Ticket brokers acknowledge hiring speaker's longtime friend
The association representing Massachusetts ticket brokers acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it hired Salvatore F. DiMasi's longtime friend and accountant, Richard D. Vitale, as a lobbyist to push its agenda on Beacon Hill, according to Secretary of State William Galvin's office.
The group told Galvin's office yesterday that it was registering as a lobbying client of Vitale's firm, WN Advisors LLC, for both 2008 and 2007, the year that Vitale helped the group work on legislation pending in the House, Galvin said.
The association's filing directly contradicted paperwork submitted to Galvin last week by Vitale, who registered as a lobbyist only for 2008 and said he had no clients.
The filing also added to the perception that DiMasi was in the position of owing a large debt last year to an unregistered lobbyist who was actively working on legislation in the House, legislation DiMasi ultimately backed.
Vitale loaned DiMasi $250,000 through an unusual third mortgage on the speaker's North End condominium in 2006. The state's conflict-of-interest law prohibits a lobbyist from giving anything to a public official. DiMasi last week paid back a $178,000 outstanding balance on the mortgage, after an April 27 Globe article about the loan and Vitale's work on behalf of the ticket brokers. Based on the Globe story, the state Republican Party filed an Ethics Commission complaint seeking an investigation.
DiMasi declined to comment yesterday. Last week, through his spokesman, he said he decided to repay the loan once Vitale registered as a lobbyist for 2008. The speaker also issued an impassioned defense of his conduct on Monday in a letter to his House colleagues, saying he never backed any legislation with the intention of helping his friends or associates.
In its filings yesterday, the Massachusetts Association of Ticket Brokers did not report how much it paid WN Advisors either in 2007 or 2008 - despite a state requirement that the amounts paid to lobbyists be disclosed.
In addition to Vitale, it said it also paid an employee of WN Advisors, John McLaughlin.
As part of the association's filing, its lawyer, Donald K. Stern, said the association does not believe it was required to file as an employer of a lobbyist, but did so "to avoid any dispute" with Galvin's office.
Galvin said the filing will prompt further inquiries aimed at Vitale.
"We regard this as a partial filing," he said. "We appreciate their cooperation. Mr. Stern has done something to demonstrate their commitment to disclosure. It's up to Mr. Vitale to give us the whole truth."
Vitale's spokesman, George Regan, refused to account for the discrepancy between the brokers' filing and Vitale's position that he never lobbied.
"Whatever the ticket brokers do is their business. We, however, will not discuss our business on the pages of The Boston Globe," he said.
Vitale was hired to work on legislation approved by the House, with DiMasi's backing, that would essentially deregulate the ticket brokering business by allowing brokers to sell sports and entertainment tickets for whatever price the market would bear.
Through Regan, Vitale has acknowledged working for the brokers' group, but contended that he was a business "strategist," not a lobbyist.
The Republican Party sought to capitalize financially on DiMasi's problems, highlighting a number of allegations in a fund-raising letter it is mailing to GOP donors.
"Speaker Salvatore DiMasi's actions have forced us to ask the Ethics Commission on four separate occasions to investigate his behavior," wrote Peter G. Torkildsen, chairman of the state party. "Your most generous contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250, or whichever amount you choose will enable us to keep fighting for accountability and good government."
