Walsh Awaits Fraud Trial

City Councillor William H. Walsh says allegations of bank fraud won't stop him from being re-elected.

Walsh, who was indicted last October on 59 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud and making false statements to a federally insured bank, pleaded innocent.

He says that he is running for the City Council again because he is confident that he can win. "I feel I'm going to win. I wouldn't run if I didn't think I was going to win," Walsh says.

And he says his legal difficulties are not an obstacle to his re-election because his constituents will believe he's telling the truth. "I tell them exactly what the issues are and why I feel I'm innocent," Walsh says.

Voters often ask Walsh, he says, if he thinks the allegations are politically motivated. He says that although he feels it has become a political issue, he does not know whether it started as one.

"Some people ask if I feel it's a political issue," Walsh says. "I think any time a politician is standing out there it always becomes a political issue."

Walsh's indictment prompted calls for his resignation by the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), the "good government" group which opposes Walsh and other Independent councillors.

And his conflicts with the CCA have only intensified since then with Walsh's legislative proposals, including one that the city councillors cut their own salaries in half. "If the leaders don't lead, the followers won't follow," Walsh says.

Walsh says he had hoped that his trial, which is tentatively scheduled for October, would take place earlier so that voters could see his name cleared. "The whole idea is to try to get it before the election results," Walsh said.

Walsh says that he will continue campaigning in his usual way, by going door to door and by sending out letters. And he says that he expects to continue to work on his favorite issues, including housing and the budget.

Walsh allegedly defrauded Dime Savings Bank of New York of about $8 million for condominium developments in Massachusetts. If he is convicted on all of the counts he faces up to 208 years in prison and $14.75 million in fines.