Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association president Tommy Nee was ousted last night in a landslide that saw more than 1,100 of the city’s patrolmen vote.
Newly elected union president Pat Rose, a patrolman in Dorchester’s C-11 district, beat the long-serving union boss 897 to 242. The total turnout was more than 75 percent of the city’s 1,480 patrolmen.
Nee did not return several calls for comment. Officials at the union’s headquarters last night declined to comment.
While some saw this as a referendum on a recent contract that was weighted to give higher wages to the most senior patrolmen, others said it was more about the personality of the person in charge of the union.
“They felt he was out of touch,” one longtime police officer said of fellow cops he had spoken with. “He went through a lot as union president and I think a lot of the guys just wondered if he was still into it.”
Nee had a reputation as an outspoken advocate for the city’s patrolmen and often clashed with City Hall as well as the police brass over working conditions and the treatment of city police officers. A nationally known union figure who had been a White House guest, he was coming off a victory after winning cops a 25.4 percent pay raise over six years in 2013.
Also elected was Mike Leary, who works in East Boston, as vice president; Chris Broderick, a patrolman in the South End’s D-4 district, as secretary; and Bob Colburn, who works on the city’s canine unit, as treasurer.
“Tommy is a great guy,” said another Boston police officer who voted. “It was just time for a change.”