A legal review found that while a Boston city employee notified two businesses of an impending picket by the Teamsters during the filming of Top Chef, the employee did not try to influence or threaten the business owners.
After the Teamsters union threatened to picket the Boston locations where TV's "Top Chef" was filming an episode, a Boston City Hall employee called two businesses to tell them of the potential picket. The businesses pulled their permission for the filming. The film crew moved to Milton, where Teamsters allegedly physically threatened them and yelled profanities. Five Teamsters were later indicted for extortion.
A review released Monday by an attorney hired by the city of Boston found that the employee, Kenneth Brissette, director of tourism, sports and entertainment for the city, did not threaten the businesses or instruct them to end their involvement with the film.
"There wasn't any evidence to us that suggested a city employee was involved with illegal activities with respect to this indictment," said Brian Kelly, a former assistant U.S. attorney who works for the Nixon Peabody law firm. The city paid Kelly $60,000 to conduct the review.
The review also found that no one at City Hall, including Mayor Martin Walsh, instructed Brissette to make the calls. Records do show that Walsh was concerned about his reputation with labor after he appeared on Top Chef, but he did not take any action, since he had already filmed the show and signed a release allowing the show to use his image.
There were questions raised in media reports about whether the city tried to revoke Top Chef's permits. Top Chef producer Ellie Carbajal emailed city officials with concerns that the permits would be revoked. But Kelly wrote that he "found no evidence to substantiate these reports."
"This report answers many of the questions that had been raised and concludes that no city employee was involved in any of the illegal activities alleged in the federal indictment. Brian Kelly was given unlimited access to City Hall and I am very confident in the results of his review," Walsh said in a prepared statement.
In May 2014, Top Chef filmed a segment featuring Walsh. At the time, no one at City Hall knew whether the movie was using union labor.
The first time city officials learned about the union issue was on June 5, 2014, when Derek Cunningham, a location scout for Top Chef who had received intimidating phone calls from the Teamsters, emailed Brissette informing him that the Teamsters "have found the film set and are really really pissed. As they should be." Brissette learned from Cunningham about the Teamsters' plan to picket.
According to the federal indictment, that was the day the Teamsters showed up to a film set at the Revere Hotel in Boston, demanded jobs and threatened to picket.
Brissette, who had been in his job for less than a month, told Kelly that he was upset to find out that the show was non-union because he feared it would be embarrassing for the mayor and for the police and fire commissioners and uniformed officers who appeared on the show.
Top Chef planned to film the following week at the Omni Parker House, Emerson College and the restaurant Menton.
Brissette talked to representatives of the union and the film company as it became clear that they would not reach an agreement. Brissette then called managers he knew at the Omni Parker House and Menton, John Murtha and Barbara Lynch, whom he knew to be pro-union.
"Believing that the Teamsters' picketing could harm Murtha's and Lynch's businesses and/or cause them personal embarrassment, Brissette - without receiving direction from, or giving notice to, anyone else at City Hall - took it upon himself to call both Murtha and Lynch and inform them of the situation," Kelly wrote. "Brissette denied any intent to prevent Top Chef from filming in Boston, and stated that the purpose of his calls to Murtha and Lynch was only to be helpful to acquaintances that he knew may have business concerns due to picketing."
Neither Murtha nor Lynch felt threatened by the call. Murtha described it as a "friendly heads up," and said he denied permission to Top Chef to film because he worried that a picket could disturb his guests and his unionized employees would not cross a picket line. Lynch similarly said Brissette did not instruct her what to do, though she too canceled the shoot so it would not hurt her business.
"Both the Omni Parker person and the Menton's person under repeated questioning said they did not feel threatened by the phone call nor did they feel they were being told what to do," Kelly said, speaking to reporters on Monday.
The report does show that Walsh was worried about his image with labor, which is a core constituency for him. When Brissette told Joseph Rull, a Walsh senior staffer, about the situation, Rull "expressed concern that the Mayor's appearance on Top Chef could negatively affect his reputation with labor."
After being told about the dispute, Walsh said he was interested in "looking into what his options were" with respect to his Top Chef appearance, Kelly wrote.
"It's politically awkward for a pro-labor mayor to be in a non-union show," Kelly said.
Walsh called the president of Teamsters Local 25, Sean O'Brien, as a courtesy, and Kelly wrote that O'Brien had an "apparent lack of concern."
Rull and Brissette did have a conversation about looking at a release Walsh signed and trying to pull Walsh's image out of the show, but the film company Bravo never provided the city with a copy of the release, and the show with Walsh did air. The report found that Walsh never instructed anyone to call the locations where the show was scheduled to shoot or to revoke any permits.
Kelly does not have authority to compel anyone to cooperate with him. O'Brien, Carbajal and Cunningham all declined to talk.
According to Walsh spokeswoman Laura Oggeri, Brissette has not been disciplined.
Kelly has given his report to the Boston City Council, which will now decide whether to take any additional steps. Oggeri said it is not advisable for city employees to get involved in labor disputes, and the city will review the report and consider best practices going forward.
