CLT
UPDATE
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Finneran era ends, and continues on
In a political culture that respected public participation in selecting its leaders, the Speaker of the House would have announced last spring he was retiring at the end of his term. His successor would have been chosen in January, after voters as well as House members had been given a chance to weigh in on the candidates.
But the powers on Beacon Hill, notably House Speaker Thomas Finneran, have never had much interest in public participation. So after a weekend of private conversations, the Commonwealth has been presented with a fait accompli. A new speaker, among the three most powerful men in the state, has been hand-picked by the old speaker. Politicians and citizens are now expected to fall in line to kiss his ring.
The way Finneran has arranged this backroom deal reflects much of what is wrong with the way the House operates....
Representatives jockeying for a place in the new hierarchy are talking about a fresh start, but this is the same leadership team with new titles. DiMasi has been known as Finneran's enforcer; the man who counted votes and twisted arms. He and Rogers are by no definition reformers; if they've ever disagreed with Finneran, they've done it quietly....
Some Democrats are crowing that Finneran's exit deprives Gov. Mitt Romney of a favorite foil on the legislative campaign now hitting full stride. We hope he and Republican candidates will put DiMasi on the spot. He may have been chosen for this powerful position by a small circle of friends, but he ought to tell the voters what he plans to do with his power. And Democratic candidates ought to tell the voters what they think of Finneran's machinations and the lack of democracy under the Golden Dome.
A MetroWest Daily News editorial
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Finneran's final back room deal
Poor John Rogers. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, he's better known in the State House as Mini Me, his young lips forever stuck on a part of Tom Finneran that members of the public would be advised not to regard.
He's had a tough week, Little John has. First, Finneran, his alpha wolf, announced that he's fleeing Dodge a step ahead of the sheriff, leaving Rogers without a clue when he's supposed to jump, let alone how high.
Then he always assumed that Finneran would take care of him on the way out the door, making sure he was the next speaker of the House. But no such luck. That nod went to Sal
DiMasi.
Finally, Little John figures he can make the notoriously underachieving DiMasi promise to step down in a few terms and bequeath the speakership to him. Instead, DiMasi laughed in his face.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Not all dogs have a day
By Brian McGrory
The crowd was quiet at first, but then grew increasingly restive as the hours passed with nary a sign of the anticipated transfer of power. Suddenly, an elderly lady screamed and pointed to a chimney on the roof of Sal's building. Yes, there it was, the traditional puff of white smoke.
The cry went up from the grateful, milling throngs: "We have a Speaker! We have a Speaker!"
The MetroWest Daily News
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Puff of smoke for Speaker DiMasi?
By Peter B. Young
While many GOP legislative candidates had planned to slam their Democratic opponents for blind allegiance to outgoing Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, Republican strategists said they still have plenty of ammunition leading up to Nov. 2.
"This doesn't wipe the slate clean for all the legislators who have been supporters of the speaker," Massachusetts Republican Party Executive Director Tim O'Brien said. "This doesn't exonerate them from their votes to block reform. These legislators will still be held accountable."
O'Brien also painted Rep. Salvatore F. DiMasi (D-North End), who has been tapped to replace Finneran as speaker, as "another Beacon Hill insider."
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," he said. "Sal DiMasi is an inside player that's going to fight to preserve the status quo."
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Republicans won't give up attack on insiders
State reps vowing a new era of reform after eight years of King Tom plan to tap as his heir a consummate insider, feared enforcer and public face of the "Animal House" party night that shrouded the entire House in scandal.
Government watchdogs, progressive pols and Republican critics, while publicly saying they hope for the best from incoming Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi (D-North End), said his 26-year House career has them fearing the worst.
"He's been part of the leadership team for quite some time," said Pamela Wilmot, director of Common Cause Massachusetts. "We'll be keeping an eye on him."
"He's not a reformer; he's Mr. Status Quo," said one State House pol, fearful for being targeted if he spoke publicly.
Look no further, critics said, than DiMasi's recent history.
A low point came in the spring 2000 late-night budget session in which members drank, slept and were caught in phantom voting.
DiMasi, then Finneran's assistant majority leader, called for "order in the Animal House" after members chanted, "Toga, Toga."
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Critics: New speaker same as old speaker
If Finneran had quit a week ago, by Sept. 20, there still would have been time to get a new Democrat - and Republican - to run for his seat this year.
The ward political committees in his district would have chosen the candidates by last Thursday, Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office said.
But by resigning now, Finneran remains the only choice on the November ballot in either party.
If someone were to challenge Finneran, it would have to be with a write-in or sticker campaign - an expensive
longshot, traditionally.
Finneran critics wonder what the outgoing speaker has up his sleeve, suggesting he wants to play kingmaker in his district.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Finneran makes last-ditch power play
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran formally announced yesterday that he will resign the speakership today to lead the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. After eight years of dominating Beacon Hill politics, Finneran declared defiantly that he "did not want to be chased" from office, but instead wanted to leave on his own terms....
Finneran said he was looking forward to casting a vote in support of passing the speaker's gavel to
DiMasi, a North End Democrat who has often served as Finneran's chief enforcer.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Leaving on 'own terms,' speaker brings end to era
To liberal activists, Finneran's retirement marks a seismic shift on Beacon Hill. Along with his staunch opposition to same-sex marriage, he helped hold the line on new taxes in the last year, blocked an endorsement of stem cell research, and forced lawmakers to sock away millions of dollars in reserve accounts rather than spend the money on more social services....
Early in his career, DiMasi did not appear as liberal. "His district changed, and so did he," said one former lawmaker who knows him well. "The North End of 1980 is not the same place. It is much more transient [now] and does not have as many of the traditional Italian families. He's kept pace with his district. That is evidence more of his practicality than his ideology."
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Prospects shift as DiMasi takes over for Finneran
Romney quickly switched gears yesterday, suggesting that Finneran's probable successor will offer more of the same and that GOP legislative candidates can still run effectively against Democratic incumbents by portraying them as obstacles to the governor's proposed changes, which include merging the state's two highway agencies and cutting the state income tax rate.
"The challenge on Beacon Hill to reform is not resident in any one person, and it certainly wasn't resident in Speaker Finneran alone," Romney said yesterday. "I want real reform. I want real change. My guess is you're not going to see a dramatic change in the nature of the way the building works. It's going to have the same forces that will be trying to protect the status quo." ...
Privately, some Democrats said that Finneran was well aware that his sudden departure might complicate the Republicans' election strategy.
Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said, "Tom Finneran just cost Mitt Romney a million dollars." ...
But Charley Manning, a leading GOP political consultant, said DiMasi cannot match Finneran's fund-raising prowess. Manning also suggested that for Republicans, DiMasi also has vulnerabilities that Finneran didn't have. Though he pushed through a $1.2 billion tax increase in 2002, Finneran was a fiscal conservative who resisted calls for further tax increases and sought to replenish the state's rainy day fund. DiMasi is considered to be much more liberal.
"He's perceived as a much bigger spender and more fiscally reckless than Speaker Finneran was," Manning said.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Romney, GOP switch gears after Finneran departure
Some Finneran initiatives deserve continued support, including his emphasis on innovation in the state economy and his backing for education reform, including early-childhood education. DiMasi also needs to demonstrate fiscal prudence by policies that balance taxes and state needs.
A Boston Globe editorial
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Speaker DiMasi
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Presumptive Speaker Sal DiMasi was "Finneran's chief
enforcer" Raphael Lewis of the Boston Globe termed him. Isn't that
the role that Frank Nitti served for Al Capone and his depression-era
Chicago gang? Can there be a better political comparison?
It seems that many agree that nothing has changed or
will. Even some of the analogies and metaphors I used in yesterday's
Update others also perceived and incorporated: "Meet the new boss;
same as the old boss," and the puff of white smoke anointing a new
pope -- excuse me, new speaker. Wow, great minds really do think alike!
I even mentioned using "Mini Me" to Barbara yesterday morning
as I was preparing my commentary, but forgot to include it.
So many longtime observers of the Beacon Hill culture
perceive the same thing, the same result: more of the same for the
foreseeable future.
The Democrats might think that they've dodged the
Finneran bullet with his departure -- that they can now avoid the reform
candidates' campaign to end business-as-usual on Beacon Hill with the
"Speaker for Life" gone. They're in denial. Nothing has
changed but the players' titles; mere musical chairs. It's still very
much business-as-usual. Finneran's final undemocratic power play has
assured this.
Instead of beholden legislators bending over and
kissing Tom Finneran's ring, the ring is about to be passed to Sal
DiMasi's finger (you know which one!) by his liege, the outgoing speaker
on his way into self-imposed exile.
"The more things change, the more they remain
the same."
If this brazen affront to representative government
at this particular moment in Massachusetts history doesn't demonstrate
the critical need for immediate political reform, then nothing will.
There goes that Boston Globe editorial board again,
never missing an opportunity to call for higher taxes and more spending,
working it into everything they write, somehow: "DiMasi also needs to demonstrate fiscal prudence by policies that balance taxes and state needs."
When these socialist elitists refer to "fiscal
prudence" and a "balance" between needs vs. taxes, infinity
is the only limit on the taxes-end of their equation.
While the Boston Globe editorial elites deeply resent
Tom Finneran's trampling of the Clean Elections Law -- and rarely miss
an opportunity to rage against such a repressive affront to the voters
who adopted it with 58 percent -- they still have no compunction to
giving the middle finger salute to the voters' 59 percent mandate to
roll back the state income tax rate to 5 percent. "Screw those
stupid voters, they were simply wrong, misguided!"
Shameless is the only word that comes close to
describing these dogmatic, doctrinaire and unrepentant hypocrites.
|
|
|
Chip
Ford |
The MetroWest Daily News
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
A MetroWest Daily News editorial
Finneran's final back room deal
In a political culture that respected public participation in selecting its leaders, the Speaker of the House would have announced last spring he was retiring at the end of his term. His successor would have been chosen in January, after voters as well as House members had been given a chance to weigh in on the candidates.
But the powers on Beacon Hill, notably House Speaker Thomas Finneran, have never had much interest in public participation. So after a weekend of private conversations, the Commonwealth has been presented with a fait accompli. A new speaker, among the three most powerful men in the state, has been hand-picked by the old speaker. Politicians and citizens are now expected to fall in line to kiss his ring.
The way Finneran has arranged this backroom deal reflects much of what is wrong with the way the House operates. Consider:
Finneran has landed a job lobbying for the Mass. Biotechnology Council, just the latest in a long line of powerful legislators to have gone through the revolving door between writing laws and lobbying those who write them. For years, Finneran has run his own political action committee, dealing out checks to House candidates in recognition of past and future loyalty. Does Finneran's PAC now become a subsidiary of the biotech council?
Finneran reportedly gave his quiet encouragement months ago to his two top lieutenants, Majority Leader Sal DiMasi and Ways and Means Chairman John Rogers, to start rounding out votes. This weekend he sat them down and negotiated a deal that makes DiMasi speaker and Rogers majority leader. Finneran has always preferred to operate behind closed doors, and there's no reason to think DiMasi will operate any differently.
Representatives jockeying for a place in the new hierarchy are talking about a fresh start, but this is the same leadership team with new titles. DiMasi has been known as Finneran's enforcer; the man who counted votes and twisted arms. He and Rogers are by no definition reformers; if they've ever disagreed with Finneran, they've done it quietly.
DiMasi's North End home is in Senate President Robert Travaglini's district, keeping statewide power in the hands of Boston's old neighborhoods. If the new speaker has ever been west of Rte. 128, it's as a tourist. Those who hoped the next State House shake-up would give more power to MetroWest and other suburbs are out of luck.
Some Democrats are crowing that Finneran's exit deprives Gov. Mitt Romney of a favorite foil on the legislative campaign now hitting full stride. We hope he and Republican candidates will put DiMasi on the spot. He may have been chosen for this powerful position by a small circle of friends, but he ought to tell the voters what he plans to do with his power. And Democratic candidates ought to tell the voters what they think of Finneran's machinations and the lack of democracy under the Golden Dome.
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Not all dogs have a day
By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist
Poor John Rogers. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, he's better known in the State House as Mini Me, his young lips forever stuck on a part of Tom Finneran that members of the public would be advised not to regard.
He's had a tough week, Little John has. First, Finneran, his alpha wolf, announced that he's fleeing Dodge a step ahead of the sheriff, leaving Rogers without a clue when he's supposed to jump, let alone how high.
Then he always assumed that Finneran would take care of him on the way out the door, making sure he was the next speaker of the House. But no such luck. That nod went to Sal
DiMasi.
Finally, Little John figures he can make the notoriously underachieving DiMasi promise to step down in a few terms and bequeath the speakership to him. Instead, DiMasi laughed in his face.
So I thought I'd pay a sympathy call on Little John, maybe buy him a Popsicle and point out that if this politics thing doesn't work out, he could always run a funeral home or something like that.
But on the way out the door, I remembered this: Earlier this year, Little John Rogers single-handedly blocked a bill that would save the lives of potentially hundreds of Massachusetts greyhounds every year. And he did it without taking a moment to explain his action -- or rather, inaction -- to frantic dog advocates and furious colleagues. Ah, the privilege of being Tom Finneran's cabana boy.
You see, the state enacted an uncommonly compassionate law a few years back that directed a small percentage of proceeds from greyhound racetracks into a government-administered trust fund to help injured and retired greyhounds get placed in homes. If the dogs aren't adopted, they're killed, simple as that.
The new law was a great idea, but for one problem. Some marble-minded legislator threw in a provision saying that any greyhound adoption group that had previously opposed or supported greyhound racing would not qualify for funds. Here's a news flash: there are no greyhound advocacy groups that are supporters of greyhound racing, so the line was targeted at opponents.
And specifically, it seems, at just one opponent: Greyhound Friends of Hopkinton, the oldest, largest, most respected greyhound placement agency in Massachusetts. The woman in charge, Louise Coleman, also happened to contribute a few bucks in 2000 to the ballot campaign seeking to ban greyhound racing, disqualifying her for funds.
Put another way, while Coleman gets not a dime, a good chunk of the $300,000 trust fund is sent to three out-of-state groups, one as far away as West Virginia.
"We'd use the money to pay veterinary bills," Coleman said. "The faster we get dogs ready to go out for adoption, the more dogs we can take in."
Fast forward to Rogers: Legislators filed a new bill removing that unseemly provision. It sailed through the Government Regulations Committee this year, then headed toward House Ways and Means, never to be seen again. Calls were made to Little John, e-mails sent, but Rogers didn't feel he owed anyone a thing.
Could this have anything to do with the fact that campaign finance reports show Little John has accepted contributions from the state's two greyhound track owners? He took $500 from George Carney in 2002 and 2004 and another $250 from Charles Sarkis in 2002.
I wanted to ask him this exact question, but he didn't call back yesterday. His consultant, Scott
Ferson, called to say something about "thousands of bills" and "priorities."
Okay, but the senseless deaths of hundreds of innocent dogs would seem a pretty good priority to an awful lot of people, especially considering that their prevention requires only one sweep of a pen. But not Little John, especially not when he's as busy as he's been, campaigning for the speakership he failed to get.
I'd call him a jackass, but that's an insult to the animal kingdom that he doesn't seem to respect.
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The MetroWest Daily News
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Puff of smoke for Speaker DiMasi?
By Peter B. Young / Syndicated Columnist
Saturday night is always a special time in the streets of Boston's legendary North End. But those folks may have outdone themselves this past Saturday, when they gathered first by the hundreds, and then by the thousands on the sidewalk in front of the condo building where State Representative Salvatore
DiMasi, D-Boston, maintains his elegant digs.
The crowd was quiet at first, but then grew increasingly restive as the hours passed with nary a sign of the anticipated transfer of power. Suddenly, an elderly lady screamed and pointed to a chimney on the roof of Sal's building. Yes, there it was, the traditional puff of white smoke.
The cry went up from the grateful, milling throngs: "We have a Speaker! We have a Speaker!"
Some of the more devout citizens in the North End and, yes, their numbers are legion, immediately dropped to their knees, arms upraised, in unadorned praise of the all-knowing love and generosity of the Creator.
A few hours later, it was revealed that State Representative John Rogers, D-Norwood, was also a key player that evening in DiMasi's luxury pad, as the Finneran Power Torch was passed. At some point in the evening, so we are informed, Rogers dropped to his knees, the better to kiss the impressive ring that Rep. DiMasi generously extended. After those necessary gestures, it was all downhill sledding and the remaining details were quickly worked out by their staffers.
More seriously, the possibility exists that this Saturday night exercise in the North End was a charade of some kind, perhaps scripted by none other than Speaker Tom Finneran himself. Mistuh Speaker may be facing an indictment one of these days on a perjury charge for his bizarre testimony in connection with the redistricting after the 2000 Census. Under that kind of pressure, there's no telling what kind of mischief he might indulge.
An alternative and more likely explanation postulates that reps DiMasi and Rogers have themselves cobbled together an alliance that requires Speaker Finneran to stand up and take a bullet for the team.
Either way, the serious question remains firmly in place: Is this any way to run a railroad? My answer to that question is no, of course not. If Beacon Hill is our attic, somebody is now up in that attic of ours moving the furniture around. Who might that somebody be? And what might be the motive? So often politics in Massachusetts comes down to winks, nudges and feints until, finally, the moment of truth arrives.
To be sure, it's no easy task to perform delicate surgery under the kleig lights of public (and media) attention. A certain amount of discretion in such matters is usually necessary. But, lately, we seem to have sprouted in this state and in this country a whole laundry list of taboo subjects deemed not fit for public discussion.
As it was with the Victorians of the late 19th century, and their issues relating in some way to sexual proclivities and activities, we turn away from honest, open discussion of war in the
Mideast, the exploding costs of such sacred cow programs as Social Security and Medicare, uncontrolled and illegal immigration, the "outsourcing" of American jobs to overseas locations, the health care crisis, and the list goes on.
We are now in the midst of a weird campaign for the presidency of the United States. One of the candidates is described by his opponent as a "flip-flopper." The alleged flip-flopper responds by questioning the sanity and probity of the incumbent. In accordance with Young's Law, it is entirely possible that each is right about the other.
Yes, democracy is always messy. But the American democracy is so messy these days as to border on the dysfunctional. Hopefully, the first Presidential debate this Thursday evening will begin a restorative healing process.
Meanwhile, let's extend a warm and generous welcome to our new Mistuh Speaker, the Honorable Salvatore
DiMasi, crown prince of Boston and perhaps even MetroWest!
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Republicans won't give up attack on insiders
By Dave Wedge
While many GOP legislative candidates had planned to slam their Democratic opponents for blind allegiance to outgoing Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, Republican strategists said they still have plenty of ammunition leading up to Nov. 2.
"This doesn't wipe the slate clean for all the legislators who have been supporters of the speaker," Massachusetts Republican Party Executive Director Tim O'Brien said. "This doesn't exonerate them from their votes to block reform. These legislators will still be held accountable."
O'Brien also painted Rep. Salvatore F. DiMasi (D-North End), who has been tapped to replace Finneran as speaker, as "another Beacon Hill insider."
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," he said. "Sal DiMasi is an inside player that's going to fight to preserve the status quo."
But some Democrats argue that Finneran's departure puts even more pressure on Republicans trying to unseat incumbent Democrats.
Gov. Mitt Romney, who is pushing for a more balanced Legislature by strongly backing GOP candidates, said the appointment of
DiMasi, a longtime Finneran loyalist, speaks to the need for "a second strong voice" in the State House.
"The challenge on Beacon Hill to reform is not resident in any one person, and it certainly wasn't resident alone in Speaker Finneran," Romney said. "There's an entrenched sense of protection of the inside body, and we need change on Beacon Hill."
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Critics: New speaker same as old speaker
By David R. Guarino
State reps vowing a new era of reform after eight years of King Tom plan to tap as his heir a consummate insider, feared enforcer and public face of the "Animal House" party night that shrouded the entire House in scandal.
Government watchdogs, progressive pols and Republican critics, while publicly saying they hope for the best from incoming Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi (D-North End), said his 26-year House career has them fearing the worst.
"He's been part of the leadership team for quite some time," said Pamela Wilmot, director of Common Cause Massachusetts. "We'll be keeping an eye on him."
Lawmakers eagerly wrapped the new speaker in the best light but privately questioned his agenda.
"He's not a reformer; he's Mr. Status Quo," said one State House pol, fearful for being targeted if he spoke publicly.
Look no further, critics said, than DiMasi's recent history.
A low point came in the spring 2000 late-night budget session in which members drank, slept and were caught in phantom voting.
DiMasi, then Finneran's assistant majority leader, called for "order in the Animal House" after members chanted, "Toga, Toga."
Then there's the 2001 budget debate when the Legislature voted to gut funding for the Clean Elections law. After the vote, DiMasi approached those who voted against him and said, "You're not out of the woods."
The next day, DiMasi pushed through a budget amendment that cut projects in districts of six of the lawmakers who spurned the speaker. Finneran later admitted to being "embarrassed" by it.
And there's the time in 2001 when DiMasi - reportedly upset with the way he was being treated by prosecutors in his day job as a defense attorney - cut $800,000 for the district attorneys budget.
Longtime Finneran critics acknowledged DiMasi is an insider but said they're, so far, willing to give him a shot.
"Sal is not a suburban liberal, he doesn't represent Cambridge or Brookline," said Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington). "But he's not Tom Finneran either."
Marzilli, along with other progressive critics of Finneran, said they believe DiMasi will decentralize power and give voice to the ranks.
"I believe Sal when he says that he, even though he had a close relationship with the speaker, disagreed over how the House should be run," said Rep. Byron Rushing (D-South End).
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Finneran makes last-ditch power play
By David R. Guarino
He quit yesterday, he's taking his last vote as a lawmaker tomorrow and starting a new private sector job Monday.
But Thomas M. Finneran's still going to be on the ballot in November as the representative from Mattapan - even though he won't serve. And he still wants your vote.
"My name will be on the ballot for November, and I will ask for the support of the voters of Dorchester, Mattapan and Milton," Finneran said yesterday.
Finneran said the electoral switch offered voters a "full and fair opportunity to have a broad range of candidates."
In the end, though, Finneran's last great power play will leave his district several months without any elected representative and will cost the state anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000.
If Finneran had quit a week ago, by Sept. 20, there still would have been time to get a new Democrat - and Republican - to run for his seat this year.
The ward political committees in his district would have chosen the candidates by last Thursday, Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office said.
But by resigning now, Finneran remains the only choice on the November ballot in either party.
If someone were to challenge Finneran, it would have to be with a write-in or sticker campaign - an expensive
longshot, traditionally.
Finneran critics wonder what the outgoing speaker has up his sleeve, suggesting he wants to play kingmaker in his district.
But spokeswoman Kim Haberlin said a special election is the fairest way, even though it comes later and at a further cost to taxpayers.
"The winners are the voters," Haberlin said
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Leaving on 'own terms,' speaker brings end to era
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran formally announced yesterday that he will resign the speakership today to lead the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. After eight years of dominating Beacon Hill politics, Finneran declared defiantly that he "did not want to be chased" from office, but instead wanted to leave on his own terms.
The Mattapan Democrat, whose leadership style combined a rough-and-tumble working-class upbringing with his law school education, said he will resign as speaker at 5 p.m. today, allowing Majority Leader Salvatore F. DiMasi to take over as speaker tomorrow. His departure will end a controversial speakership in which Finneran's controlling nature, conservative bent on spending and social issues, and his flair for Machiavellian maneuvers influenced virtually every piece of legislation to cross his rostrum.
The 54-year-old Mattapan Democrat insisted that his decision to depart was not influenced by a federal probe into allegations that he lied under oath during a redistricting lawsuit last year, which has cast a cloud over his final months at the helm of the House. Rather, he said his time had simply come.
"I think the biggest mistake that happens in professional sports and in politics is you stay too long," said Finneran, who was first elected in 1978. "That's a very common decision that's made, I did not want to stay too long. I did not want to be chased, hounded, or in any other way nudged from office. I wanted to do this on my own time and my own terms."
Finneran, facing repeated questions about the FBI investigation during a packed press conference at the biotech council's Cambridge offices, insisted that his legal troubles in no way led to his leaving, only weeks before the legislative elections. "On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a zero," he said.
"This is in the hands of my attorneys," said Finneran, who stayed mum about his career plans over the weekend, even as his departure was widely reported to be imminent.
With his wife, Donna, and two daughters watching yesterday, Finneran said he was looking forward to casting a vote in support of passing the speaker's gavel to
DiMasi, a North End Democrat who has often served as Finneran's chief enforcer.
The speaker said the decision to depart followed weeks of introspection and soul searching, after which he concluded that he could not pass up a chance to be the face of an industry that works on cutting-edge medical technologies and hopes to add 100,000 new jobs to the state by 2010.
"I think everyone who's been in public life for a period of time maybe misses a little bit of that, but I expect that I'm going to be fully engaged," he said. "It's the right time and place for me to accept this challenge and to leave the public limelight and notoriety even to others."
Una Ryan, the chairman of the biotech council, said that other candidates for the post included high-profile physicians and people running other trade groups. Ryan wouldn't disclose Finneran's salary, though several industry executives say they expect it to be more than the $150,000 a year paid his predecessor at the council.
Around Beacon Hill yesterday, lawmakers remembered Finneran as the wily strategist who blocked funds for the Clean Elections system, steamrolled a big tax increase in 2001, and fought same-sex marriage during a divisive constitutional convention earlier this year. In recent years, he became the embodiment of the Legislature's unpopular decisions, leaving twice as many voters holding a negative image of him than a positive one in a recent University of Massachusetts poll.
In recent months, his power seemed to wane. Finneran fought last year for the power to hand out raises to lieutenants, but failed to muster support to bring it to the floor for a vote. Earlier this year, he failed to push through his version of a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, after pulling a surprise parliamentary maneuver that disgusted some colleagues. Another version of the proposed ban passed with his support.
Fellow lawmakers have suggested he was distracted by the federal probe, and he began to talk openly about looking for a new job this summer. In late August, he filed papers with the state Ethics Commission to disclose that he was in job talks with the biotechnology trade group, and over the weekend the negotiations speeded up.
Many fellow legislators interviewed yesterday said that, regardless of where they stand on Finneran's leadership style, his charm would be missed.
"Tom Finneran to me has been the most compassionate man I've met in a long, long time," said Representative Emile J.
Goguen, a Fitchburg Democrat. Before his wife's death last year, Goguen said, "no matter where Tom Finneran was, on vacation, in Florida, wherever, every Sunday night between 6 and 7 he would call her up at home because she was bedridden to see how she was."
In the 2002 elections, voters in 18 communities passed a ballot initiative pressing their representatives to vote against Finneran for speaker. Finneran had persuaded his fellow lawmakers to ditch term limits on the speakership position.
Eric Weltman, a political consultant who helped get the question on the ballot, said yesterday was a day to celebrate. Yet he also acknowledged that Finneran has served as a lightning rod for lawmakers, shielding them from criticism. "Any tyrant is only as powerful as the people they rule," Weltman said.
Finneran has the potential to play a significant role in politics, even though he is barred by state law from lobbying for a year after his departure. After eight years as speaker, Finneran is leaving office with more than $500,000 in his campaign war chest, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
State campaign finance laws allow former lawmakers to make unlimited deposits into state political party committees. Finneran has not spoken publicly about his plans for the campaign funds. Yesterday he said that he had no intention of running for public office any time soon. "I'm taking a good step back," he said.
Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican who has frequently skewered Finneran to boost the electoral fortunes of GOP candidates for the legislature, said he was looking forward to DiMasi's election as speaker. "I don't mind differences with people in different political positions as long as you can understand where they stand, and that people honor their commitments and are willing to work out compromises in the interest of the public," Romney said. "Then I think you can make progress, and I have every hope and belief that Sal DiMasi will do exactly that."
Globe correspondent Elise Castelli contributed to this report.
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Prospects shift as DiMasi takes over for Finneran
Foes of gay marriage see blow to amendment hopes
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
The effort to bring a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to voters in November 2006 suffered a major setback yesterday with departure of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and the elevation of Salvatore F.
DiMasi, whose arrival is expected to shift the Massachusetts legislative agenda to the left on social issues such as gay rights, abortion, and stem cell research.
A key legislative backer of the proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage and establish civil unions yesterday all but declared defeat, saying that Finneran's exit from Beacon Hill was the final straw in an effort that already was in trouble because the state has legalized same-sex marriage with little of the uproar predicted by opponents.
"It is pretty much over," said Senate minority leader Brian P. Lees, a Springfield Republican who cosponsored the amendment with Finneran and Senate President Robert E. Travaglini. The House and Senate, sitting in a constitutional convention, must vote a second time in the next session before it could go to the voters on the 2006 ballot.
"In fact, there will be a question as to whether the issue will come up at all," Lees said. He said the issue has faded to the "back burners of Massachusetts politics," because few problems have surfaced with the implementation of the Supreme Judicial Court's decision to legalize gay marriage.
"With the fact the law has been in effect for a number of months and with the change in the House leadership, it would appear any change in the constitution to ban marriage is quickly fading," Lees said.
DiMasi supports same-sex marriage, and Finneran does not. In this year's constitutional convention, DiMasi opposed all versions of the proposed constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage and, in some cases, establish civil unions. He was among the few lawmakers who saw any amendment as a dilution of the SJC decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
Finneran helped engineer the amendments' approval by a slim, 105-92 margin last March, just four votes more than the 101 needed to pass. Just as DiMasi could when he becomes speaker, Finneran used the influence of the 160-member House and his knowledge of legislative rules to steer the debate. Travaglini presides over the convention.
To liberal activists, Finneran's retirement marks a seismic shift on Beacon Hill. Along with his staunch opposition to same-sex marriage, he helped hold the line on new taxes in the last year, blocked an endorsement of stem cell research, and forced lawmakers to sock away millions of dollars in reserve accounts rather than spend the money on more social services.
Human services advocates who had been warring with Finneran for almost 14 years, including during his time as Ways and Means chairman, are convinced that DiMasi will harken back to an era when their concerns were heard.
"I have spent the last 14 years of my life trying to get around Tommy Finneran blocking various initiatives," said Judy Meredith, executive director of the Public Policy Institute and a human services lobbyists for more than 20 years. "Now we have a guy who is not a knee-jerk opponent of anything that benefits people in need."
Since news of DiMasi consolidating his hold on the speaker's office emerged, lobbyists, public interest advocates, and legislators have spent the last several days trying to forecast a DiMasi
speakership. No clear blueprint of his agenda has emerged, and the North End Democrat was not talking publicly, telling reporters that he will not hold any media interviews until his election tomorrow.
His 25-year legislative record is decidedly liberal, positions that most feel are held out of his own convictions, but driven as much by the political pressures from the liberal district he represents.
Early in his career, DiMasi did not appear as liberal. "His district changed, and so did he," said one former lawmaker who knows him well. "The North End of 1980 is not the same place. It is much more transient [now] and does not have as many of the traditional Italian families. He's kept pace with his district. That is evidence more of his practicality than his ideology."
Though he hasn't spoken publicly about his agenda, DiMasi has pledged to colleagues that he will empower committee chairmen and the rank and file, allowing committee chairmen and other individual lawmakers a greater say in the agenda of the House than they had under Finneran's autocratic control. He is also vowing to colleagues to bring more diversity into his leadership team.
But it was the issue of gay marriage, which gripped the Legislature in a high-profile debate this spring, that appeared to offer many lawmakers and activists the clearest contrast between the old and new speakers.
Gay activists hope to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment if it comes up in the next session, but it is far from certain it would come up at all. DiMasi and Travaglini could shelve the amendment and not call for a vote at all. Or they could bring it up for a vote, and same-sex marriage supporters such as DiMasi could attempt to persuade lawmakers to vote against it.
Yesterday, same-sex marriage supporters were ecstatic when it became clear that Finneran was leaving to join the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
"Now we don't have an opponent in the speaker's office pushing for the worse scenario in each legislative moment," said Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus.
Isaacson said DiMasi's elevation, while a definite boost to her group's cause, does not guarantee success. Equally important will be legislative elections: Several gay-marriage supporters in the House and Senate have retired and may be replaced by opponents. A same-sex marriage opponent -- Representative Vincent P.
Ciampa, a Somerville Democrat -- lost to a same-sex marriage supporter in a party primary this month.
In addition, several lawmakers who had voted for the amendment have privately said they too may switch their positions, particularly since the SJC decision has been implemented smoothly and the controversy had faded from the public's concerns.
The leaders of the effort to ban same-sex marriage say they want to work with DiMasi to persuade him that most Massachusetts residents want the Legislature to get the amendment to the ballot.
"We hope the new speaker will carry out his constitutional duties and be responsive to the desires of the good citizens of
Masachusetts, the majority of whom stand for traditional marriage," said Kris
Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Romney, GOP switch gears after Finneran departure
By Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff
For Governor Mitt Romney, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran was the perfect foil, the embodiment of entrenched power on Beacon Hill. When Romney ran for the corner office, he labeled Finneran the leader of "The Gang of Three." In a recent GOP fund-raising letter, he was "the Democrats' most feared, controlling, and vindictive party boss."
Now, suddenly, Finneran is gone.
Romney quickly switched gears yesterday, suggesting that Finneran's probable successor will offer more of the same and that GOP legislative candidates can still run effectively against Democratic incumbents by portraying them as obstacles to the governor's proposed changes, which include merging the state's two highway agencies and cutting the state income tax rate.
"The challenge on Beacon Hill to reform is not resident in any one person, and it certainly wasn't resident in Speaker Finneran alone," Romney said yesterday. "I want real reform. I want real change. My guess is you're not going to see a dramatic change in the nature of the way the building works. It's going to have the same forces that will be trying to protect the status quo."
Romney's remarks reflected the official Republican line toward Finneran's departure. Last month, Tim O'Brien, executive director of the state GOP, called Finneran the "poster child for patronage, waste, and blocking the governor's reforms at every turn" and welcomed his involvement in fund-raising for Democratic candidates. Yesterday, however, O'Brien said that Salvatore F. DiMasi's expected election as speaker will make little difference.
"Sal DiMasi is an inside player, who is going to fight to preserve the status quo; it's 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss,' " said O'Brien, saying that DiMasi voted with Finneran more than 99 percent of the time. "This doesn't exonerate those legislators who have been Finneran cronies and blocking reform. We will certainly make that an issue, as we get closer to November."
Romney acknowledged that he will miss Finneran, because he was "unusually charming, humorous, good to work with." But Democrats said those gracious words do not convey how much the governor and his party will miss the controversial speaker, especially with elections just six weeks away.
In his campaign for governor in 2002, Romney portrayed Finneran together with Senate President Robert E. Travaglini and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Shannon O'Brien as a potential "Gang of Three" that would dominate Beacon Hill in the event of a Romney defeat. The governor planned to employ a similar strategy for the legislative races, with a heavier emphasis on Finneran.
"I think the Romney playbook was designed for and focuses squarely on the personality of Tom Finneran," said Representative John H. Rogers, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and DiMasi's expected replacement as majority leader. "The Republicans will have to go back into a huddle and renew their plan with a relatively short time left in the campaign season."
A University of Massachusetts poll conducted last spring indicated that twice as many people had an unfavorable view of Finneran as had a favorable one, and the Republicans hoped to capitalize on his negative image in this fall's elections. Finneran's autocratic style and behind-the-scenes dealmaking earned him a prominent role in GOP fund-raising appeals.
The fact that federal prosecutors are investigating whether Finneran lied under oath in a redistricting case made him an even more attractive target.
"Speaker Finneran has made it his personal business to co-opt any reform efforts I put forth," Romney said in a recent fund-raising letter. "From legislators who owe him their careers, committee chairmanships, and chairman salaries ... to special interest groups who fill his campaign coffers in exchange for political favors, Finneran uses his power to maintain the status quo and stop our reform efforts."
Privately, some Democrats said that Finneran was well aware that his sudden departure might complicate the Republicans' election strategy.
Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said, "Tom Finneran just cost Mitt Romney a million dollars."
"The governor has personalized these contests in foolish way, which is bound to boomerang on him now," Johnston said. "Presumably, the whole Romney advertising effort was built around an effort to demonize Tom Finneran. The fact that he will not be in the speaker's chair any more is a big problem for the Republicans."
O'Brien said Republicans were not planning on featuring Finneran in televised campaign ads.
Though Finneran was helping to raise money for Democratic candidates, some party insiders suggested that it might be easier to galvanize Democrats without him. Finneran, a staunch fiscal conservative who blocked the public financing of elections and opposed same-sex marriage, is viewed by many liberals with antipathy.
But Charley Manning, a leading GOP political consultant, said DiMasi cannot match Finneran's fund-raising prowess. Manning also suggested that for Republicans, DiMasi also has vulnerabilities that Finneran didn't have. Though he pushed through a $1.2 billion tax increase in 2002, Finneran was a fiscal conservative who resisted calls for further tax increases and sought to replenish the state's rainy day fund. DiMasi is considered to be much more liberal.
"He's perceived as a much bigger spender and more fiscally reckless than Speaker Finneran was," Manning said.
Globe correspondent Elise Castelli contributed to this report.
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
A Boston Globe editorial
Speaker DiMasi
A House speaker will be successful over the long run if he or she is more of a uniter than a divider.
Occasionally, leadership can require a strong hand and a willingness to stand firm on controversial issues. When Thomas M. Finneran ends his eight years as speaker at 5 p.m. today, his record will include important examples of standing firm but far too many instances when his high-handed tactics caused divisions -- with the courts, both state and federal, with other legislative leaders, within his own membership, and with the public. In 2002, ballots in 18 House districts carried a nonbinding question as to whether Finneran should remain speaker, and voters rejected him in all 18.
Representative Salvatore F. DiMasi faces a difficult task in restoring the reputation and vitality of the House. He is more liberal on a number of social issues than Finneran -- supporting abortion rights and gay marriage, for example -- and we applaud that progressive and humane stance.
But his performance during 26 years in the House, the last three as majority leader under Finneran, has been largely out of the public spotlight, marked by private negotiating among the members and by loyalty to Finneran. So when
DiMasi, 59, takes over as speaker, he will arrive with a reputation as a diligent representative of the interests of his North End-centered district and as an inside player among Beacon Hill politicians, but one who has made little impression on the public.
It is worth noting that virtually the same thing was said two years ago of DiMasi's friend Senator Robert E. Travaglini when he emerged from relative obscurity to become Senate president. (Even the districts overlap, although Travaglini lives in East Boston, outside of DiMasi's district.) With little fanfare, Travaglini put together a first-rate staff and soon positioned himself and the Senate in their proper roles of power on Beacon Hill.
DiMasi will likely find that more is expected of him sooner. For one thing, Republicans are mounting their strongest challenge in years for legislative seats this November. It may help some incumbent Democrats that Finneran has removed himself as a campaign whipping boy, but it will be up to DiMasi in taking the gavel to make clear that he is not simply a taller Finneran.
Some Finneran initiatives deserve continued support, including his emphasis on innovation in the state economy and his backing for education reform, including early-childhood education. DiMasi also needs to demonstrate fiscal prudence by policies that balance taxes and state needs.
But it has already been striking how many House members have expressed optimism that DiMasi will do far more to tap the abilities of House members. An effectively led orchestra would be welcome on Beacon Hill after a trumpet solo.
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