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Political Hay
Three Times a Felon
When one Massachusetts Speaker of the House gets indicted, it's a local story. When the feds indict three in a row, people outside of New England begin to take notice.
Salvatore DiMasi, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives until his resignation in January, faces twenty years in prison for allegedly taking $57,000 in kickbacks in an elaborate plot that steered much-sought-after government contracts to software company Cognos. "It's about time we got business like this," DiMasi reportedly told an aide.
The federal indictment filed on June 2 alleges, "It was the purpose and object of the conspiracy to enrich its members by improperly using the power, authority, and influence of DiMasi as Speaker of the House to enable Cognos to obtain multi-million dollar software procurements from agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
If convicted, DiMasi will be proven not just corrupt but incredibly stupid -- his alleged fees for delivering $20 million to Cognos amount to pennies on the dollar. Perhaps this is a function of supply and demand. In Massachusetts, politicians come cheap. Former state senator Dianne Wilkerson, caught on candid camera allegedly stuffing $1,000 into her bra, and current Boston City Councilman Chuck Turner, caught on candid camera allegedly taking a $1,000 payoff, currently face federal corruption charges that they attempted to use their elected offices to obtain a six-figure liquor license for a club called, appropriately enough, Déjà Vu.
It's not only the corruption and stupidity that galls, but the conceit. Massachusetts voters, like Yogi Berra, are experiencing déjà vu all over again. DiMasi's predecessor, Speaker Obstruction of Justice, pled guilty to a federal felony just two years ago, and his predecessor, Speaker Felony Tax Evasion, pled guilty to ethics and tax illegalities in 1996 and then resigned his elected office. Sensing a pattern, Speaker Kickback's successor, longtime ally Robert DeLeo -- nickname TBA -- has distanced himself from the scandal. "He is not a subject, target, or person of interest," DeLeo's lawyer insists. "People from his office produced records [for the feds]. He was never in front of the grand jury."
When Massachusetts looks in the mirror, it sees Minnesota or Nebraska. When everybody else looks at Massachusetts, they see Louisiana or Illinois. A cognitive dissonance persists in which Bay State voters talk good government but continually elect rogues. Though Gerrymandering, "Vote Often and Early for James Michael Curley," and Kennedys stealing a presidential election in Illinois are all part of the local lore, Bay Staters think this is history. It's not, even if their corruption problem has less to do with the ghosts of politics past than with the realities of politics present.
So what's the matter with Massachusetts?
Massachusetts is a one-party state. Its House delegation has been without a Republican for over a decade and its Senate delegation has been all Democrat for over three decades. The Democrats have held complete control of the state legislature for a half century. The last Republican presidential candidate to obtain at least 40 percent of the vote was George H.W. Bush when he ran against not-so-favorite-son Michael Dukakis in 1988. With Democratic officeholders knowing that even Bernie Madoff would best a Republican on Election Day, a few Democrats, unsurprisingly, behave like Bernie Madoff. The check on political shenanigans that competitive elections bestow upon other states just isn't present in Massachusetts.
Not only are disincentives to corruption virtually non-existent on Election Day, they are hard to find in the local criminal justice system as well. Whether one speaks of the three disgraced ex-speakers, or the Boston pol recently caught on camera allegedly stuffing a bribe in her bra, those exposing and prosecuting dishonest government in Massachusetts generally have been the feds. The one-party state has also bequeathed something that the shady businessmen greasing the palms of politicians love: big government. Like Willie Sutton who robbed banks because that is where the money is kept, the companies skimming from the public trough generally feed where the trough overflows. Put another way, there is a reason why Taxachusetts, rather than Live Free or Die New Hampshire, has witnessed a revolving door of criminal speakers.
"We now have had three speakers in a row that have left in shame: [Charlie] Flaherty, [Tom] Finneran, and now DiMasi," Rob Willington, executive director of MassConservatives, points out. "The Republicans can now travel Massachusetts with the message of 'Three Strikes and You're Out' to the voters making the case for a stronger two-party system in the Commonwealth." Alas, Willington explains, the "love my legislator, hate my legislature" mentality exerts a strong pull in the Bay State.
"Power tends to corrupt," Lord Acton taught, "and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Anyone looking for a demonstration of Action's axiom need only look to Massachusetts.
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Marc Jeric| 6.5.09 @ 7:00AM
People of Taxachussets think of themselves as more intelligent and sophisticated than the rubes west of them. And then they keep electing the Democrat bottomfeeders to power, including that hero of Chappaquidick Kennedy.
Sparky| 6.5.09 @ 8:20AM
I wonder what DM's colon will have to say about this?
P. Aaron| 6.5.09 @ 8:48AM
Massachusettes, like Detroit hasn't elected a Republican since the Pleistocene. Both are rife with payoff, favors, nepotism, kickbacks and Federal Investigators. Nice Work Dems!
maximumrand b| 6.5.09 @ 9:19AM
As a Massachusetts native I am embarassed by the corruption there. But as bad as it is my current domicile New Jersey is even worse when it comes to local politicians being indicted, convicted and imprisonsed. Beacon Hill is a Den of Thieves, but Trenton is a cesspool.
Sean Parnell| 6.5.09 @ 9:22AM
The writer makes some pretty good observations regarding how one-party rule can foster corruption. But it's wrong to be letting Republicans off the hook categorically - Alaska, historically a Republican stronghold, has had it's own problems recently, with several GOP state legislators being caught up in a bribery scandal.
And then of course there's Illinois, where corruption is a thoroughly bi-partisan affair and a heavily Democratic Chicago is matched by a generally Republican downstate.
But the role of one-party domination is clearly a factor in corruption, and Massachusetts is a pretty good example of that.
Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
Ralph L. Franco| 6.5.09 @ 9:35AM
Let's not overlook Rhode Island
Old Soldier| 6.5.09 @ 9:53AM
maximumrand b - I am also a MA native living in NJ. I still visit family in MA regularly. For a while I thought NJ was worse. Now that Romney is gone, MA is really sliding – new taxes, tolls, gun restrictions, and waste everywhere you look. I think every non-liberal has already fled the state. I certainly plan to leave NJ before I retire, but I will NEVER reside in the Bay State again.
In NJ, on the other hand, I’m represented by Scott Garrett (an actual conservative Republican) in Congress and we have a chance to elect a Republican Governor this year.
The ironic part of this story is that the smartest criminally corrupt politician in MA was never indicted – long-time Senate President Billy Bulger.
Paul| 6.5.09 @ 10:56AM
Hello everyone,
I've never posted here before, mostly because I was not about to get verbal feces flung at me by the jerk who's been so thoroughly nasty these past several months. I wrote an email to the powers that be at TAS, and they have assured me that if this guy or anyone else in the future is totally starting a flame war, then I can write to them ASAP and they will see to it that its dealt with. It looks as if they have been true to their word --notice the lack of puerile rantings, they've been deleted!-- and so I congratulate them on this. Now it looks as if we can actually start commenting on the articles again.
My suggestion is that if this jerk starts up again with the offensive ad hominem verbal assaults that have nothing to do commenting on an article, we all immediately write the powers that be here at TAS.
Free speech should not be the monopoly of loudmouth radicals
Paul
Carpenter| 6.5.09 @ 12:23PM
While I have no great love for DM, or other non-intellectual sickos of his ilk, I have to congratulate him on his achievement of galvanizing complacent conservatives towards political activity. I'm sure that no conservative, having read one of their hateful messages, will ever sit out an election again.
NED| 6.5.09 @ 12:26PM
Hey! Look! No Dave! OUTSTANDING. Now I can come back. Too long in coming, but outstanding.
Oh. Good article, too.
sestamibi| 6.5.09 @ 12:37PM
Not quite a one-party state if you count three GOP governors in a row (Weld, Cellucci, Romney). While the case can be made that they were RINOs, the fact remains that they also weren't Dems.
Ivy| 6.5.09 @ 1:38PM
As a former resident of Massachusetts and one who would love to move back, you can not only look at the politicians but also the people themselves. First it is the only state that has again has to have police do details at $65.00 plus and hour. Toll takers making $90,000.00 and so on, it is the corruption that the public unions and the absolute stupidy of the highly educated people of that state that keep them in the state they are in. NO COMMON SENSE AT ALL.
Howard| 6.5.09 @ 3:16PM
After living in the "Bluest" of Blue States for over twenty years, I'm frankly shocked at the timidity of the state government here. The state like most others is running a huge deficit. However, the legislature is meekly trying to raise the sales tax to cover the deficit. Going from 5% to 6.25%. Come on, this is Massachusetts. The income tax now 5.3% should go up to 15%. The sales tax should go up to 10%. I am a rare conservative in this state so I do not matter. But the moonbats here love government and programs. They would gladly double or triple their sizable tax load. And after all there are no Republicans anyways, so the Dems will win reelection no matter what. That is change you can believe in!
Diamon| 6.5.09 @ 8:35PM
I am shocked, shocked, especially by those former citizens of MA that nobody, even Mr. Flynn, mentioned perhaps one of the largest boondoggles in the history of boondoggles. I give you the mother of all boondoggles: The Big Dig, complete with cooking the books, faulty engineering, and leaking tunnels.
tony| 6.6.09 @ 12:43AM
sestamibi... the 3 rep governors in Mass mean pretty much nothing. The story is eerily similar in RI. Republican governor offers budget. Democrat legislature says "no, we have our own ideas". Governor vetoes. Legislature overrides. One party systems are great. Thank you voters.
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Alan Brooks| 6.6.09 @ 11:20AM
“She's making a sacrifice because she loves her kids,” Blagojevich told CNN’s Larry King Wednesday night. “Eating that tarantula like she had to is an act of love. It's a sign that this is a mother who loves her children.”
if you're a disgraced governor your wife eating a big hairy spider on national TV in your place IS indeed an act of love.
''love, lovely love''-- Gertrude Stein
art341| 6.6.09 @ 6:23PM
This past week I read in one of the papers that 36% of the Mass population are government employees. What else do you need to know?
jeremy wendel| 6.11.09 @ 10:54PM
When it comes to Law Enforcement in Massachusetts against Politicians it does not exist at the State Level - it took the U.S. Attorney to indict the last Speaker of the House - the state Attorney General or ANY District Attorney will go after the corrupt politicians of Massachusetts.
Maybe that is why (4) MILLION + jobs have disappeared from "CORRUPTACHUSETTS" and according to the last census people are leaving the state in droves.
I left Massachusetts over (25) years ago and do not intend to EVER RETURN.
The politicians blame all the deficits on the mother of all kickbacks projects - "THE BIG DIG". It was supposed to cost $2 Billion and is at $22 Billion and counting. I wonder how much of this money went to corrupt politicians??? The contracts appear to be have been written by the contractors who were insulated against lawsuits and cost over runs.
If ever a state needed Federal Intervention it is "CORRUPTACHUSETTS".
www.save-your-estate.net
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