--- title: John Kerry Gets Fine for Not Shoveling Snow in Boston description: The Secretary of State was fined $50 canonical: https://time.com/3689247/john-kerry-didnt-shovel-his-snow/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-30T12:58:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:00:46.244Z article:section: Politics og:title: John Kerry Gets Fine for Not Shoveling Snow in Boston og:description: The Secretary of State was fined $50 og:url: https://time.com/3689247/john-kerry-didnt-shovel-his-snow/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5a178fd392a4279/69877cc0e20a8781a9a84d24/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US Secretary of State Kerry in Nigeria og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Kerry Gets Fine for Not Shoveling Snow in Boston twitter:description: The Secretary of State was fined $50 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5a178fd392a4279/69877cc0e20a8781a9a84d24/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Kerry Is in Trouble for Not Shoveling His Snow by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 30, 2015 12:58 PM UTC  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a press conference within his official visit in Lagos, Nigeria on January 25, 2015. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a press conference within his official visit in Lagos, Nigeria on January 25, 2015.Anadolu Agency—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 30, 2015 12:58 PM UTC We all have excuses for putting off clearing our sidewalks after a storm, but attending the funeral of a deceased world leader seems like a particularly good one. Yet the city of Boston [was unsympathetic](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/29/city-kerry-secretary-shovel-your-sidewalk/IdsdXEqMetonCLeRhZgv8H/story.html) when Secretary of State John Kerry failed to shovel the walk in front of his Beacon Hill residence after this week’s snow storm, fining him $50. While Kerry was in Saudi Arabia attending the funeral of King Abdullah, a snow removal company did not remove the snow from his drive because it was blocked off by tape, the Boston _Globe_ reports. Since the snow clearers thought it was police tape, they did not clear the walk. When they understood it was just a precautionary measure, they set to work shoveling the snow late Thursday morning. Kerry’s spokesman Glen Johnson said of the incident, “Diplomats—they’re just like us,” and confirmed that the secretary will “gladly” pay the fine. \[[_Boston Globe_](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/29/city-kerry-secretary-shovel-your-sidewalk/IdsdXEqMetonCLeRhZgv8H/story.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3689247/john-kerry-didnt-shovel-his-snow/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3689247/john-kerry-didnt-shovel-his-snow/"},"headline":"John Kerry Is in Trouble for Not Shoveling His Snow","datePublished":"2015-01-30T12:58:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:00:46.244Z","description":"The Secretary of State was fined $50","url":"https://time.com/3689247/john-kerry-didnt-shovel-his-snow/","keywords":["John F. Kerry","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5a178fd392a4279/69877cc0e20a8781a9a84d24/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5a178fd392a4279/69877cc0e20a8781a9a84d24/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Secretary of State Kerry in Nigeria","caption":"US Secretary of State Kerry in Nigeria","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3689247/john-kerry-didnt-shovel-his-snow/","name":"John Kerry Is in Trouble for Not Shoveling His Snow"}}]}] ```