The art of the divorce!

Good Day Readers:

You've got to love the sense of humour of the people at the Boston Herald with their picture on the right.

Ever noticed how often that nice home in the suburbs complete with 2-car garage, white picket fence, 2.5 children and dog belies domestic-connubial bliss? Well, so it seems with Mr. Amorello which brings us to the question, if we have do-it-yourelf kits for wills why not divorces too? After all it's only the lawyers who get rich. And what about marriage breakdown insurance?

If you wish to engage in fascinating reading go to the Provincial Law Courts Building in Winnipeg to pull some divorse files - people say the damnest things in affidavits, protection orders and the like.

While we've indeed had the pleasure over the years of meeting some outstanding attorneys, there will always be those who leave one scratching their head. Not only how did they ever get a license to practice in the first place but have been able to remain a member of a Law Society in good standing?

Perhaps the final word should go to Shakespeare in King Henry V1, Part 2 when he said, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Wonder if he knew something we didn't?

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

P.S. Wonder what was in Ms Amorello wallet?
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Judge To Matt Amorello: Get A Job, Buddy
By Laurel J. Sweet

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Award-winning court and crime reporter Laurel J. Sweet has been featured in the ABC miniseries "Boston 24/7" and the 9-11 documentary motion picture "Looking For My Brother."

Former Turnpike chief Matt Amorello, who dug a deep hole for taxpayers by botching the Big Dig, has been ordered by a judge to get a job to climb out from under a mountain of personal debt, according to court filings in his messy divorce case.

The ex-Big Dig bigwig and his estranged wife have run up an astronomical credit card debt, including more than $130,000 on her card, and have fallen behind on their mortgage payments by $17,000, according to their filings.
Amorello, 50 - who once pulled in $223,000 a year to oversee the biggest public works project in U.S. history but now claims in a frightening financial statement to have just $240 in savings - is under a court mandate to get a job, the Herald has learned.

In the throes of divorcing his wife of 12 years, Charlotte, 42, Amorello was ordered on November 20 by Judge Judith Nelson Dilday to apply for 15 jobs each week, according to filings in Essex Probate and Family Court in Salem.

Charlotte Amorello, who filed for divorce in July based on “an irretrievable breakdown in communications,” but who continues to share the marital home in Wenham, complains in an affidavit that her husband has not brought home a paycheck since May. He had worked for seven months as a consultant after resigning as Big Dig chief in August 2006.

Charlotte Amorello says her husband “has made minimal efforts, if any, to find gainful employment.” She, meanwhile, works part time with no benefits at the Wenham Museum while caring for the couple’s 9-year-old son, a student in private school.

Charlotte Amorello counts among her debts $132,538 run up on her Capitol One card, according to court records.

Her attorney did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. Amorello’s lawyer Rudolf Jaworski declined to comment.

The pair wed in 1996, when Amorello was a Republican state senator. Their house has been for sale since September.

The manse is described in a real estate listing as a “charming” three-bedroom, four-bath Cape in a “very private, English garden setting.” The asking price is $675,000.

Charlotte Amorello states in her affidavit beseeching the court to intervene that while Amorello made a contribution to Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign without telling her, “our day-to-day bills are not being paid.”

“We cannot survive without my husband contributing to our expenses, on any level,” she said. “We are about to lose our health insurance, and our house will be foreclosed on soon if he does not start to contribute.”

Amorello, she said, “is fully capable of acquiring significant employment given his experience and success in managing a multibillion-dollar public works project.”

Amorello’s listed debts include $8,650 to Target and $15,987 to Citibank. According to his wife, Amorello’s severance pay ran dry in February 2007.

He stepped down after a Jamaica Plain woman was crushed to death in a Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapse.