'John Forbes is a Classic Example of a Fine Young Man Who Exercised Poor Judgment'

John Forbes also happens to be a classic example of a drug-dealing lowlife. But since he was an aide to Boston Mayor Thomas "Mumbles" Menino, locals pols are tripping over themselves to help him receive lenient treatment when he is due to be sentenced.

Ex-Senate president Robert Travaglini and City Councilor Sal LaMattina are among dozens of compassionate supporters asking a federal judge to spare the rod on an erstwhile rising star in Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s camp, whose addiction to painkillers poisoned his political career.

While serving as Menino’s East Boston neighborhood coordinator, John Forbes was moonlighting as a drug dealer and popping five oxycodone pills a day “just to function,” court documents filed Friday by his attorney reveal.

“John Forbes is a classic example of a fine young man who exercised poor judgment,” Travaglini wrote in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns, who could sentence Forbes, 31, to up to 20 years behind bars this afternoon.

Neighborhood coordinator? Is that a community organizer under another name?

Forbes, Travaglini’s mercy-seeking missive continued, “has for the better part of his life always done the right thing — helping, coaching and teaching young children how to become respected members of the community driven by what is good in life.” He urged Stearns “to be as lenient as the law would allow.”

LaMattina, who has known Forbes since he was born, told Sterns in his letter that Forbes “loved the neighborhood” of East Boston “and the people loved him back.” He noted Forbes had “a connection to the mayor’s office that made people feel better about their city government.”

Forbes pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to distribute Oxycontin and cocaine. Attorney Rosemary Curran Scapicchio is asking that the father of two be placed only on probation.

How does dealing Oxycontin and cocaine make people feel better about their government? Were they getting discounts on the drugs?

It appears Forbes was more than just some guy in the neighborhood.

A key East Boston aide of Mayor Thomas M. Menino - charged with peddling powerful prescription painkillers - helped another accused Eastie narcotics pusher score a hard-to-get Hub liquor license last year - the latest bombshell in the widening scandal.

John M. Forbes - a neighborhood liaison taped by the DEA inside his City Hall office discussing an OxyContin deal with a federal mole and offering the man a city job - has been deemed by the feds a “close associate” of Anthony W. Cristallo, 40, a convicted murderer from East Boston.

Ah yes, a fine young man.