FBI seen querying on Finneran

In a sign that federal prosecutors are pressing their perjury probe of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, the FBI recently quizzed two state representatives about conversations they had with the speaker about the House redistricting plan, according to two well-placed legislative sources.

State Representative Kay Khan, a five-term Democrat from Newton, confirmed she met with several agents at the Boston FBI office several weeks ago, but declined to comment on the questions she was asked. She was interviewed at the Boston FBI headquarters at One Center Plaza.

Also two weeks ago, an FBI agent came to the State House to meet with Democratic Representative Ruth B. Balser of Newton, one of the sources said. Balser declined to comment.

Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal probe into whether Finneran perjured himself when he testified last year he was uninvolved in developing the plan that reshaped district boundaries.

Khan and Balser are among the key figures in the case because they and another Democratic lawmaker, Peter J. Koutoujian of Waltham, attended a meeting in the speaker's office on Oct. 17, 2001 -- the day before the redistricting plan became public.

Finneran told the three lawmakers that the two Newton districts that Balser and Khan represent would be merged into one district and that Koutoujian would pick up pieces of their districts, according to a person who was present at the meeting.

Finneran testified in the federal court case challenging the redistricting plan that he did not know what was in the plan until it was released Oct. 18. The three judges who presided over the case strongly suggested the statements made by the speaker were false.

Because of heavy opposition, Finneran and his leadership team backed down several days after the meeting and recrafted the plan so that Khan and Balser kept their seats intact.

The interviews by the FBI agents are the second indication in recent weeks that federal prosecutors are pressing ahead to determine whether they have a case against the powerful House speaker.

The Globe reported last week that FBI agents in April went to the State House and seized information from computers used by the Senate in its redistricting process. The legislature's Special Committee on Redistricting is a joint House-Senate committee, but it's not clear to what degree House and Senate members shared information or computers.

The redistricting committee has hired Boston criminal lawyer Thomas M. Hoopes to represent it in the investigation.

A Finneran spokesman said the speaker sees the FBI's presence as a sign that the probe will end soon. "Interviews likes this are a natural and routine part of the process and we hope they are a sign that the matter is moving quickly to resolution," said Ray Howell, a communication specialist whom Finneran hired to handle media inquiries about the investigation.

Finneran has vigorously denied that he misled the court or lied under oath. He told the Globe three weeks ago that he "forthrightly and repeatedly" acknowledged his role. He also said that he expects the investigation will clear him of any wrongdoing.

Federal prosecutors launched the investigation in March after the three federal judges, in a highly unusual rebuke, questioned the speaker's veracity in the court case that resulted from a lawsuit brought by voting rights groups. The groups alleged the House plan diluted minority voters' clout and protected incumbents, including Finneran. The judges agreed and a new plan was drawn up this year.

Finneran, appearing last Nov. 14, testified under oath that he had no knowledge of the details of the redistricting plan before it was publicly released. He also greatly minimized his involvement in the redrawing of the boundaries, saying he left that work to the House chairman of the redistricting committee, Representative Thomas Petrolati, a Democrat of Ludlow.

The judges, in their Feb. 24 ruling backing the minorities' challenge, said in the written opinion that "circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the opposite conclusion."

The judges, dismissing Finneran's testimony, also wrote: "The committee (and the House as a whole) apparently was content to leave the heavy lifting to Finneran, Petrolati, their aides, and the Committee staff."

Finneran, a 25-year veteran of the House who has served as speaker since April 1996, has hired a prominent Boston criminal lawyer, Richard M. Egbert. The lawyer earlier this month held a news conference to challenge the judges' statements, saying they were "simply wrong."

He cited several statements Finneran made at the trial in which the speaker testified that he had talked with Petrolati "from time to time" and to the committee's attorney, Lawrence S. DiCara, the former Boston city councilor and close Finneran ally.

On March 10, FBI agents delivered subpoenas to the Special Committee on Redistricting at the State House, with a letter to Petrolati telling him of "an official investigation being conducted by a federal grand jury in the District of Massachusetts of suspected violation of federal criminal law."

The subpoena specifically cited Finneran and asked for documents that would demonstrate his involvement in the 2001 redistricting process, according to a lawyer who reviewed the subpoena. The US attorney's office in Boston, which is conducting the probe, said it would not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.