Everyone in Lynn in politics or in a position of responsibility over the past two decades has come to know Tim Bassett.
He has been characterized in the Boston press as a former Lynn pol.
Last week, he hit the jackpot – but not the jackpot former Lynn pols want to score on.
He was fined $10,000 by the Ethics Commission after the commission found Bassett had been regularly conducting private lobbying work while on the clock in his six-figure, taxpayer funded job, according to Ethics Commission documents.
Bassett is a former Lynn state representative and Essex County treasurer who made $134,000 as the executive director of the Essex Regional Retirement Board.
The Ethics Commission found that Bassett frequently worked a part-time lobbying job out of his office on board time.
He even was found to have met with legislators at the State House in their offices to lobby on behalf of his private clients.
Last Monday, Bassett signed a statement acknowledging the violation and agreeing to pay the fine.
Bassett was a genuinely popular and well liked guy in this city where he still has many friends.
However this Ethics Commission finding and the fine represents the Bassett that very few of those who voted for him tended to know.
He was fired from his job last year at Essex Regional.
The $10,000 fine is something he can likely afford.
The ruination of his good name has cost him much more than that.