In an unusually stern warning to his House leadership team, Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi threatened yesterday to remove any of his lieutenants who fail to honor his demands that they stop jockeying for his position, on grounds that their activities are undercutting his authority and influence at the State House.
According to interviews with those present, DiMasi shocked many of his colleagues at a specially convened leadership meeting. He described how the maneuvering by several of his top underlings had weakened his position by implying that he shortly planned to step down from the post he has held since October 2004. He forcefully told the gathering that he has no plans to leave.
The brief address lasted just over five minutes, after which DiMasi walked out of the room without taking questions. Some loyalists clapped as he left, while others sat stunned, said several of the House members who were there.
"You could have heard a pin drop," said one of his lieutenants, who agreed that DiMasi needed to shut down the political infighting that the speaker said was making him appear to be a lame duck.
"I was not stunned; I was relieved," said Representative Ruth B. Balser, the House chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. "I think rumors about a speaker leaving when he is not leaving undermine the House. I thought his being clear on this put us back on track to focus on the important issues we have to deal with."
A swirl of rumors last fall had sparked an increasingly intense internal struggle within House ranks. The House majority leader, John H. Rogers, a Norwood Democrat, and House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Robert A. DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, emerged by the end of the year as the top contenders for the job.
Repeating what he has said for weeks both privately and publicly, DiMasi insisted to his leaders yesterday that he is not leaving the Legislature anytime soon and pointed to his plans to become president of the National Speakers Conference and host its annual convention in Boston in 2010.
He told the group that the maneuvering undermines him as he faces some tough negotiations in the coming months with Governor Deval Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray over issues such as the looming budget deficit, casino gambling, corporate tax changes, and a $1 billion life science initiative. He said that both Patrick, who has criticized DiMasi for not acting on much of the governor's agenda, and Murray have asked him if he is leaving.
"He said people are starting to feel that don't they have to deal with him anymore," said another of DiMasi's committee chairs who was at the meeting, attended by about 40 heads of committees, floor leaders, and top leadership aides.
Few at the meeting would talk on the record. DiMasi's spokesman, David Guarino, said the speaker had no comment.
House leaders working with DiMasi said that the speaker is satisfied that DeLeo has stopped his organizing activities, but that he feels that Rogers ignored three warnings late last year to stop soliciting votes from House members.
DiMasi met privately with Rogers last week to warn him once again. The speaker told him he was pondering whether to call a special Democratic caucus where DiMasi would seek Rogers's removal and install a reorganized leadership team. Neither man would comment on what transpired.
But Rogers is telling his supporters and others that he wants a "level playing field" in the jockeying among various House factions battling over succession. Some Rogers supporters are convinced that DiMasi wants to pass his job on to DeLeo.
