State Senator Anthony D. Galluccio today was found in violation of the terms of his probation and was sentenced to one year in the Middlesex House of Correction. He was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
Judge Matthew Nestor said from the bench that after listening to a day of testimony, including from Galluccio himself, that he was convinced the Cambridge Democrat had been drinking when tested on Dec. 21 – just three days after Nestor sentenced him to home confinement and ordered alcohol testing.
“I am satisfied the defendant ingested alcohol,” Nestor said from the bench. “He didn’t last a week.”
Please share widely!
You would think he would have resigned by now, but if he doesn’t, does the Senate need to vote to expel him? And would they?
the Senate can expel a member by a majority vote, following a report from the Senate ethics committee.
I seem to recall perusing the MA Constitution for this when Marzilli’s status was uncertain, and I couldn’t find an expulsion provision.
I believe Senate Rule 12A applies.
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p>http://www.mass.gov/legis/senr…
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p>12A. All violations of Rules and all questions of conduct of members … of the Senate shall be referred by order of the Senate to the committee on Ethics and Rules.
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p>…
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p>If after investigation the committee determines that there has been a violation of the rules, or other misconduct, the committee shall file a report with the Clerk of the Senate, including a recommendation for disciplinary action, including but not limited to: in the case of a member, reprimand, censure, temporary or permanent removal from committee chairmanship or other position of authority, suspension with or without pay, or expulsion; in the case of an officer or employee, reprimand, suspension or removal.
It seems to me that removal of a duly elected officer whose powers are derived from the Constitution, should be part of the Constitution rather than just a Senate rule.
Any ordinary citizen would be in jail for the number of offenses that he committed. The justice system initially did him a disservice by sentencing him to home confinement, when he should have been sentenced to a detox center.
Mr. Galluccio’s personal struggles with alcohol have been well-documented over the last few months, and I sincerely hope that this jail sentence does not preclude him from getting the help he needs. I suspect Mr. Galluccio’s resignation from the Senate is now imminent, and I want to assure the BMG community and the residents of the district that I am prepared to pick up the torch (perhaps sooner than we all expected) and represent this district in the State Senate with capable, vigorous, and passionate leadership.
-Dan Hill
But he couldn’t attend them under the home confinement sentence.
I wonder if the outcome would have been the same if the Judge allowed him to go to AA?
He needed someone to not care who he was. AA is not a cure all. Nor are there accurate records of attendance. It is all based on anonimity.
This disease is very prominent in my family and AA has done wonders. It may not be a cure-all, but it’s a start in the right direction.
I have a feeling that the pole-axed expression on the Senator’s face when he heard he was actually going to jail was him hitting bottom.
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p>Nobody can order or make you want it. To be a FOB, you quite simply have to admit that you are powerless, and that you need the help of something greater than yourself and your own reason to make it throught the day.
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p>Admitting you are powerless in a situation like the Senator’s is difficult. He may get dried out in jail, but he wan’t be sober until he WANTS to be. IF he wants to be. But none of us will know if that’s the case, and we can only hope he finds recovery.
Given my family’s travails with “the curse” – I know that every word you say is true. I will be praying for Anthony’s sobriety like I have prayed for the sobriety of so many of my family members.
AA isn’t a cure. It’s a medium through which addicts can cure themselves. Thanks to AA, both my parents have been sober since I was very young.
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p>However, you’re wrong when you say that he “needed someone to not care who he was.” Quite the contrary, he needs someone to care who he is, regardless of his profession. He doesn’t deserve the opportunity to attend rehab because he’s a state senator, he deserves it because he’s Anthony Galluccio, a human being.
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p>Looking back on his house arrest and wondering how it would have been different is moot, I hope he now has that opportunity afforded to him while serving his punishment. Millions have walked away from alcoholism to lead extraordinarily productive lives, there is no reason that can’t be the case for him as well.
and just about half the district, Mr. Hill. Except they’re showing a little restraint.
Anthony has done great work for the people of Cambridge. His focus on the children and those less fortunate touched a lot of lives. That he has reached this incredible low while facing his personal demons is unfortunate. I, for one, hope he is able to conquer his demons and return to serving the community as he has done so well.
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p>While in his time of need, which includes deciding what to do with regard to his political career, he deserves the support of those around him. I find it tasteless that you appear to be announcing your candidacy before he has even resigned or been removed from office. A little respect please.
He did declare his candidacy at the end of November to challenge Mr. Galluccio in 2010.
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p>However, Mr. Hill, probably not the best place to let everyone know that you’re changing your plans to run in the special election that doesn’t exist yet. There would have been plenty of time for that.
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p>Although, I must say that I love the Globe article on your website.
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p>Politics, the only field where you can say something without “saying” it and the whole thing plays off as normal.
Senator Galluccio could have should have shown “a little restraint” when he left the scene of a crash that he caused while an injured child writhed in pain in the vehicle, waiting for an emergency vehicle that “Anthony” might have called had he not been so incredibly, criminally selfish.
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p>I’m sick and tired of all this cheap sentimentality towards a convicted criminal. What’s next, a string of appearances on Oprah? A well-publicized visit to the Betty Ford clinic? Enough already.
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p>Do I hope he someday recovers from his disease? Sure — just like I hope that the victims of his criminal act recover from the emotional trauma he caused them.
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p>Meanwhile, I really wish my fellow Democrats here in Massachusetts would stop making excuses for elected criminals. It didn’t hold water with Richard Nixon, it didn’t hold water with Oliver North, it doesn’t hold water for Richard Cheney and George Bush, it doesn’t hold water for Sal DiMasi, it doesn’t hold water for Diane Wilkerson, and it surely doesn’t hold water for Anothony Galluccio.
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p>Thank you for your short, appropriate, and very welcome comment, Dan.
This is not cheap sentimentality; this is in fact, the mourning of a loss of the work of a good man, a good public servant, and “what could have been”. It’s easy for people like you, Brookline Tom, to look down your nose at people, but I know the man, and what he’s accomplished despite his challenges. Anthony Galluccio did more to bring affordable housing (464 units) to Cambridge in a few short years than many self-proclaimed advocate do in DECADES. This man devoted his life to keeping, maintaining and enhancing programs for children througout the district. He was one of the key supporters of the Cambridge Healthcare Alliance, which has grown beyond the border of Cambridge, and now runs urban hospitals in a number of communities, who likely wouldn’t have any.
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p>So – sod off, Brookline Tom. No one is making excuses for Anthony, but reviewing a great career cut short due to a terrible disease. Anthony’s paying the price, but you can sell your elitist claptrap elsewwhere.
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p>And as for Mr. Hill, suggesting a little restraint would help him avoid the appear of “dancing on Anthony’s “grave.”
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Has this always been true? It seems to me as an outside observer that had Sen. Galluccio been forced to deal with the consequences of his actions rather than been shielded from them by his friends and supporters, he might not have continued along the path that inevitably lead to where he is today. I recall the last time he made the news some people who knew him swore up and down he’d sobered up and turned his life around. Did he fool everyone or were his friends covering for him? If the latter, it seems to me they did him a disservice.
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p>Yes, it’s true that in the end a man with an alcohol addiction can only help himself, but I can’t help wondering if his enablers did not just end up making the situation easier for him to dismiss.
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p>I really hope he gets the help he needs. He’s done a lot of good for Cambridge.
When a “pillar of the community” is shown to be, in private, a child molester or wife-beater, the news is too-often greeted with commentary about how much good the abuser has done for his community.
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p>Too many of my friends who have been victims of such criminal behavior have seen their lives ruined or, in one case, ended in suicide because they found the courage to expose the dark underbelly of the father or husband who tormented them — and were greeted with similar protestations about how many good deeds their abuser performed for others while making their life hell.
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p>I’ll try and resist the incredibly strong temptation to offer the similar excuses made for Cardinal Law and his institution, with the similar dehumanization and further degradation of their victims.
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p>You are, in fact, “making excuses for Anthony.” He committed a crime. He fled the scene of personal-injury crash that he caused. He plead guilty. He has been incarcerated.
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p>I’ll tell you who’s “paying the price.” Samuel Tager, 46, is paying the price. Henry Tager, 13, who’s had to drop out of his school sports program because of injuries inflicted by “Anthony” is paying the price.
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p>What you seem to miss is that every convicted criminal doing time for crimes that they committed is a similar human tragedy. Most of them also have family and friends who mourn the loss of their promising careers. When I first began doing support and counseling work in prison settings, I was literally shocked to realize the genuine tragedy represented by each member of the groups I worked with. It is difficult to accept that we can’t change, fix, or avoid the pain of each of these tragedies. Each is drowning, and our desire to offer a lifeline is natural and healthy. That lifeline doesn’t help, however, if we let ourselves be pulled off of our own firm footing. Crashing into a car, injuring an entire family, and then fleeing the scene is not acceptable behavior. Period.
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p>When a substance abuser destroys their life with their drug of choice, a therapeutic approach is laudable and appropriate. When that person repeatedly endangers, injures, and too-often kills innocent outsiders, that person is literally a danger to society and needs to be incarcerated. As bad as the prison system is, it’s the best society knows how to do right now. A one-year prison sentence is, in my opinion, suitable and appropriate.
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p>I encourage you to support your friend — privately — as he deals with his disease. He certainly needs it. I agree that the loss of an otherwise-promising public servant is a tragedy. I disagree that further public “review” of this tragedy is helpful or appropriate.
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p>The candidacy of Dan Hill is breath of fresh air.
Karma is what they say it is, BKT…I hope you are never in need of compassion, because I don’t see it coming your wsy, Mr. Law and Order. Let’s see if your newly found convictions regarding right and wrong apply to all people equally in the future.
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p>I am not, nor have I made excuses for Anthony. He’s got a problem, and he’s paying the price – but that doesn’t diminish the wonderful work that he has done. It is not “cheap sentimentality” to acknowledge it. It is cheap, however, to kick a man when he’s down.
I agree with the point about karma. I remember worrying about the karmic implications of arguing that Ben LaGuer was not entitled to a new trial when we were debating that issue a few years ago. There’s a Jewish idea that is similar to this point, called lashon hara, which is like slander. As I commented in a discussion on the First Circuit’s interesting libel decision in the Noonan case: “Truth is no defense to a charge of lashon hara, because, among other things, you’re not ‘loving your neighbor as yourself’when you speak ill of him, even if what you say is true.”
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p>That being said, I tend to find BrooklineTom more persuasive on this point than I find Justice4All. High public officials are human beings, too, but I think the public interest requires that we be a little ruthless with our public officials, because the public good is more important than their private interest, and the public good, in my view at least, requires that criminals not serve in the Senate, and that public officials not get unduly favorable treatment when they appear before a court, which is what happened with Sen. Gallucio–or so it seems to me. My fear is that Justice4All’s approach is preventing or delaying the necessary step here, which is to get Sen. Gallucio out of office as soon as possible.
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p>TedF
Have I once suggested that Anthony not resign? Have I once said we should overlook his problem? I have not. He committed a hit and run accident and that comes with consequences. The only thing I have done is remind people of Anthony’s work in the community and behalf of this party, I might add…and that has been called “cheap sentimentality.”
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p>I don’t kick people when they’re down. I took the same stance with Senator Marzilli, whom I suspected had a mental illness. Yes, he should pay the consequences, but it’s still ugly when people make fun, gloat, and dance on his political grave.
Can you please offer an example where you’ve suggested, even once, that Senator Galluccio should resign?
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p>I invite you to offer any examples where I have made fun of, gloated, or danced on his political grave. I don’t think I’ve thrown any rocks. You say that you agree with me that “He committed a hit and run accident and that comes with consequences.” Can you please offer an example of what you think those consequences should be? How do they differ from what is actually transpiring?
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p>The reason I have characterized your public comments here as “cheap sentimentality” is that I have seen zero recognition, on your part, of what you think ought to be the outcome. Given the objective fact of his betrayal of both of us — you as his friend, me as a fellow citizen of Massachusetts, what would you have me do differently?
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p>I think I’ve argued that our public posture should be to move on, while his friends (like you) and family offer private support and help.
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p>I’d like you to at least consider whether at least some small portion of the anger you’re directing towards me might perhaps be transferred anger that you might be feeling towards your friend who betrayed your faith and trust. It’s a perfectly normal and healthy reaction.
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p>I think we need energetic, enthusiastic and progressive public servants who do not commit crimes. I think Dan Hill has stepped forward and offered himself — itself an act of courage. I think you’ve tossed more than a few stones in Mr. Hill’s direction.
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p>Anthoney Galluccio has resigned. Dan Hill appears to be a fresh progressive Democrat who has stepped forward to take his place. I’m receptive to any other progressive Democrats you might offer in his place.
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p>Why isn’t that good enough?
Ted Kennedy.
I just mean that you did everything except call for his resignation. Maybe you did call for it and I missed it.
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p>It’s good to say: “He needs to resign because he was convicted of a serious crime, but let’s not forget his accomplishments in office and wish him a speedy recovery.”
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p>It’s not so good to leave out the resignation part, in my opinion.
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p>TedF
Your comments certainly sound like excuses to me.
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p>Your premise is that Dan Hill is “kicking a man he’s down” by reminding us that he is running for the seat Senator Galluccio will vacate. I strongly disagree. If that brings bad karma on my soul, I guess I’ll take my chances.
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p>Do you imagine that your comments encourage or discourage support for Mr. Hill? Would you say that your commentary is helpful or unhelpful in advancing a progressive agenda in the current Massachusetts senate?
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p>Is there another more progressive candidate that you support besides Dan Hill?
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p>I, for one, am glad to see a fresh face stepping forward. Rather than bemoaning the personal tragedy of a man who was offered and has squandered a long series of opportunities to heal himself, I’d rather we spend our energy encouraging a new progressive Democrat.
Anthony’s victories sounds like excuses, you really need to look up the word in Websters. You called this acknowledgement “cheap sentimentality” which is offensive. Anthony’s day is done, but his work still stands.
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p>And you can celebrate Mr. Hill’s candidacy all you wish; I will be voting for anyone but Mr. Hill, as are a number of Dems who feel the same way.
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p>In terms of karma, most of us have family and/or friends with this curse…and it’s a tragedy and should be treated thusly, like any other disease. I think anyone who throws rocks at them…ought to be sinless themselves.
IMO, it IS okay to kick a man when he’s down if he’s down because he committed the offenses against others that Mr. Galluccio did. We must separate the sadness at his disease and career losses from his offenses. Society is justifiably angry at him and there should be consequences for his egregious action in irresponsibly causing serious harm to other people. Otherwise how can there possibly be Justice4All?
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p>I hope he has hit the point where he can admit his apparent illness and do what he needs to do to climb back up but he deserves to be punished for breaking the laws that he and his now former colleagues have the privilege of making.
and acknowledgement of Anthony’s body of work. I don’t think kicking a man when he’s down becomes anyone, much less this party. Justice will prevail without the victory dance. I might also add that Ted Kennedy went on to do amazing work, despite his own struggles with the curse.
I’ve already written that the decision to halt the investigation of Chappaquiddick is a striking example of a failed and corrupt judicial system. Ted Kennedy should have been investigated and was not. History will never know what really happened that night.
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p>That decision to shield Ted Kennedy from investigation — and his subsequent re-election to the Senate — single-handedly created a monstrous obstacle to the progressive Democratic Party agenda. I grant you that he went on to do amazing work. I ask you to grant me that we will never know what he or we might have accomplished in the absence of Chappaquiddick.
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p>Anthony Galluccio is no Ted Kennedy. During the time that I worked with offenders at the Longwood Treatment Center in Boston, I worked with dozens of men and women who had histories similar to Anthony Galluccio. Assignment to that program was sought after by participants. All of them came to the program with broken careers, damaged families, and deeply-rooted emotional scars. Nobody did a victory dance when those individuals were incarcerated. Some of those participants had successful outcomes after their release. Too many did not.
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p>I don’t see any victory dances here.
you’d come up with “Anthony Galluccio is no Ted Kennedy” – oh where have we heard that before? But be honest; Ted wasn’t the “Ted Kennedy” we knew and loved in 1969. His best work was still before him, and he did amazing work through the intervening decades. You’re all too willing to toss these damaged and scarred people aside, when redemption, sometimes divine, can reclaim them.
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p>We disagree, and it’s not the first time. I see hope and redemption. You see the scars and damage instead of the work Anthony Galluccio did. Oh well.
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We agree that “Ted wasn’t the ‘Ted Kennedy’ we knew and loved in 1969”. I hope you’ll agree that we also don’t know who Anthony Galluccio will be in 2049. This stage of his life is over. Neither of us knows what the next stage will be.
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p>I’m not sure the participants of the programs I led at the Longwood Treatment Center felt they were being “tossed aside”. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that I saw more “redemption, sometimes devine” in those Friday night visits at the LTC than I’ve seen on Beacon Hill.
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p>I’ve seen “hope and redemption” in all sorts of unlikely places and contexts in my fifty-seven years on this Earth. I’ve found that a willingness to also see (and feel) scars and damage is an important foundation stone.
is the foundation of my faith. I’ve seen it in the unlikeliest of places. There are very few that I consider beyond it, and that includes politicians; Ted Kennedy is a great example. And in my fifty-years on earth, I’ve come to believe that for those who practice compassion and care in their relationships, both public and private, are far richer for it. Redemption comes…and its unwise to assume that anyone is beyond His grace.
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p>My money is one Act II for Mr. Galluccio. Whomever is elected to the seat has big shoes to fill.
I am sad to see the downfall of someone who was able to rise to the status of “elected state representative” in the United States of America, which still has an aura of honor for me despite the many failings of politicians.
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p>At the same time, I see this as a victory for accountability. Finally, someone “in the club” did not escape justice. How many pols have either gotten off altogether or only gotten minor slaps on the wrist for what could have been jailable offenses? And how many common folk (not powerful, rich, famous or connected) have done time for trangressions that were either the same as those committed by pols or less serious?
Paul Kujawski got off easier than you. Kujo pissed on a female state trooper. Evidently she didn’t know who he was. Why Kujo is not on the sex offender registry is beyond me.
With a criminal justice system that treats nonviolent drug and alcohol offenders as criminals, instead of giving them the help they need to overcome their addictions. As someone noted, he should have been sent to a detox center instead of home confinement.
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p>I am no fan of Galluccio, nor would I apologize for his behavior. If he had been sentenced for his hit and run incident I could understand, but he was sentenced because he couldn’t stop drinking, because he was addicted to alcohol.
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p>This prison sentence is the same mean spirited mentality that prefers punishment to rehabilitation. The same mentality that tries children in adult courts and sentences them to adult prisons. The same mentality that seeks to restore the death penalty to MA.
I don’t think he was sentenced solely “because he couldn’t stop drinking, because he was addicted to alcohol.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but alcoholics aren’t sent to jail solely because they have an addiction. If not for the hit and run that he committed, Gallucio would not be in the situation that led to his being sentenced.
Hopefully past tense. He needed jail. It was the only way to stop him.
I said that if he had been sentenced for the hit and run I would understand the jail sentence better.
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p>But the judge was nasty, IMHO, to expect him to sit at home and give up drinking cold turkey, without any help or support. Did the judge in fact provide any assistance?
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p>Helping addicts to heal is far better and less costly, for the addicted person, for society, and for future potential victims (there won’t be any if the addict heals), than incarceration.
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p>If we all had the compassion and caring of Justice4All, below, our society would be a better place.
I used to average 8 beers a day. That’s about 2 30 packs a week. When I became a kidney transplant candidate, I stopped. Immediately. Some of my doctors wanted to put me into rehab programs because of my voluminous drinking. I didn’t want to. They told me to stop and I did. We agreed on testing to prove my word. I think we all can agree I’m stubborn. never found a drop, because there was none to be found.
Most importantly, you must WANT to stop. If you don’t, everything else is just an enabling mechanism. Seriously, I wish Gooch well, I know what a bitch it can be. Hopefully, he has as good support network (family) as I did.
I don’t know the answer to your question and am no expert on alcoholism but agree 100% with you that some arrangement for help with his alcohol issues should have been part of the judge’s orders.
Beer? Or jail? If you chose beer, I don’t want you legislating. I hope his enabler is proud of themself! Its not even worth snark anymore, I’m done with the thread.
OK, jail, yes. But why not offer the man – and I emphasize the word offer – whatever help is available for his alcoholism?
For all of the editors rantings about the MSM, BMG is really starting to resemble a tabloid, only meaner.
We need a Godwin’s Law to describe the practice of people reflexively accusing media publications of “turning tabloid” whenever they disagree with the conclusions or tone of a post/article.
Did you bother to read the discussion I was commenting on, or did you just “reflexively” post since I mentioned tabloid?
given all of the hijinx of resignations occurring after 12/31 (the old 1 day = 1 year rule), please don’t tell me that he’ll get credit for 2010 in his pension since sentencing occurred on the 1st business day of the calendar year?
Pension reform.
Tired of all of these early January events, although think that this might fall into the “bad boy” clause in the pension system. But one never knows in the Commonwealth, headlines or no.
consider Anthony Galluccio to be my friend. He is a good man who has made some God-awful decisions while under the influence. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible disease that has claimed many careers and lives. It’s unfortunate that Anthony wasn’t able to reach his full potential as a legislator; but what I did see of him, his work with the children in Cambridge, his constituent service, and tremendous compassion for all people, from all walks of life, tells me that despite his disease, he had a good soul and a caring heart. No one…and no disease, can take that from him.
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p>I hope he gets the help that he needs, and that the family involved in the accident are able to heal completely.
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p>Peace.