Q. And could you tell us what the word "interactions" means?

A. Interactions through one person to another.

Q. What is an interaction?

A. I would believe it's describing a person for what he does. I could be wrong on that now.

Nor does John Howe's questionable conduct appear to be limited to his real estate duties. In April 1977, Metropolitan District Commissioner John Snedeker discovered that John Howe was without approval in leaving his full-time patronage job as a "water sampler" early in order to collect an additional $5500 annually as a tax assessor. Howe knocked off early from his 8 a.m.-to-4 p.m., $270-a-week job twice a month for a year, Snedeker reported. Snedeker also found that Howe was using an MDC truck for his separate assessing duties.

Although Snedeker and MDC press spokesman Michael Goldman refuse to discuss the case, which is still pending in court, the Crimson has learned that Snedeker originally planned to fire Howe outright. But in an emotional meeting with the commissioner, Howe tearfully begged that his pregnant wife be spared the emotional trauma of a public hearing on his misbehavior. Despite advice from his aides that he ought to fire Howe, Snedeker relented and agreed to reprimand Howe with a 20-day suspension and a fine--provided Howe signed a statement admitting his guilt. Howe hastily complied.

Just five eays later, however, Howe announced that he had obtained well-known Boston lawyer William Homans, and was filing suit against Snedeker for $25,000 in personal damages. Despite his written statement to the contrary, Howe now says that he still worked a full day, because he worked during his lunch hour to make up for the time he missed by leaving work early. But that is not what he told Snedeker in their private meeting. One reliable MDC source says Howe's after-the-fact assertion that he made up the lost time during his lunch breaks is "full of shit."

Like the MDC's Snedeker and Goldman, Howe says that because the case is pending in court, he cannot comment on the incident. "Anything I say might hurt me," Howe explained.

Although John Howe asserts that his actions are his own doing, Somerville insiders say that it is really his elder sister Marie who runs the family's political business. "John's a good kid, a simple kid," says one Somerville assessor. "It's Marie who's the heavy." Yet if Marie has used John for her own political ends, she has also been unafraid to engage in petty but questionable conduct of her own.

Every St. Patrick's Day, Marie Howe holds an Irish celebration, complete with Gay '90s music. Tickets sell for $10, which is less than the $15 campaign-donation disclosure fee and thus allows participants to avoid having their names filed with the state elections commission.

At the celebration itself, Marie raffles off a trip to Ireland. Massachusetts law allows such raffles only for church, charity, educational, civic, fraternal or veterans purposes. There is no provision for political raffles. Even if political raffles were legal, however, the law requires that the sponsoring organization purchase a raffle license. Marie Howe has no such license.

Howe at first acknowledged that she holds a yearly raffle. But when pointed out that she has no raffle license, Howe changed her story and said, "It's not a raffle. It's a door prize."

* * * * *

In the last four years, Marie Howe has been sued three times for defaulting on payments for improvements on her properties. The infractions were minor, but still typify the approach the Howes take in their business and political practices.

In 1974, Somerville Lumber Company sued Marie Howe and her friend Walter Silva for almost $3500, for not paying for a shipment of lumber and other building materials. Howe now admits that she in fact received the goods from Somerville Lumber after ordering them. But in sworn testimony "signed under the pains and penalties of perjury," Howe denied ever receiving the building materials. The case was eventually settled out of court. Somerville Lumber owner Harold Cohen refused to talk about the suit, apparently fearing retribution by the Howe family. "I admit it," he said. "I'm a coward."