Today's winner is Everett Massachusetts Mayor John F. Hanlon. He gets the award for the following.

Political red tape, and not a blown bulb in Rudolph's red nose, has grounded a pint-sized Santa Claus' miracle mission to deliver toys and clothing to the victims of this month's tanker-truck catastrophe in Everett.

Mayor John F. Hanlon told the Herald that because of the massive recalls of misfit toys manufactured in China with lead paint, novelties dropped off to make the Christmases of nine displaced children a little merrier are instead quarantined at the Everett Armory.

And that's just where the brand-new electronic and board games, trucks, blocks and crayons 10-year-old Peter-Anthony Hereu of Wellesley has collected will be dumped at the insistence of the city's attorneys, Hanlon regrettably confirmed.

"It's the liability," Hanlon explained. "If you trip on ice, trip on a stair, trip on a present, we're going to get sued. I don't know what to do with the toys. We're holding on to them until next year. A little kid 10 years old, I don't want him to be disappointed."

Neither do the fifth-grader's parents, Peter and Judy Hereu, who yesterday threatened to load up a fleet of vehicles with toys and go looking for the needy tots themselves.

"He still believes in Santa," his mom said. "I'm riding that until the wheels fall off."

She called Everett's fear of litigation "insane" considering 47 residents, burned out of their homes Dec. 5 by a rig that rolled over on Sweetser Circle and unleashed a flood of gasoline-fueled fire on a neighborhood, are hurting for the holidays.

Thankfully this story had a happy ending. The Salvation Army stepping forward to help bring the toys to the families who lost so much in the fire. That doesn't let the mayor off, I name Everett Massachusetts Mayor John F. Hanlon today's Knucklehead of the Day.
Hat tip- Overlawyered