Well, this certainly does not sound pretty. Sal DiMasi's had a tough couple of months. It's definitely been a bad week, with stories coming out of unseemly (if not outright illegal) lobbying, and killing legislation in order to benefit contractor Jay Cashman.
And now it would seem that his own lieutenants are trying to push him out of the way — or at least to make way for his successor should he leave … or be taken away. Paul McMorrow's got the scoop that it's Speaker Pro Tem Petrolati — he of the mobster campaign donations — who is behind the intrigue:
And, a House source says, this same Rep is currently helping lead a “highly aggressive” campaign to line up votes behind DeLeo, against DiMasi’s direct orders.
It’s Sal’s top lieutenant, Thomas Petrolati.
“Petrolati has been heavily involved in pushing DeLeo,” this source says, and the pace of the vote-gathering has increased every day this week. “They’re literally dragging people into offices to really hammer away at them.” The DeLeo team, reportedly well behind Rogers in votes, is said to be promising reps line items in the budget in exchange for support. “They’re running around, trying to knuckle people into signing up in exchange for money for their districts.” That may explain the glut of porky line items being duct-taped to this supposedly austere budget.
So, this actually leaves us with a real question: Whom do you want as the next Speaker, should Sal have to step aside? Rogers? DeLeo? Mariano?
I have my prejudices, but frankly they're not based on much information. Honestly, from what I know, I'd rather have Sal, who at least has health care and marriage equality under his belt. What do you know about these guys?
PS: Casey's got a great run-down of all the intrigue, as does Matt Viser. Ug-ly! You can imagine how the House would run, should any of thse guys get the Speakership. Although, that's probably just par for the course …
Whether the Speaker stays or goes we are in for an interesting week.
won’t be any action for awhile. Budget over. Everyone gone home. No real conspiring and immediate need for interaction among members.
I don’t belive they finished on Friday due to the Callan issue.
I’m stunned. Folks here wring their hands and bemoan this and that and speak about this instant outrage and crime against the taxpayers as if it were just an adverse weather report for Monday morning’s commute.
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p>These alleged legislators are engaging in an ongoing criminal enterprise to deny us fiscal responsibility in their proceedings. This reeks of malfeasance and nonfeasance. Per Ms. Callahan, I have no idea what her issue may or may not be, but she is alledging that another solon has threatened her. Well if this guy threatened to torpedo her re election that is one thing—if he threatened to break her legs—-that is something else.
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p>But this is a one party state. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
they all sound like bums. How about somebody who’s actually a decent person?
I am sure you could do so, as well. However, at this point in time, first of all:
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p>1. I am not an elected member of the Massachusetts House of representatives, so I cannot “nominate” anyone.
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p>2. The Speaker says he is not going. So even if I thought Representative “X” would make the best possible Speaker, I would leave that up to representative “X” to do.
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p>Here, however, are a list of the qualities that my favorite representatives do have, and which I would personally prefer in a Speaker:
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p>1. Proven integrity over the long haul, having served at least 4 terms without ethics complaints.
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p>2. Mastery of the actual workings of the House, the Budget, the written Rules, and the unwritten rules that render a representative effective, or ineffective.
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p>3. A proven ability to work hard, master complex subject areas, and organize the team efforts needed for major legislative and policy initiatives, which combine both teams of fellow representatives and staffers.
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p>4. Involvement in civic engagement. By “civic engagement” I mean: including but not limited to being accessible to the public both constituents and nonconstituents, operating in the open with good communications both by answering letters and e-mails and calls either personally or through competent staffers as well as the release of press releases and policy papers, and participating in forums, workshops, and public policy events.
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p>5. A balanced personality, able to interact with critics as well as supporters in a mature and productive manner.
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p>6. Demonstrated capacity for long range proactive planning.
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p>7. A balanced personal life, without excessive debt, addictive behaviors and lifestyle choices, and mature interactions with the press, the executive, and the judicial branches.
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p>Not asking too much, am I?
… the reason they killed the LNG bill was because it was a bad bill?
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p>http://www.boston.com/news/loc…
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p>http://www.coastalstates.org/d…
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confusing federal with state legislation? The legislation killed by DiMasi was a state bill, but the articles you cite are talking about federal law.
If I understand correctly, the federal government determines LNG siting. Period. The state would have no say in the matter.
Not to minimize the Speaker’s other questionable actions, but sometimes bills die on Beacon Hill because they’re “bad” legislation.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the way I read the article it looked like DiMasi added a provision to get rid of LNG in Boston Harbor – and didn’t Romney veto the bill? So how did DiMasi kill the bill exactly? It looks like he just added something that seems to protect his own constituents – isn’t that what reps are for? I would have been upset if my rep voted to ban dangerous LNG tankers in the state but not in my community….
that I’ve read about would be far, far worse for Massachusetts – issue wise. I’m crossing my fingers DiMasi brushes this stuff off to the side and survives a long, long career as Speaker. I’m probably in the minority of progressive bloggers who think that way (certainly, my LeftAhead cohost Mike would disagree – but again, we’re crazy if we think any of these guys lining up to be next in line will be better for progressive causes than DiMasi has been (as sad as that fact is). At the very least, DiMasi has been pro-equality, pro-health care, anti-casino and willing to compromise a little bit with the administration lately.
At least for now. I’m definitely not seeing how any of these guys would be an improvement, and they could be a big step backward.
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p>The question is whether any of the rivals actually care about securing public support for their ascension, or whether they simply plan to do it strictly inside, as a palace coup. Of course, the latter is the standard operating procedure for this kind of thing, but the votes come from the rank-and-file, who have constituencies. And now people are paying attention.
My count is that after the elections this fall, 38 at least of the members of the House of Representatives are first term new. I may be incorrect in my count – and would appreciate correction, if so. But it seems to me the turnover in the Massachusetts House of Representatives is at a near record level.
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p>I propose a new nick name for the place, given all the intrigue, of “Byzantium on the Hill.”
Always trumps things like this. In order for reps to listen to their constituencies on something like this, there’d have to be a serious mounted campaign to force them to do so. I just don’t see where that’s going to come from – certainly not the blogosphere, because we just don’t have the power, time or focus. I’d love for there to be a PDA/MoveOn hybrid type, state-wide organization in Massachusetts that had at least a thousand members and raised enough to have a staff, but that organization doesn’t exist yet.
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p>So, the next Speaker will be decided behind closed doors in power-broker moves, as he or she always is, and the rest of the public will just have to get used to it. Things are improving at the state house, but they haven’t improved nearly enough to change that kind of dynamic yet. We need a couple dozen more progressives in there before we can get Speakers we’d really want.
about reports of threats issued on the House floor!
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p>Never a dull moment, eh? But seriously, it’s been sounding lately like the House is in a bit of a meltdown. That’s not good for anyone.
trying to muscle Callahan.
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p>On behalf of Petro. I mean DeLeo.
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p>I think the tomorrow’s Herald will be all over Vallee
I disagree with DiMasi’s stuborness on the issues and he reluctance to move faster, however it seems curious to me that all this bad press started to appear after the defeat of the casino gambling bill. You could always count on a couple of bad stories, but a bad story almost every week? It seems like piling on to me! Anyone else?
His wife suddenly appears on Jay Cashman’s payroll at the sa me time a bill is in the legislature that, if it goes the right way, pockets Jay a cool $12 million.
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p>His accountant gives him a very very rare third mortgage which although secured, is very risky. Yet, at the same time the same accountant gets paid big money by ticket scalpers to “advise” not “lobby” on piece of legislation. Does not make sense. Why would scalpers pay this guy money? What did they expect? Why? Accountant gets $$$ from scalpers then “loans” money to speaker.
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p>His car lease with Dickie McDonough’s friend smells.
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p>Petro is something that Sal crapped out. He is Sal’s Smithers. Petro does not pass the smell test. His stink blows onto Sal. Petro does poor job in insulating himself from bad element. I’ll lkeave it at that.
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p>Is Globe being vindictive? Yes.
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p>Is Sal and his close friend(s) a little too fast and loose resulting in the perception, right or wrong, that the Mass House may ne a corrupt organization? Yes.
Anonymous sources can say whatever they wish…while the accused, be it DiMasi, Patrick or any other politician has to defend himself against accusations that may not be genuine or..I guess I have a bias against the media more so than a politician that has not been found guilty of anything.
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p>BTW – your attack on DiMasi’s wife was over the top…
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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p>Jay Cashman makes $12 million because bill dies in House.
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p>Do you have a problem with that Capiatal D.
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p>That’s your tax money. Sal Di Masi works for me and you.
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p>I don’t like being crapped on.
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p>His wife’s TV show is Sal crapping on us. IMO
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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p>Rich Vitale, Sal’s personal accountant, charges each scalper/tix agent $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ so bill goes through House. ($7,500 for each tix agency) Bill goes through House
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p>Vitale lends Sal hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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p>You don’t have a problem with that Capiatal?
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p>Sall works for me and you. I don’t like being crapped on. Do you Capiatal.
I have tremendous respect for the House. I understand that the speaker cannot control people who may be trading on his name.
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p>I understand it easy to make inuendos about any speaker, his friends, and the bills that get paessed and the ones that die.
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p>I understand that Deval has not had the greatest ethics record.
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p>I understand thatimportant legislation in the budget was debated and passed by the house last week that unfairly got little attention in the press.
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p>But,
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p>Sal and friends have stirred the pot so much that one must wonder if this is not a watershed moment.
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p>And Johhny Rogers hand-off of $200,000.00 from his campaigh account to his former law partner shows Johhny may be willing to take anything if it ain’t nailed down too. At the very least his priorities are warped.
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p>The House needs to be fumegated.
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p>The Iron Duke would be disgusted. And he was corrupt.
His wife suddenly appears on Jay Cashman’s payroll at the sa me time a bill is in the legislature that, if it goes the right way, pockets Jay a cool $12 million.
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p>His accountant gives him a very very rare third mortgage which although secured, is very risky. Yet, at the same time the same accountant gets paid big money by ticket scalpers to “advise” not “lobby” on piece of legislation. Does not make sense. Why would scalpers pay this guy money? What did they expect? Why? Accountant gets $$$ from scalpers then “loans” money to speaker.
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p>His car lease with Dickie McDonough’s friend smells.
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p>Petro is something that Sal crapped out. He is Sal’s Smithers. Petro does not pass the smell test. His stink blows onto Sal. Petro does poor job in insulating himself from bad element. I’ll lkeave it at that.
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p>Is Globe being vindictive? Yes.
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p>Is Sal and his close friend(s) a little too fast and loose resulting in the perception, right or wrong, that the Mass House may ne a corrupt organization? Yes.
Wait until you see the list of contributors to the solons who have put the “it” out on DiMasi. Course, Sal has Jay cashman in his corner and Cashman’s henchmen. Don’t be too surprised if a Rep or two doesn’t go on extended leave with Jimmy Hoffa. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit. I’m kinda surprised that Deval went down this road. This is like lighting a cigarette in a fireworks factory.
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p>there are still 161 other reps that of which the majority elects him.
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p>Yes he has power and uses it to make things happen. But the nature of job makes it go at a snails pace. And use of power has to be thought through because it effects your power.
A breath of fresh air would be nice. A representative of high moral character and integrity.
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p>Hmmm!
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p>Ted Speliotis of Danvers?
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If the House needs cleaning, BMGers should get behind someone who is clean and can clean up.
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p>Just trashing the powers that be doesn’t propose a solution. It sound like people knew what was going on and were doing nothing.
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p>Let’s call for change. Remember CHANGE?
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Byron being the best example.
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p>We just don’t have enough progressive reps elected to have that kind of muscle yet. No, I’m not being cynical – just realistic. This is a long term movement. It may take 10 years to have that kind of power, but we are winning seats at a fast clip and it will happen sooner than some forces would think.