Thursday, 4:30 PM
Finneran begins career on talk radio
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(George Rizer/Globe Staff)
By Globe Staff
Thomas M. Finneran, the recently confessed felon who ruled Beacon Hill for eight years as speaker of the state House of Representatives, began his new career this morning as a talk radio host.
"Good morning," Finneran said. "That's right, it's neither a dream nor a nightmare."
In his first four-hour show on WRKO-AM dubbed "Finneran's Forum," the former speaker tackled topics that ranged from the execution of Saddam Hussein to state Senator Scott Brown reading profanities to an audience of teens at King Philip Regional High School.
(Finneran, who called Brown's speech "quite appropriate" after the students had posted obscene things about the senator on the Internet, also said that the Wrentham Republican has "as much credentials, as much a foundation to pontificate on foreign policy" as Senator Barack Obama, a leading Democratic candidate for president.)
Finneran, 57, an attorney who served 26 years in the House as a Democrat, left state government in 2004 dogged by accusations he obstructed justice in an investigation of legislative redistricting. He took a lobbying job as president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, a post he left after pleading guilty in federal court on Jan. 5.
He has said that being a talk radio host is his fourth career. Finneran replaced Scott Allen Miller and will be on the air from 6-10 a.m. His call-in guests this morning included Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee; Globe columnist Steve Bailey; and GOP consultant Holly Robichaud.
Information from State House News Service was included in this report.
