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DiMasi said he should praised for turning down Donald Trump. |
As House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi yesterday defended and even lauded his own actions, a state Republican Party official asked the Massachusetts Ethics Commission to investigate him for playing golf with a Suffolk Downs executive at the same time the track's owners are vying for a license to operate a casino in East Boston.
Joseph O'Donnell acknowledged playing golf with DiMasi on two recent occasions at a pair of exclusive South Florida clubs. He initially said DiMasi did not pay when he accompanied him to the Floridian Yacht & Golf Club in Palm City, but later told the Globe he would send DiMasi a bill.
"According to your website . . . elected officials may not accept anything worth $50 or more from anyone with whom you have official dealings," Robert Willington, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, wrote to the ethics panel.
"It is well known that Speaker DiMasi has opposed legalized gambling, and Joe O'Donnell has publicly confirmed that he has lobbied in favor of legalized gambling while golfing with Speaker DiMasi," the letter continued.
"The mission of the Massachusetts Ethics Commission is to foster integrity in government and promote public trust," the letter continued. "It is for those reasons . . . that I request an immediate investigation into Speaker Sal DiMasi's activities."
Speaking to reporters on Beacon Hill yesterday, DiMasi said he declined an invitation to play with developer and casino magnate Donald Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach as soon as he received it, though he did say his brother-in-law, Robert Kinlin, may have accepted the invitation before confirming it with him.
DiMasi, the Globe reported yesterday, declined the invitation as the Globe was making inquiries about his schedule.
An employee at Trump's golf club told the Globe that the men had been scheduled to play last week, but the golf date had been canceled.
DiMasi said he should be praised, not skeptically questioned, for turning down Trump's offer.
"I think that should be something that should be lauded, something that says, 'Well, . . . you know, the speaker was invited, [Trump's] a big celebrity, and he still refused, and that shows that the speaker is very conscious and has an ethical approach to making these kinds of decisions and staying away from the appearance of things that shouldn't be,' " he said.
DiMasi acknowledged that golfing with Trump at Trump International, where the initiation fee is said to be $350,000, could raise ethical concerns.
But he said golfing with O'Donnell, whom he described as a longtime friend, is a different story.
"Nobody is paying for my golfing, and there's no reason I can't play with people I've known for a long time," DiMasi said. "It's not like this came up because the casino bill was filed this year. This was something that happens all the time."
DiMasi initially said he did not know what Trump had in mind when he invited him to play golf, but then added, "I'm sure because he thinks the casino bill is up in Massachusetts and he may have an interest in it that he wants to talk to me about it."
He said he could not be swayed "because I play golf with somebody," but said he didn't want anyone "to misinterpret the facts."
Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for Common Cause, said that when lawmakers socialize with special interests at luxury resorts it appears they are "trying to get access and influence that certainly the average Massachusetts resident is not going to get."
"When you're a high powered House speaker and you're playing golf with someone who wants to do business before you, that strikes the public as a meeting they might not get themselves." she said.
Under the state's conflict-of-interest law, public officials cannot receive anything worth more than $50 in return for an official act.
Public officials who pay their own way can still violate state law if they are deemed to have used their official position to get something that ordinary people cannot, which could include access to exclusive members only golf clubs.
In contrast, officials would not necessarily be in violation, the Ethics Commission has previously stated in other cases, if they are accompanying longtime friends.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
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