Massachusetts House Speaker To Resign

Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi will be resigning his house seat tomorrow, according to an article in today's Boston Globe. DiMasi is currently being investigated by the Massachusetts Ethics Commission, and he has raised a defense of legislative immunity against its request for documents. He is also being investigated by two grand juries. But he insists that these investigations had nothing to do with his decision to resign. Sadly, DiMasi is the third consecutive House speaker to have resigned under a cloud.

DiMasi blames the ethics investigations on "powerful special interests," particularly the gambling industry. If he's correct that the gambling industry is in control of the state ethics commission as well as state and federal prosecutors, then things are far worse than any of us ever imagined. If he's correct, then only Sal DiMasi stands between our freedom and the crime underworld. How could he abandon us at our time of dire need, to selifishly go back to practicing law or, maybe, a job in the healthcare industry?

Happily, things move on, and two state representatives are fighting for the chance to be the fourth consecutive House speaker to resign under a cloud.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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