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Finneran's new venture: Beacon Hill lobbyist
Former speaker lists troopers as his clients
Once he was the powerful speaker of the Massachusetts House, then a federal convict, now a talk radio show host with tepid ratings. Now Thomas M. Finneran is about to add another line to his resume: Beacon Hill lobbyist, representing, of all groups, the state troopers union.
Finneran, who pleaded guilty last year to a federal obstruction-of-justice charge and has been disbarred, said yesterday that he and his former law partner, James E. Byrne, are hanging out a lobbying shingle and that they have signed up the State Police Association of Massachusetts.
Finneran said he is looking for other clients to represent before his former colleagues at the State House. He said he has no plans to leave WRKO-AM, where he has hosted the prime morning-drive time slot from 6 to 10 a.m. since February.
Rick Brown, the newly installed president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, confirmed the union leadership's decision to hire Finneran. He said his criminal record has not sparked any negative reaction.
"We are not hiring him to be a trooper; we are hiring him to walk the hallways of the State House," Brown said. "He is still one of the most respected and powerful people on Beacon Hill."
It was not clear last night how Finneran intends to remain an effective commentator on state politics and policy while also representing clients before state officials. WRKO programmer Jason Wolfe could not be reached.
"I am at a stage in my life where I would like to do a good number of things," Finneran said. "I don't want to be narrow in the way I approach life."
His program, "Finneran's Forum," slipped from seventh last summer to eighth this fall in the
"I have a multiyear contract that runs a few more years," said Finneran. "They have made a substantial investment in me."
Finneran's legal problems stemmed from his testimony in a 2003 civil suit brought by voting rights activists challenging the House's redistricting plans. In January 2007, he pleaded guilty to obstruction-of-justice charges stemming from his testimony in the trial, in which he denied participating in the decisions to redraw legislative seats for the 2002 election.
After his guilty plea, he was forced to resign as the $500,000-a-year president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, a job he had taken two years earlier. Finneran has also been disbarred. A month after his plea, when he said he had "shamed" himself, he was hired by WRKO.
Yesterday, Finneran said that in talking to potential clients and in other settings, he confronts the issue of his criminal record directly, including when he met with the executive committee of the State Police union.
"I bring it up everywhere I go," he said. "I am not particularly proud of it, but I want to make everyone understand that I was convicted. I think they appreciate the candor. They appreciate the honesty of the approach."
Finneran is now battling to get his state pension back and is also appealing to the Board of Bar Overseers to restore his license to practice law.
Finneran confirmed that another client he has signed up is the Liquor Liability Joint Underwriters Association, an obscure quasi-public state insurance board with which the former speaker has a long relationship.
His efforts as the House speaker to extend the agency's life sparked a state Ethics Commission probe in the early 1990s. The commission concluded that there was no conflict between his activities and the work that his law partner did for the association. The ethics investigators concluded that Finneran did not participate in any matter that would have personally benefited him.
Finneran is considered by his colleagues and others who watch state politics closely as one of the most effective and strong-willed House speakers in years. Serving as speaker from 1996 to 2004, he ran the House with an iron fist, and his critics say he brutally marginalized and suppressed his political rivals within House ranks. He kept a tight control over the flow legislation, often blocking bills that had a majority support but which he opposed because of his conservative social and fiscal positions.
As he returns to Beacon Hill, Finneran will be walking into an increasingly tense political struggle between his two former lieutenants. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi has confronted majority leader John Rogers, demanding that Rogers, who has been anticipating DiMasi's eventual departure, stop soliciting votes for speaker. Rogers is particularly close to Finneran.
Brown, the State Police union president, said that what drew the union to Finneran was his strong ties with the Democratic leadership and committee chairmen on Beacon Hill.
Last year the troopers paid Brandon Associates $56,000 to look after their interests in the Legislature. Finneran's fee has yet to be settled.
"We have been entrenched so much with the Republicans over the years, we need a good strong Democrat," he said.
Correction: Because of a reporting error, stories in the City & Region section on Jan. 29, Feb. 9, and in the Business section on Wednesday incorrectly said former House speaker Thomas Finneran had been disbarred; in fact, Finneran's law license has been suspended pending a recommendation to the court from the Board of Bar Overseers. The stories on Jan. 29 and Feb. 9 also incorrectly gave the name of one of Finneran's lobbying clients, the Liquor Liability Joint Underwriting Association of Massachusetts.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
