Lawyer Asks Salem Official If She Was Drunk During Phone Call

SALEM, MA — A lawyer for Jerry Ryan asked Salem Assistant City Clerk Maureen Fisher Tuesday if she was drunk during a November phone call with her client and suggested Fisher had said a colleague in the city clerk's office "made a lot of mistakes." Mary-Ellen Manning also asked questions during testimony implying Fisher wanted City Clerk Ilene Simons' job.

According to the Salem News, which first reported this story, Fisher denied Manning's allegations. Before Manning's cross-examination, Fisher had testified Ryan said he wanted to "stick it to" the Latino Leadership Coalition, an advocacy group for Salem's Hispanic population. Ryan's lawsuit, which challenges his one-vote loss to Megan Riccardi in November's Ward 6 City Council race, hinges on his claim that a Spanish-speaking voter was unlawfully barred from voting despite arriving at his polling place 20 minutes before it closed.

The trial, which started last month, was scheduled to continue Wednesday morning. Salem delayed its inauguration of elected officials to Thursday night from Monday after Lawrence Superior Court Judge John Lu issued an injunction last week barring the city from swearing-in Riccardi