Thursday, 4:30 PM
Travaglini already butt of DiMasi jokes
By Michael Levenson and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
Senate President Robert E. Travaglini has not even officially announced his resignation, but his departure has already become fodder for a political joke from one of his closest colleagues.
House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi couldn't help himself this morning and poked fun at Travaglini, who is expected to step down on Wednesday and be replaced by one of his top lieutenants, Therese Murray, a Plymouth Democrat. DiMasi was speaking about the rapport between the two legislative leaders and Governor Deval Patrick when he veered off his prepared remarks.
"The governor, Senate President Terry Murray -- oh, excuse me, Travaglini -- and I have a strong working relationship," said DiMasi, who was speaking at a breakfast meeting of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
The room erupted in laughter.
When he wasn't telling jokes, DiMasi firmly shut the door on the Patrick administration's plan to close corporate tax loopholes, saying that it was not the way to grow the economy. He had expressed reservations about the plan before, but this morning's comments were his strongest to date.
"Let me be clear on this important subject," DiMasi said. "The budget that the House Ways and Means Committee releases on April 11 will not rely on new revenue from businesses."
DiMasi said he called the governor Monday night to tell him he would be speaking against his corporate tax plan. Instead, DiMasi said he would propose launching a task force to explore different ways to change the tax code.
"We should be cautious about sending the wrong message at this critical junction," DiMasi said. "These kinds of proposals just raise the level of uncertainty and could stall decisions by employers to grow jobs, expand their businesses, or move to Massachusetts."
