Ex-Mass. speaker convicted in corruption case
Boston Globe By Steve
LeBlanc Associated Press / June 16,
2011
BOSTON—As former Massachusetts
House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi ponders his next legal
steps after his conviction on federal corruption charges, his former colleagues
on Beacon Hill are hoping to put the damaging
revelations behind them.
So far, however,
there have been few calls from Democratic leaders for more changes to the
state's ethics laws.
Government
watchdog groups have also conceded there's a limit to how much the state can
regulate the behavior of elected officials. They say the guilty verdicts in DiMasi's case prove that laws barring lawmakers from using
the power of their office for personal gain do work.
Even Republicans,
including U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, have largely limited their criticism to what
they say is the corrupting influence of essentially one-party rule in Massachusetts.
One reason for
the muted response is a sweeping ethics bill approved by the House and Senate
in 2009 in response to the allegations against DiMasi
and former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, another Boston Democrat who pleaded guilty to bribery
charges.
That bill, signed by Gov. Deval
Patrick, banned giving gifts of any value to lawmakers and increased the
penalty for bribery of state officials to a $100,000 fine, 10 years in prison
or both.
It also doubled
the penalty for violating lobbying laws to a $10,000 fine or up to five years
in prison and created a statewide grand jury to make it easier to investigate
political corruption.
"Clearly he
was convicted of a crime so something worked," said Pam Wilmot, president
of Common Cause Massachusetts.
Wilmot, who
pushed for the 2009 measure, conceded the state law would have done little to
prevent DiMasi from orchestrating what the government
described as a kickback scheme. DiMasi was tried in
federal court.
Prosecutors said DiMasi used his position as speaker to assure that the firm
Cognos received two multimillion dollar software
contracts. In exchange, prosecutors said, DiMasi
received $65,000 in payments funneled through a law associate.
DiMasi's sentencing, originally
scheduled for Aug. 18, has been pushed back to Sept. 8.
While the 2009
ethics law is important, Wilmot said there's no way of legislating away greed.
"Even if we
got our entire wish list, it's not going to stop bad behavior and that's why we
need law enforcement agencies," she said. "There is always going to
be pressure in politics to do the wrong thing."
While they've
expressed sadness, anger and a touch of defiance, few top Democrats at the
Statehouse have called for additional changes to ethics laws in the immediate
aftermath of DiMasi's conviction.
DiMasi's successor, Democratic House
Speaker Robert DeLeo, said lawmakers already have
"made our government a whole lot more transparent than it's ever
been."
More than anyone
else, DeLeo has pushed back against the notion that DiMasi's actions represented "business as usual"
at the Statehouse.
"Every time
I've read that a chill came over my body, because that's not business as usual
on Beacon Hill," DeLeo
told reporters just hours after the DiMasi verdict.
"I'm going to do the best thing I can to turn things around and lead this
institution by example."
Republicans also
have made few calls for policy changes, saying the real problem is the lack of
political balance in Massachusetts, where Democrats hold every statewide
office, overwhelming majorities in the Massachusetts House and Senate and every
seat in Congress except for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Brown.
In a statement,
Brown credited the DiMasi jury for "sending a
message that the business-as-usual, go-along-to-get-along mentality in Massachusetts politics
will not be tolerated."
House Minority
Leader Brad Jones also argued that more balance on Beacon Hill would provide an
important brake on potential corruption, but said it's too early to say whether
new rules or tougher laws will be proposed as a result of the DiMasi verdicts.
"This
conviction is barely 24 hours old," Jones said Thursday, adding that,
"I really don't think it's going to work to say we've already made some
changes and these are the failures of an individual."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/06/16/ex_mass_speaker_convicted_in_corruption_case/