Wilkerson rejects Senate's call to quit

Chamber begins expulsion process

The usually collegial state Senate yesterday shunned one of its own, unanimously passing an extraordinary resolution asking Senator Dianne Wilkerson to resign immediately, following the allegations that she accepted eight bribes worth $23,500 in an FBI undercover operation.

She promptly declined, with her campaign issuing a statement last night indicating that she has no intention of resigning and will defiantly continue her write-in campaign to save a seat she has held for 15 years.

"They made their requests," Boyce Slayman, her campaign manager, said in an interview. "And she respectfully declined to do it today."

Wilkerson, a Democrat, released a statement later calling requests for her to resign "unreasonable."

"Surely the members of the state Senate could not have believed that such a monumental decision would be made within a few hours," she said in a statement.

"A decision to leave this district without representation, even for 60 days, is one that cannot and should not be made in a matter of hours," she said. "Rest assured I am committed to do what is in the best interest of the residents of this district."

Boston's TenPoint Coalition today will also call for Wilkerson to step down, the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, cofounder of the clergy-led group, said last night.

In the early afternoon yesterday, angry mem bers of the Senate stripped Wilkerson of her committee chairmanship, removed her from all her committee assignments, and began the first steps required to expel her from the chamber, referring her case to the Senate Ethics Committee.

The Senate has the power under state law to expel one of its members; but according to its rules, it cannot vote to expel someone until after a review by the committee. Such a vote requires a simple majority of the members present.

Before the vote on the resolution, Wilkerson sent a letter to Senate President Therese Murray saying, "I will respect whatever decision you make."

"I apologize to you and the members for being drawn into the madness that has become my life," Wilkerson wrote in the one-page letter.

While Wilkerson remained silent yesterday and declined requests for an interview, her Senate colleagues did anything but. The senators who were specifically mentioned in a dramatic 32-page FBI affidavit in the Wilkerson case and received grand jury subpoenas of their own this week, reacted the loudest.

Murray, whose only previous comment was a brief statement she read outside her office on Tuesday saying that the charges were serious and that she "will trust the judicial process to take them seriously," yesterday lashed out at Wilkerson on multiple fronts.

"I think if she values the integrity of the Senate, if she values her colleagues' work, she'll go" today, Murray said. "Do I look angry? Yes, I am."

Federal agents charged Wilkerson on Tuesday with accepting eight bribes from constituents and others with business before the Senate. She is accused of taking the $23,500 for helping to secure a liquor license and shepherding legislation that would pave the way for a major Roxbury development.

Murray was mentioned in the affidavit as being present at a private meeting with Wilkerson. She also received a subpoena this week and is prominently mentioned in subpoenas sent to other government offices, including one to the state's technology division, demanding that her e-mails be preserved.

Yesterday Murray publicly and directly contradicted the account federal authorities outlined in an affidavit released Tuesday. The document said Murray was at a meeting on Aug. 16, 2007, when Wilkerson allegedly met with Maureen Feeney, Boston City Council president; Daniel Pokaski, chairman of the Boston Licensing Board; and Senator Michael W. Morrissey, a Quincy Democrat.

"I was not at any meeting with Senator Wilkerson," Murray said yesterday as staffers attempted to usher her away. "Those are allegations."

When asked whether there were any meetings she was a part of, she said no.

Her spokesman, David Falcone, later confirmed that she was referring to the Aug. 16, 2007, meeting referenced in the affidavit.

Falcone would not say where she was that day, but said she had no events listed on her Senate office schedule. According to Senate minutes, Senator Jack Hart, a Boston Democrat, was presiding over the Senate instead of Murray.

The FBI and US attorney's office would not comment on Murray's rebuttal yesterday or provide any indication about where their information came from. The affidavit refers to the meeting in two instances, one of which is attributed to Wilkerson. The other instance states it as fact.

Morrissey, who confirmed that he attended the meeting mentioned in the affidavit, would not say whether the Senate president was in attendance, but said, "I would trust what she tells you."

Morrissey, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, is cochairman of the Consumer Protection Committee and is alleged to be among the politicians whom Wilkerson persuaded to help her secure a liquor license for a Roxbury nightclub.

He was one of several lawmakers whose records were subpoenaed in the FBI probe of Wilkerson. The subpoena, which went to the Legislature's Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and was obtained this week by the Globe, asks for all records reflecting Morrissey's daily activities from May 15, 2007, through June 1, 2008.

Reading a 30-second statement yesterday, Morrissey offered a forceful defense of his role in the case.

"First, I nor any members of the committee had any idea what Dianne Wilkerson was about," Morrissey said. "Second, anything we did was by the book, and I'll stand by those actions at any time."

He then declined to take any questions from reporters.

A source spotted Wilkerson in a car on Bowdoin Street outside the State House near the Fill-a-Buster, a restaurant where the FBI says she took some bribes, at 10:30 a.m., but she did not enter the building. The Roxbury lawmaker was not present when her colleagues took the vote asking her to resign, which occurred after a two-hour caucus behind closed doors.

In the austere Senate chambers, where Wilkerson had fought for same-sex marriage and social justice, her colleagues read public resolutions that went over her past transgressions in every detail, including her failure to pay income taxes and violations of campaign finance laws.

When it came time to vote to ask her to resign, nearly 40 senators let out a loud aye.

Because they were meeting in an informal session, an objection from a single senator would have blocked the vote.

The Senate also passed a resolution asking the Senate Committee on Ethics and Rules to investigate her. If she does not resign, that investigation could lead to her expulsion from the Senate. Murray said the committee would finish its work as soon as possible, but would not provide a timeline and gave no indication that it would complete the investigation by Tuesday's election.

"People in the Senate are disgusted," Senator Brian Joyce, a Milton Democrat, said after the vote. "We've asked her to resign and begun the process to expel her. Enough's enough."

"There's been a shadow cast on the entire body," said Senate minority leader Richard Tisei, who said the Republicans are considering filing ethics reform legislation.

While Wilkerson's seat in the Senate was the focus yesterday, underlying the circuslike scene at the State House was a federal investigation that could bring others into the picture. Subpoenas went out this week to numerous people and agencies, including Murray, Feeney, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Councilor Chuck Turner, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, and WinnCompanies, a development firm owned by Arthur Winn, a longtime political benefactor of Wilkerson's.

Aside from Wilkerson, no one has been accused of wrongdoing, but the FBI has not ruled out further investigations.

Frank Phillips and Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Matt Viser can be reached at MaViser@globe.com.