Braintree Town Councilor, Mayor Candidate Fired From RMV

BRAINTREE, MA — An oversight board voted unanimously Tuesday to fire Braintree Town Councilor and mayoral candidate Thomas Bowes from his position as Merit Rating Board director for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Bowes' firing makes him the second employee to depart following a New Hampshire crash which killed seven motorcyclists.

"The Merit Rating Board needs to head in a different direction and I believe it requires new leadership," Jamey Tesler, the RMV’s acting chair of the Merit Rating Board, told reporters following the hearing.

Bowes spoke briefly at the hearing and took "fully responsibility" for his role in the crash. His attorney Leonard Kesten told reporters Bowes expected the firing, but feels it was "unfortunate" for state leaders to target him when dozens of other employees played a role in the RMV's failure to take away Volodymyr Zhukovskyy's license.

On June 21 in Randolph, N.H., authorities said Zhukovskyy, 23, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, was driving a tractor-trailer when he hit the bikers, who were members of the JarHeads Semper Fi Motorcycle Club. Zhukovskyy should have had his license suspended before the crash because he refused a previous chemical test in Connecticut after he was pulled over on suspicion of driving intoxicated, according to authorities. The refusal of the test was supposed to trigger an automatic termination of his license, but in this case, his license remained valid because Massachusetts RMV officials failed to follow through after Connecticut officials notified them.

Bowes has since told the Patriot Ledger he's staying in the race. Patch has reached out to Bowes and will update if we hear back.