O’Donovan to challenge Buonomo

By George P. Hassett

The elected official who allegedly stole thousands of dollars from government copy machines could face a challenge from a Somerville alderman in November.

Ward 5 Alderman Sean T. O’Donovan told the Somerville News on Tuesday that he will challenge John Buonomo for Middlesex County Register of Probate. Buonomo was arrested last week for allegedly stealing cash out of copy machines at the Registry of Deeds office. Video of Buonomo, a former Somerville alderman, crouching down and pocketing cash and change from the machines was played repeatedly on local news stations.

O’Donovan said the incident is the reason he is challenging Buonomo. “When I first saw the Middlesex County Register of Probate stealing taxpayer money, I was shocked and dismayed. I immediately wanted to run to restore professionalism and ethics to that office,” he said.

Buonomo will be the only Democratic candidate on the ballot in November. O’Donovan, a Democrat, said he may run for the office as a candidate with another party. If he gets 1,000 votes as a write-in candidate with another party in the Sept. 16 primary his name will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot alongside Buonomo, he said.

He would not immediately say what party he would try to appear on the ballot under.

If he seeks reelection, Buonomo would be asking for votes as he faces charges that could land him in a jail cell for 20 years. After his arraignment last week, Buonomo’s lawyer Michael F. Natola said his client would seek reelection.

Buonomo, who is paid $110,000 a year, was captured on video surveillance cameras eight times between June 23 and Aug. 5 approaching copy and cash machines in the Registry of Deeds office in Cambridge, kneeling down and stuffing bills and change from the machines into his back pocket while looking continuously to his left and right, prosecutors said. Buonomo would usually take cash from the machines at the end of the workday, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said they began an investigation after as much as $2,000 a month was reported to be missing from the Registry of Deeds copy and cash machines. The Registry of Deeds is located in the same building in Cambridge as Buonomo’s probate office.

“It is highly troubling that a public official would engage in the kind of brazen theft of public monies that we allege here,” Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone said after Buonomo’s arrest. “We believe that Mr. Buonomo violated the public’s trust by regularly accessing these cash machines without authority and stealing taxpayer money.”

Buonomo was arrested Wednesday, August 6, and charged with breaking and entering into a depository, eight counts of theft of public property by a county officer and eight counts of larceny under $250. In court on Thursday, prosecutors said Buonomo initially told arresting officers he was taking the money to buy office supplies.

The register of probate oversees estates, child custody, divorces and adoptions.

Buonomo was first elected to the post in 2000 after a special election to replace another Somerville politician, Robert B. Antonelli, who was removed from the job for abusing his authority.
Buonomo has a long history in Somerville. He was first elected to public office in the city in 1979 as a school committee member. He then served as the Ward 4 alderman for 12 years and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1989 and 1999.

O’Donovan was on the School Committee from 1995 to 2000 and has served as Ward 5 alderman since 2000.