# Cop union prez has powerful pal in Joe Biden



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Photo by Matthew Healey 
Joe Biden








*By Jessica Van Sack* / The Beat
Monday, January 19, 2009

It was back in September that Joe Biden publicly thanked a prominent local figure for finally endorsing his ticket.
"Tommy, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it," the vice president-elect said. "I take this personally as well as practically. You know, you and I . . . have been working together for 30 years."
Before you start scratching your head, let me explain: Tommy is Thomas Nee, president of the *Boston Police* Patrolmen's Association. And he does go way back with the soon to be ex-senator from Delaware, who has long been a friend of police. Many believe Biden is about to come through for cops again - and also for his buddy Tommy, who helped Obama-Biden win the backing of the 287,000-member National Association of Police Organizations.
It's a little-known fact for Beltway outsiders that Nee, 51, is president of that powerful national union, and in that role now has a pipeline to the White House.
So what does this mean? For one, it means if you're Tommy Nee, you're probably feeling a great sense of irony about now. It was earlier this month that Mayor *Thomas M. Menino* began imploring you to convince the cops to accept a wage freeze. It's not the request itself that was ironic, but what Nee was doing at the time: ferrying back and forth to Capitol Hill, trying to ensure that cuts to Boston police don't happen.
Nee's efforts have been paying off: the House last week released its version of a stimulus bill containing $4 billion for local law enforcement. A related bill filed Jan. 9 re-establishes many of the anti-crime measures under the 1994 Crime Bill that Biden wrote, notably the vaunted COPS program that President Bush eliminated.
"This is for equipment and assets we haven't had in eight years," Nee said by phone while driving to D.C. last night.
If passed, such proposals would begin to fulfill a promise Biden made directly and publicly to Nee when he pledged in September: "We are going to put another 50,000 cops on the street."
There's no way to know how many cops would come our way, but there has been talk of at least 200, and something tells me Biden will take care of the Hub. Which leads to this: If you're the mayor of Boston, and the president of your cops union is on a first-name basis with the vice president, why go to war with him?
It makes little sense to demand union leaders agree to a wage freeze so you can protect jobs - and then say layoffs are on the table either way. But if the feds deliver a new crime bill - and strong ranks of Hub cops are maintained - we know which Tommy to thank.

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http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_01_19_Cop_union_prez_has_powerful_pal_in_Joe_Biden/


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## mpd61 (Aug 7, 2002)

:uc:

As much as Tommy and the media belive Biden is "pro-police", he is NO friend of the second amendment.

Isn't it great when NATIONAL police unions like FOP and NAPO endorse opposite parties in national elections? Politics reek!
8-O


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

I get some hope for the law enforcement community when I think of how Joe Biden has thrown money at enforcement grants!

Then I remember that when that type of stuff crosses Obama's desk it will be thrown out and Biden will be informed that he is SECOND in command!


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2009)

kwflatbed said:


> "We are going to put another 50,000 cops on the street."


I'm still waiting for the 1,000 that Coupe Deval promised.


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

Delta784 said:


> I'm still waiting for the 1,000 that Coupe Deval promised.


Silly Delta.....Trix are for kids and those lies were for the voters!!!!!


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