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We used to think that our elected officials were better than us, or at least that they strove to set examples for our better natures.
The reality, however, is that in the era of Donald Trump, it’s hard to argue that we even remotely look up to leaders anymore. In 2026 we are certainly well familiar with the fact that leaders, elected and otherwise, have the same feet of clay as the rest of us. Sometimes worse.
So now comes the latest New Bedford elected official to be charged with a serious crime: Ward 3 Councilor and Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Shawn Oliver.
In an October surprise worthy of the name, just two weeks before the Nov. 3 election, Oliver crashed his Lincoln Navigator into no fewer than five parked vehicles before flipping it in a startling late night crash on a Saturday night. New Bedford police have charged him with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, speeding and a marked lanes violation.
It is a tragedy for both the councilor and city with the only blessing seeming to be that no one was killed or badly injured in what could have been an even worse debacle.
It is certainly sad for Shawn Oliver and his family.
Oliver is a smart, hard-working official who has had a meteoric rise in both New Bedford and state politics since 2023 when he first won a February special election to represent the city’s sleepiest ward.
The second-term councilor is energetic, articulate and ideologically one of the most conservative councilors to be elected in New Bedford in a long time. There’s no doubt it was a combination of Oliver’s talents and the dearth of high-ranking Republican officials in Massachusetts that resulted in GOP gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve picking him out of obscurity to be his running mate. Of course it certainly was not lost on Shortsleeve in his uphill battle against billionaire Mike Minogue that Oliver was a working-class guy from a part of Massachusetts that is seen to be more conservative than the state’s primary population center in Greater Boston.
Oliver is not the first New Bedford elected official to run afoul of the law.
In an almost astonishing twist of fate, he succeeded a Ward 3 councilor, Hugh Dunn, who himself resigned shortly after being found not guilty of operating under the influence of alcohol in 2022. That’s two Ward 3 councilors charged with OUI in four years, quite a distressing record.
A quick note about Hugh Dunn’s trial: After city police officers contradicted paramedics’ testimony that Dunn had been drinking the night of his early morning crash, a judge found that there was reasonable doubt that he was under the influence when he plowed his car into two parked vehicles. The accident took place in the downtown entertainment district in the early morning hours of May 1, 2021.
Three city police officers were suspended for poorly handling the Dunn investigation. Their suspensions were later reduced after an arbitrator ruled they were negligent in investigating, but did not offer the councilor favorable treatment.
Ward 3’s troubles go back even further.
A previous long-term councilor-at-large from Ward 3, the late George Rogers, was found guilty of bribery involving his public office when he was a state senator many years ago. Rogers, who also served as a state representative twice, was later found not guilty of distributing pornography to a Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech student that he was advising while the student was doing repair work at his house. Anyone who followed or covered the Rogers trial as I did would know that the lawmaker’s alleged actions in the circumstances were dubious to say the least.
Rogers, who like Oliver had a reputation for helping residents cut through the city bureaucracy, was re-elected many times after the bribery conviction. He even got re-elected once after the pornography charge but finally lost when news broke that he had interfered with an Eagle Scout citation for the same minor who had reported the pornography incident.
This tour of the greatest hits of three New Bedford city councilors is in a way unfair. I knew all three men and certainly they all did some good things for the city. Those who are anxious to claim that all politicians are corrupt will not find an ally in me. I’ve known many good and decent elected officials and others who were not so good. Most were a mix of the two.
So it makes me sad when I read the bloodlust in online comment sections in the wake of woeful circumstances like the one that befell Shawn Oliver last week.
I have a sense that the guy — who really is very much a self-made man — had seen a once-in-a-lifetime chance to really advance and he was giving it his all to make it come true. That does not excuse, of course, his very wrong-headed decision if he decided to drive after drinking, or when he was too tired, or anything else reckless. But how many people have made a similar decision at this or some other point in their lives?
There should be consequences, call it punishment if you want, if the charges against Oliver are proven true. But as with Hugh Dunn and George Rogers, it solves little to extract an extra pound of flesh for the worst decision a man has ever made.
You can see a little of this sympathy in the way that the City Council often circles the wagons when one of their own has gotten in trouble. They know the good side of the man or woman and are reluctant to make them walk the political plank. Maybe a little too reluctant.
Yes, there should be justice for Shawn Oliver as his case works its way through the court system. Whatever the courts decide, he will have to live with those judgments. But there should also be sadness and sympathy for the man, who has certainly done his share of public service for the city.
A society that takes unmitigated pleasure in the downfall of its leaders is not a healthy society. A humane society should look at these things with empathy as well as justice.
Jack Spillane is a news and opinion columnist for The New Bedford Light. You can email Jack at jspillane@newbedfordlight.org.
Shawn has always been a good person, always willing to give his time for others, and work hard not only his ward 3 constituents, but for all city residents. Sending prayers of support and wishing him the best always.
Now he has to deal with the angry MAGA cabal who promoted him for their benefit. He let the Red Leak down. He even switched parties for them. He will be literally or figuratively “sleeping with the fishes” soon.
Well written.
I wonder if the average hard working citizen would be given the same consideration by your news outlet? I think not. If he harmed or killed someone, I wonder what your perspective would be then. He did the act, it is irrelevant ‘how good of a guy he is or, how good he is at his job’. The law is designed to be applied evenly, not manipulated.
AMEN
A New Bedford City Councilor was recently charged with operating under the influence of alcohol after allegedly striking five parked vehicles and overturning his large SUV late one evening. The incident reflects a serious lapse in judgment and raises understandable concerns about public safety and personal responsibility.
I do not wish to pass judgment on the individual or presume to know the personal circumstances behind this incident. However, speaking with compassion and genuine concern, I would encourage him to seek appropriate medical care, assess whether there are underlying health concerns or other issues that may be contributing to his behavior, and take whatever steps are necessary to address them. Doing so would not only support his well-being but also reassure his family and loved ones. Ultimately, acknowledging that something may be wrong and seeking help are signs of strength, not weakness.
We shouldn’t need to be told to have some compassion. Another casualty of our twisted age. Let’s be better.
I appreciate The Light because they report fairly and honestly. It is also why I have great respect for Jack as a journalist. But, more than anything, it is why I so vehemently disagree with this nothing-burger published as an “opinion”.
The man has a known history of sharing transphobic content, so I can only assume he holds those beliefs as well. Where is the empathy for queer folks?
I do not recall seeing a statement from him after ICE ransacked our community and kidnapped our people. Where was the empathy for them?
Three years on the City Council and I have only seen the city descend further into a crisis of addiction and homelessness while he launches a campaign for higher office. Where is the empathy for our neighbors?
And, if we excuse all that, the narrative here that “well other people did bad stuff too” is just pedantic. Those people did do bad stuff. Those people also resigned because of the bad stuff. Shawn Oliver should do the same.
It’s upsetting that Trump and his ilk have drug our politics so far into the muck of life that totaling your car in a residential neighborhood because you were highly intoxicated is no longer disqualifying. In fact, a major media outlet for the city essentially publishes the oldest trope in the book – just excuse the irresponsible and dangerous actions of a mediocre man. I wish the rest of us had the same luxuries because I’ve seen more outrage at anti-ICE signage downtown than this.
New Bedford deserves a higher bar for its elected officials. The current one apparently doesn’t even exist.