." After completing his law degree
there, he passed the Massachusetts Bar Examination in 2007 and worked at the firm of Flannigan and Perry, P.C., located in Hanover
and Hyannis
, while he continued to work in the state legislature.
Perry is an adjunct professor of criminal justice
at Cape Cod Community College
, and previously taught constitutional law
at Bridgewater State College
.
, and an admirer of Ronald Reagan
. He is the author of a self-published book titled, My GOP: It is Time for Republicans to Get Back to the Principles of Ronald Reagan.
While in the State House, Perry cosponsored
a bill opposing a state proposal to reopen a dredge dumping site in Buzzards Bay
. He has supported the efforts of Democratic Governor Deval Patrick
to bring casinos
to Massachusetts. Perry unsuccessfully sponsored legislation to require residency verification as a condition of receiving public benefits.
Perry is a member of a special legislative commission on drugs, which has focused on such drugs as OxyContin and oxycodone
.
will succeed, but until then “each legislator has to fight or we're going to get left out.” Thus, he has requested earmarks such as $25,000 for the Sandwich Glass Museum, and $16 million to bring widespread broadband
access to Cape Cod. Perry opposed using state funds for a convict's sex change operation. He has supported tax credits for home heating costs.
Perry supports giving state lottery
proceeds to local governments. He opposes state tax increases, calling concerns about revenue shortfalls "hysteria" and expressing concern that increasing sales taxes could cause people to avoid taxation altogether by making purchases online or by going out of state. Perry has advocated reducing the state’s gasoline excise tax in July and August to stimulate the tourism industry.
In 2004, Perry won 66% to 34% over Democrat Garry N. Blank in the general election for the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the Fifth Barnstable district.
In 2006, Perry was reelected in an uncontested election.
In 2008, Perry received 70% of the vote to 30% for Democrat Glenn S. Pare in the race to represent the Fifth Barnstable district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
In 2010, Perry ran to represent the 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and was defeated by Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating. Keating received 132,582 votes (47 percent) while Perry received 119,829 votes (42 percent). Independents Maryanne Lewis, James Sheets and Joseph van Ness received 16,673 votes (6 percent), 10,438 votes (4 percent) and 3,075 votes (1 percent) respectively. Perry launched his campaign before Democratic incumbent William Delahunt announced his retirement, making this an open seat. Perry defeated Joe Malone, Robert Hayden and Raymond Kasperowicz for the GOP nomination.
police sergeant, when on two separate occasions, Scott Flanagan, a subordinate police officer, conducted illegal strip search
es of two teenage girls, aged 14 and 16. Perry supported Flanagan up until Flanagan entered a guilty plea. Perry said he assumed Flanagan was innocent. Flanagan pleaded guilty in 1993 to indecent assault and civil rights violations, and subsequently was sentenced to four years in prison. Perry was named in two federal civil rights lawsuits brought against the town. The town lost one of the cases and settled the other. Perry said that although he was named as a defendant, he was never questioned and never appeared in court. Perry stated in May 2010 that, if given the chance, he would not have done anything differently: "I did what I think is good police work," Perry said. Perry was not charged or disciplined in either incident. He resigned seventeen days after Flanagan was indicted, for what Perry has said were unrelated reasons. Perry added that he would have been angry if a policeman had assaulted his child.
One of the victims, Lisa Allen, who was 14 years old at the time she was assaulted by Flanagan in 1991, has made a public statement against Perry and his role in the incident: "He [Perry] had to hear me screaming and crying. Instead of helping me, Jeff Perry denied anything happened," said Allen. "Perry did not care about protecting teenaged girls in Wareham from police officer Flanagan. Jeff Perry cared only about protecting police officer Flanagan. ... It upsets me that Jeff Perry can run for Congress after what he did to me when I was 14 years old." Allen's father said in 2010 that he was surprised and angry that Perry is running for Congress. "There's nowhere he should run except out of town", he said The father of Heather Adams, the victim in the 1992 incident, however, stated in 2010 that he believes Perry was simply doing his job and that the 1992 incident should have no impact on Perry's political career. "Jeff Perry was young and handled it the best way he could", Adams said. "He was worrying about his men. You have to look at everything, not just heat of the moment. Time heals all wounds. I don't have anything bad to say about him."
WBZ-TV
reported on the facts of the two cases in a September 2010 report:When Perry was a police sergeant in Wareham in the 1990s, an officer under his command, Scott Flanagan strip searched teenage girls. In one case, Perry was on the scene in a cranberry bog in 1991 when an officer stuck his hand in a 14-year-old girl's underwear. Perry says he didn't know what was going on at the time. In another case, Perry was not at the scene when Flanagan sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl behind a convenience store.
But later that night, Perry and Flanagan went to the girl's parents' home. Perry says he went to tell the parents about the "odd search". The parents said they interpreted the officer's visit as a warning for them to keep quiet, or risk their daughter going to jail. Perry said he was just doing good police work. He says he would not do anything differently, and does not regret his actions with what he knew at the time. Perry resigned from the department seven months afterwards. Flanagan served four years in prison.
Perry visited Flanagan in prison, but says, "We believed he was not guilty until he pled guilty. So I wanted to go and confront him and listen to him so I could find out what happened." Perry calls this guilt by association, and says he is proud of his police career. He says he had no idea what Flanagan was doing, and there was no indication that he was capable of something like this.
In October 2010, former Wareham police chief Thomas A. Joyce endorsed Perry in a television commercial, saying, "Jeff Perry worked for me. He was a good cop and he was always committed to protecting the public." Perry's police file includes commendations for his actions at a fatal fire, awards from Mothers Against Drunk Driving
, and a commendation for helping recover stolen items. However, Joyce had passed over Perry for promotion during his tenure due to doubts about Perry's honesty. In a sworn deposition, he stated that Perry "had not been 100 percent truthful to me" in an incident about breaking a radar gun. He also reported that during a pre-employment background check, a former boss of Perry's had told the police department that Perry had told "a lot of bull tales" and "should not be trusted with a gun". Joyce also said that Perry had intentionally tripped a red light to catch drivers going through it, a practice which Joyce called "the old red light game". On Perry's resignation from the department, Joyce gave Perry a positive letter of recommendation. Joyce, who had been also named as a defendant in civil suits about the sexual assault strip-search cases, said the attacks against Perry regarding the two strip search incidents go too far.
In 2007 Perry filed a bar application to become a lawyer where he included the inaccurate statement about filing a police report that night. Perry also included an inaccurate statement on his bar application that Lisa Allen had been arrested on the night that she had been sexually abused by Flanagan. Lisa Allen had in fact been neither arrested nor detained. These inaccuracies caused the former executive director of a state commission advocating for victims of sexual abuse to call for an investigation into whether congressional candidate Jeffrey Perry lied on his bar application.
, an unaccredited “diploma mill” that shipped out phony certificates until federal agents shut it down in 1998.
In August 2010, Perry acknowledged that he had paid Columbia State University "several thousand dollars" under the impression that it was an accredited institution. Perry claimed he was among those who had been conned and despite only sending a couple of "non work intensive" papers, that he thought he was getting a legitimate correspondence bachelor's degree. He later earned legitimate degrees from Curry College
and New England School of Law
, and said that he was "proud" of his studies.
Legislator
A legislator is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are usually politicians and are often elected by the people...
of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...
who represented the 5th Barnstable
Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, consisting of Cape Cod and associated islands. As of the 2010 census, the population was 216,902...
District from 2003-2011. He was the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nominee for United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district
Massachusetts's 10th congressional district
Massachusetts's 10th congressional district is a political constituency that includes parts of the South Shore of Massachusetts, and all of Cape Cod and the islands. With a population of 635,901 and a land area of , it is the most populous of Massachusetts's ten congressional districts and the...
in the 2010 election, losing to Democrat Bill Keating
William R. Keating
William Richard "Bill" Keating is the U.S. Representative for . From 1999 to 2011 he was District Attorney of Norfolk County. He is a member of the Democratic Party and a former Massachusetts state representative and state senator....
.
Education and early career
Perry has an associate's degreeAssociate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...
(A.A.) from Bristol Community College
Bristol Community College
Bristol Community College is a two-year community college located in Fall River, Massachusetts.-History:The college was originally established in December 1965 when it was instituted by the Massachusetts Board of Regional Community Colleges. Former President John F...
, and a bachelor of arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
(B.A.) degree in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
from Curry College
Curry College
Curry College is a private liberal arts-based institution in Milton, Massachusetts that started as the School of Elocution in 1879.-History:...
. He completed an executive management program at the Law Enforcement Executive Center at Babson College
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
, graduated from the Plymouth Regional Police Academy, and served for eight years as a Wareham
Wareham, Massachusetts
Wareham is a town located in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 20,335, with an estimated 2008 population of 21,221....
police officer. After leaving the police force, Perry started a private investigation
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
business.
State representative
In 2002, Perry was elected as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He represented the Fifth Barnstable District, covering the town of SandwichSandwich, Massachusetts
Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,675 at the 2010 census. The Town Hall is located right next to the Dexter Grist Mill, in the historic district of town....
plus portions of Barnstable
Barnstable, Massachusetts
Barnstable is a city, referred to as the Town of Barnstable, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population, on Cape Cod. The town contains seven villages within its boundaries...
, Bourne
Bourne, Massachusetts
Bourne is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,721 at the 2000 census.For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Bourne, please see the articles on Bourne , Buzzards Bay, Monument Beach, Pocasset, Sagamore, and Sagamore...
and Mashpee
Mashpee, Massachusetts
Mashpee is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 14,006 as of 2010.For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Mashpee, please see the articles on Mashpee Neck, Monomoscoy Island, New Seabury, Popponesset, Popponesset Island,...
. He was last reelected by a 70% to 30% margin in 2008. In 2010 he resigned to run for the U.S. House; his term ends in January 2011. He was succeeded by Republican Randy Hunt
Randy Hunt (politician)
Randy Hunt is the current member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 5th Barnstable district. He had previously served as a member of the Sandwich Board of Selectmen from 2003–2010.-References:...
He served on the following Legislative Committees: Joint Committee on Education; Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security; House Committee on Ways & Means; and Joint Committee on State Administration and Oversight.
Academia
While serving as a State Representative, Perry attended night classes for four years at the New England School of LawNew England School of Law
New England School of Law is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1908 as a law school for women.-History:...
, where he was recognized as "the student who has shown the greatest promise of outstanding contributions to public service." After completing his law degree
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
there, he passed the Massachusetts Bar Examination in 2007 and worked at the firm of Flannigan and Perry, P.C., located in Hanover
Hanover, Massachusetts
Hanover is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,164 at the 2000 census.-History:The area of Hanover was first settled by English settlers in 1649 when William Barstow, a farmer, built a bridge along the North River at what is now Washington Street...
and Hyannis
Hyannis, Massachusetts
Hyannis is the largest of seven villages in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Also it is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area as a result of the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer to Hyannis as the "Capital of the Cape"...
, while he continued to work in the state legislature.
Perry is an adjunct professor of criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
at Cape Cod Community College
Cape Cod Community College
Cape Cod Community College, known locally as "4-C's", is a two-year community college located in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. Cape Cod Community College was established in 1961, the second institution to open as part of what is now a 15 community college system in Massachusetts...
, and previously taught constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
at Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater State University is a public liberal-arts college in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the largest college in the Massachusetts state university system outside of the University of Massachusetts system. The school's mascot is the bear.-History:BSU was founded by...
.
Political positions
Perry is an ally of Mitt RomneyMitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
, and an admirer of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. He is the author of a self-published book titled, My GOP: It is Time for Republicans to Get Back to the Principles of Ronald Reagan.
While in the State House, Perry cosponsored
Sponsor (legislative)
A sponsor, in the United States Congress, is a senator or representative who introduces a bill or amendment and is its chief advocate. Committees are occasionally identified as sponsors of legislation as well. A sponsor is also sometimes called a "primary sponsor."It should not be assumed that a...
a bill opposing a state proposal to reopen a dredge dumping site in Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay along the southern edge of Massachusetts in the United States. The name may also refer to:*Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, a village in Bourne, Massachusetts*Buzzards Bay , the name of the horse that won the 2005 Santa Anita Derby...
. He has supported the efforts of Democratic Governor Deval Patrick
Deval Patrick
Deval Laurdine Patrick is the 71st and current Governor of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, Patrick served as an Assistant United States Attorney General under President Bill Clinton...
to bring casinos
Casinos
Casinos can refer to:*the plural of Casino*Casinos, Valencia, a municipality in Spain*The Casinos, an American popular music group...
to Massachusetts. Perry unsuccessfully sponsored legislation to require residency verification as a condition of receiving public benefits.
Public safety and law enforcement
Perry opposed allowing police to pull over motorists for not wearing seat belts. He supports maintaining criminal penalties against possession of small amounts of marijuana.Perry is a member of a special legislative commission on drugs, which has focused on such drugs as OxyContin and oxycodone
Oxycodone
Oxycodone is an opioid analgesic medication synthesized from opium-derived thebaine. It was developed in 1916 in Germany, as one of several new semi-synthetic opioids in an attempt to improve on the existing opioids: morphine, diacetylmorphine , and codeine.Oxycodone oral medications are generally...
.
Fiscal policy
Perry said he hopes that the efforts of Governor Deval Patrick to reduce earmarksEarmark (politics)
In United States politics, an earmark is a legislative provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees...
will succeed, but until then “each legislator has to fight or we're going to get left out.” Thus, he has requested earmarks such as $25,000 for the Sandwich Glass Museum, and $16 million to bring widespread broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
access to Cape Cod. Perry opposed using state funds for a convict's sex change operation. He has supported tax credits for home heating costs.
Perry supports giving state lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
proceeds to local governments. He opposes state tax increases, calling concerns about revenue shortfalls "hysteria" and expressing concern that increasing sales taxes could cause people to avoid taxation altogether by making purchases online or by going out of state. Perry has advocated reducing the state’s gasoline excise tax in July and August to stimulate the tourism industry.
Electoral history
In 2002, Perry ran against Democrat Ruth W. Provost in the general election to represent the newly created Fifth Barnstable district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Provost had been a three-term incumbent of the Second Plymouth district, but her district was redrawn to her disadvantage after the 2000 U.S. Census and she opted to run for election in the new district. The vote was 51% to 49% for Perry.In 2004, Perry won 66% to 34% over Democrat Garry N. Blank in the general election for the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the Fifth Barnstable district.
In 2006, Perry was reelected in an uncontested election.
In 2008, Perry received 70% of the vote to 30% for Democrat Glenn S. Pare in the race to represent the Fifth Barnstable district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
In 2010, Perry ran to represent the 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and was defeated by Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating. Keating received 132,582 votes (47 percent) while Perry received 119,829 votes (42 percent). Independents Maryanne Lewis, James Sheets and Joseph van Ness received 16,673 votes (6 percent), 10,438 votes (4 percent) and 3,075 votes (1 percent) respectively. Perry launched his campaign before Democratic incumbent William Delahunt announced his retirement, making this an open seat. Perry defeated Joe Malone, Robert Hayden and Raymond Kasperowicz for the GOP nomination.
Wareham police strip searches
In 2010, controversy arose about Perry's time in the early 1990s as a WarehamWareham, Massachusetts
Wareham is a town located in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 20,335, with an estimated 2008 population of 21,221....
police sergeant, when on two separate occasions, Scott Flanagan, a subordinate police officer, conducted illegal strip search
Strip search
A strip search is the stripping of a person to check for weapons or other contraband.-Legality of strip searches:...
es of two teenage girls, aged 14 and 16. Perry supported Flanagan up until Flanagan entered a guilty plea. Perry said he assumed Flanagan was innocent. Flanagan pleaded guilty in 1993 to indecent assault and civil rights violations, and subsequently was sentenced to four years in prison. Perry was named in two federal civil rights lawsuits brought against the town. The town lost one of the cases and settled the other. Perry said that although he was named as a defendant, he was never questioned and never appeared in court. Perry stated in May 2010 that, if given the chance, he would not have done anything differently: "I did what I think is good police work," Perry said. Perry was not charged or disciplined in either incident. He resigned seventeen days after Flanagan was indicted, for what Perry has said were unrelated reasons. Perry added that he would have been angry if a policeman had assaulted his child.
One of the victims, Lisa Allen, who was 14 years old at the time she was assaulted by Flanagan in 1991, has made a public statement against Perry and his role in the incident: "He [Perry] had to hear me screaming and crying. Instead of helping me, Jeff Perry denied anything happened," said Allen. "Perry did not care about protecting teenaged girls in Wareham from police officer Flanagan. Jeff Perry cared only about protecting police officer Flanagan. ... It upsets me that Jeff Perry can run for Congress after what he did to me when I was 14 years old." Allen's father said in 2010 that he was surprised and angry that Perry is running for Congress. "There's nowhere he should run except out of town", he said The father of Heather Adams, the victim in the 1992 incident, however, stated in 2010 that he believes Perry was simply doing his job and that the 1992 incident should have no impact on Perry's political career. "Jeff Perry was young and handled it the best way he could", Adams said. "He was worrying about his men. You have to look at everything, not just heat of the moment. Time heals all wounds. I don't have anything bad to say about him."
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
reported on the facts of the two cases in a September 2010 report:When Perry was a police sergeant in Wareham in the 1990s, an officer under his command, Scott Flanagan strip searched teenage girls. In one case, Perry was on the scene in a cranberry bog in 1991 when an officer stuck his hand in a 14-year-old girl's underwear. Perry says he didn't know what was going on at the time. In another case, Perry was not at the scene when Flanagan sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl behind a convenience store.
But later that night, Perry and Flanagan went to the girl's parents' home. Perry says he went to tell the parents about the "odd search". The parents said they interpreted the officer's visit as a warning for them to keep quiet, or risk their daughter going to jail. Perry said he was just doing good police work. He says he would not do anything differently, and does not regret his actions with what he knew at the time. Perry resigned from the department seven months afterwards. Flanagan served four years in prison.
Perry visited Flanagan in prison, but says, "We believed he was not guilty until he pled guilty. So I wanted to go and confront him and listen to him so I could find out what happened." Perry calls this guilt by association, and says he is proud of his police career. He says he had no idea what Flanagan was doing, and there was no indication that he was capable of something like this.
Supervisor statements
In June 2010, former Wareham police captain Paul Cardalino told the Cape Cod Times that he had not been informed of the Dec. 31, 1992 strip-search incident involving H. Adams immediately, and only heard about it the next day from an officer from the neighboring town of Bourne. Cardalino said that Perry should have filed a report and called in a neutral superior officer as soon as he heard that a third party had witnessed the strip search. "Once a sergeant is aware of it, especially (an incident) that might hurt the department's reputation, the report should have been done", Cardalino said. He gave Perry a positive letter of recommendation upon Perry's resignation; Cardalino says that if he had evidence that Perry witnessed the Allen strip search then Perry would have been fired.In October 2010, former Wareham police chief Thomas A. Joyce endorsed Perry in a television commercial, saying, "Jeff Perry worked for me. He was a good cop and he was always committed to protecting the public." Perry's police file includes commendations for his actions at a fatal fire, awards from Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a non-profit organization in the United States that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and overall push for stricter alcohol policy...
, and a commendation for helping recover stolen items. However, Joyce had passed over Perry for promotion during his tenure due to doubts about Perry's honesty. In a sworn deposition, he stated that Perry "had not been 100 percent truthful to me" in an incident about breaking a radar gun. He also reported that during a pre-employment background check, a former boss of Perry's had told the police department that Perry had told "a lot of bull tales" and "should not be trusted with a gun". Joyce also said that Perry had intentionally tripped a red light to catch drivers going through it, a practice which Joyce called "the old red light game". On Perry's resignation from the department, Joyce gave Perry a positive letter of recommendation. Joyce, who had been also named as a defendant in civil suits about the sexual assault strip-search cases, said the attacks against Perry regarding the two strip search incidents go too far.
Statements on bar application
According to newspaper and television reports, Perry's 2010 recollections of the strip search incidents differ from what was documented contemporaneously; for example, Perry said in 2010 that he notified his supervisor immediately about the December 31, 1992 incident. Records indicate, however, that Perry filed his report on the following day (January 1, 1993) and only after he had denied the girl's parents attempt to file a complaint, his Captain had been informed of the strip search by a policeman from another town, and his captain had ordered him to file the report.In 2007 Perry filed a bar application to become a lawyer where he included the inaccurate statement about filing a police report that night. Perry also included an inaccurate statement on his bar application that Lisa Allen had been arrested on the night that she had been sexually abused by Flanagan. Lisa Allen had in fact been neither arrested nor detained. These inaccuracies caused the former executive director of a state commission advocating for victims of sexual abuse to call for an investigation into whether congressional candidate Jeffrey Perry lied on his bar application.
Columbia State University
In 2010 controversy arose over a claim on Perry's 2002 campaign website that he had earned a bachelor's degree in business administration with honors from the so-called Columbia State UniversityColumbia State University
Columbia State University was a diploma mill based in California that used a Louisiana mailing address. It operated from the mid-1980s until it was closed by court order in 1998....
, an unaccredited “diploma mill” that shipped out phony certificates until federal agents shut it down in 1998.
In August 2010, Perry acknowledged that he had paid Columbia State University "several thousand dollars" under the impression that it was an accredited institution. Perry claimed he was among those who had been conned and despite only sending a couple of "non work intensive" papers, that he thought he was getting a legitimate correspondence bachelor's degree. He later earned legitimate degrees from Curry College
Curry College
Curry College is a private liberal arts-based institution in Milton, Massachusetts that started as the School of Elocution in 1879.-History:...
and New England School of Law
New England School of Law
New England School of Law is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1908 as a law school for women.-History:...
, and said that he was "proud" of his studies.
External links
- 2010 Congressional Campaign Site
- Profile in Massachusetts General Court Member Directory
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- 2010 House and Senate Campaign Finance for Massachusetts, Perry, Jeffrey Davis, Federal Election Commission.