Citizens for Political Reform
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone: (508) 538-3900 * Fax: (508) 531-4374 * E-Mail: CPR98@aol.com
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*** CPR Update ***
Thursday, March 27, 1997
The Boston Globe
Thursday, March 27, 1997
Finneran plans bigger bonuses for four allies
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
Though even his close allies wince at the idea, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran is pressing ahead with
plans to increase the leadership bonus paid to four political supporters whose main job is to keep their
fellow legislators informed of what is on the House calendar.
It is a task that legislators have been expected to handle themselves for the last 200 years or so. No
previous speaker has seen the need to create a "leadership" post to handle it.
Finneran says promoting four lawmakers to the new positions, called "division chairmen," is necessary to
help his leadership guide legislation through House floor debates and to push leadership priorities.
And he plans to pay them handsomely - up to $15,000 a year in extra pay, more than twice the extra pay
committee chairmen receive.
Although Finneran is an unapologetic advocate for the new posts, his critics say the appointments are the
latest evidence of a troubling trend in the House: Finneran’s extraordinary effort to gain two-fisted control
over his members.
"This is just more consolidation of power," said Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for
Limited Taxation and Government. "You pass out goodies to your friends and they vote the way you want."
Since January, Finneran has created seven new leadership posts - including the division chairs - paying at
least $7,500 more than the $46,250 base annual legislative salary.
He has handed out the jobs to loyalists who backed him in his bruising battle for the speakership last year.
There are now 47 extra paying leadership positions in the 160-member House.
Now, Finneran - in a move that is rankling some rank-and-file members and even a few of his supporters -
is preparing to up the ante even further and sweeten the pot for his four trusted allies, from the $625 extra a
month they have made since the jobs were created in January to as much $1,250 a month.
Finneran yesterday brushed aside criticism of his plans and strongly denied it was an attempt to extend his
control. He said the four division chairmen will fill a much needed gap that occurs when a committee
chairman takes the floor to push a certain bill.
Schedule looks light
He said that from his experience as a chairman, there was no leadership presence among the rank and file
helping explaining the rationale for the legislation.
"I didn’t come up with this like a lightning bolt or that I wanted to take care of four people who support
me," Finneran said. "I want to develop a floor system that supports the committee structure."
So far, there is little evidence the division chairman will have much to do. Certainly, the demands have been
light in the first three months of the current session.
The House has only had five daily calendars with a total of 36 items listed for consideration, most of them of
little importance. And the workload for the rest of the year appears unusually light.
After dealing with the budget and some other major issues, the members are expected to take an extended
summer break, perhaps returning in the fall. They must, by their own rules, break for the year by Nov. 15.
Next year, an election year, the session will end July 31.
Chairmen played key role
The four new chairmen are Democratic backers of Finneran who played key roles last April when he allied
his supporters with the Republican minority and won the speakership, outflanking a larger Democratic bloc
that had rallied around then-Majority Leader Richard Voke.
They are: Rep. Kevin W. Fitzgerald [*] of Jamaica Plain;
Rep. Robert Correia of Fall River; Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati of Ludlow; and Rep. Maryanne Lewis of
Dedham. None of them returned phone calls seeking comments on their new jobs.
In addition to keeping each of their division members informed, the four meet as a committee to oversee any
refurbishing of the House chambers or updating of computer services.
House Republican leader David Peters - whose party picked up three extra paying posts under Finneran -
said the issue of creating the post of division chairmen and paying them more is a "decoy" set up by the
speaker to avoid scrutiny of other major rules changes he has made, most particularly his consolidation of
power under the rules committee.
"Those new floor leaders pale in comparison to what really happened this year, which is the consolidation of
unprecedented power in one man’s hands," Peters said.
The Republican leaders said the media failed to focus adequate attention in January on how Finneran
pushed through a change in rules that allows him - through the rules committee, which he controls - to limit
debate, closely restrict amendments that can be offered during floor debate, and generally control the flow
of legislation.
Finneran said he plans to use the new powers of the rules committee with discretion. "It is there to make
sure we don’t fall off the cliff," he said. "I don’t apologize for it. It is same system as in Congress. Judge me
at the end of this two-year term."
* * *
[*] "Money Fitz"—the Rep. who "rolled" bag-lady Mary Guzelian for her hundreds of thousands of dollars
in life savings after she died—still must come up with the court-ordered restitution.
Once again, the Beacon Hill Cabal uses us taxpayers to subsidize their criminal penalties when caught
red-handed! (Don’t forget, we’re also paying off ex-House Speaker "Good Time Charlie" Flaherty’s
$50,000 fines, for income tax evasion and ethics violations, for the next 12 years through his abruptly
increased pension!)
And how about those Republicans—the alleged "loyal opposition"! Do you see any of them so outraged
that they’ve *refused to be implicated* by taking Finneran’s dirty-money bribes? Of course not! Being
bought, they now moan about the injustice of it all. I guess they weren’t paid-off enough!
Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dumber are at it again.
It’s *still* the Best Legislature Money Can Buy!
But it gets even better!
The Boston Globe
Saturday, March 22, 1997
Political Circuit
By Brian C. Mooney
[ . . . ]
[T]he gaming lobbyists spent $125,000 on political contribu-tions to lawmakers in 1996, sprinkling $100
and $200 checks around like so many pellets of political fertilizer. Casino gambling has some strong backers
in the Senate and support from Governor William F. Weld. So its fate could be in the hands of [House
Speaker] Finneran, a Mattapan Democrat.
Early this year, Finneran told his lieutenants they may vote their conscience on two issues - abortion and the
death penalty. On all other major matters, he said, the priorities of the House will be set by consensus. Call
it Finneran’s take.
[ . . . ]
Chip Ford, Chairman—
CPR98@aol.com