Councillor requests investigation of discrimination, harassment allegations of city solicitor’s office

By Barbara Taormina

The City Council voted to request that Mayor-Elect Patrick Keefe conduct an external investigation into City Solicitor Paul Capizzi and allegations of harassment and gender discrimination from three City of Revere employees.

“My concern is making sure the process is done fairly and handled correctly with full transparency,” said Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro, who filed the motion with the request.

“Apparently, that’s a huge problem for some of the people in this building,” added Cogliandro, who went on to describe the aggressive push back he says he’s received after filing his motion.

Cogliandro said he received a letter from a City of Revere employee warning that the case against Capizzi should not be discussed in public and that it made the city look bad. Cogliandro said he was told the administration would not support the motion, but more troubling was the threat “people with a past shouldn’t make waves.” Cogliandro quoted the letter as saying, “I can’t wait to open my investigation on councillors.”

Cogliandro stressed that he was only asking that an external party conduct the investigation, which he said would give the findings validity.

“I have been told more stories about harassment, retaliation, intimidation, blackmail and gender discrimination than you can imagine,” said Cogliandro. “The problem is no one speaks up about it because they know nothing will be done, scared they will lose their jobs, or scared their characters will be assassinated.”

Fellow councillors supported Cogliandro’s motion, even those who expressed support for Capizzi. Councillor-at-Large Dan Rizzo said he’s worked with Capizzi for two decades and as far as he knows, the solicitor does not have a blemish on his record. Still, Rizzo supported the request for an external investigation. Rizzo added that he is troubled by the dialog surrounding the motion and the threat of retaliation made toward city councillors.

“I have a concern about the city solicitor’s behavior in and outside this building,” said Councillor-at-Large Marc Silvestri.

Councillor-at-Large Anthony Zambuto described the facts that have come out about the case as unbelievable, and he said he supported Cogliandro’s motion 100 percent and he had his colleague’s back.

Robert Marra, an attorney working in the mayor-elect’s office, opposed the motion. Marra told councillors that getting involved in the case exceeds their authority. He stressed that the City Council is a legislative body, not a human resources department, which, he added, should be responsible for the investigation. Marra told the council to consider future employee grievances and noted they should be handled by the human resources department and not through complaints to city councillors.