Thomas Bowes Staying In Braintree Mayor Race Following MRB Firing

BRAINREE, MA — Town Councilor Thomas Bowes said he plans to stay in the mayor race following his firing from the Massachusetts Merit Rating Board. An oversight committee voted unanimously to fire Bowes, the board's director responsible for overseeing the state's license suspensions for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. The firing came after the RMV failed to take away the driver's license of a man accused of killing seven motorcyclist in a New Hampshire crash.

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.

"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 Zhukovskyy's license.

"What they’ve decided to do is look for a scapegoat instead of looking forward," Kesten said. "There were multiple failures which took years to happen, had been going on for years."