Cambridge City Councilor and former president of the state’s teachers union Paul Toner said he was ashamed of his ensnarement in a massive brothel scandal and the charges pending before him for

Cambridge City Councilor Paul F. Toner — who faces charges for allegedly patronizing a Cambridge brothel network — spent nearly a year trying to prevent his name from surfacing in the case prior to his arraignment.

Texts between a phone registered to Cambridge City Councilor Paul Toner and a local “brothel phone” typically began with Toner, a more frequent patron of the high-end brothel ring, asking about women who are available for sex,