Dogged by controversy, DiMasi considers resigning

By Andrea Estes and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

Embattled House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, dogged by a series of influence-peddling controversies involving his close friends, is considering resigning his post as early as next week, according to two members of his leadership team with knowledge of his thinking.

Speaker DiMasi

“He has not told anyone definitely what his plans are,” said one of the members. “He is considering his options.”

Said the other leadership team member: "No final decision has been made." Both spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Even without that final decision in place, DiMasi's private deliberations set off virtual public pandemonium across Beacon Hill today. His potential successors as speaker openly lobbied for support. Rank and file legislators burned the telephone lines with questions and rampant speculation. DiMasi's office itself issued a written statement referring to the "State House rumors and gossip."

"It's been insane," said Rep. Marty Walsh, a Democrat from Boston. "I'm getting calls from everybody -- lobbyists, members, elected officials, staff. If it's just a rumor, a lot of people are sure reacting to it."

At every turn, people saw signs of DiMasi's potential departure. Several DiMasi staffers have been looking for other jobs, according to two state officials who talked on the condition of anonymity. One of his aides has told people he will run for the North End state representative seat that DiMasi has held since 1978, another elected official said.

One rumor even had the clerk's office, in expectation of a resignation letter, staying open late. It wasn't.

DiMasi, who was first elected speaker in 2004 after the departure of then Speaker Thomas Finneran, has been beset by ethics questions in recent months. State and federal grand juries have been investigating payments made to friends and business associates by interests seeking favorable treatment on Beacon Hill.

DiMasi's close friend and former accountant, Richard Vitale, has been indicted by the state grand jury on misdemeanor charges that he secretly lobbied DiMasi and members of the speaker's leadership team on behalf of a group of Massachusetts ticket brokers. Vitale's lawyer, Martin Weinberg, has called the charges regulatory offenses and insisted Vitale broke no laws.

A story in Thursday's Globe said that Vitale had paid $7,500 in legal debts run up by DiMasi's in-laws. The story also reported that a DiMasi aide met with the head of the ticket brokers' association at Vitale's office on the same day that DiMasi and his wife signed the paperwork for a $250,000 third mortgage Vitale gave them on their North End condo.

Federal authorities are also looking at why Vitale and other associates of DiMasi's, including the lawyer who shared a downtown office with DiMasi, received large payments from Cognos ULC, the software company that won $17.5 million in state contracts in 2006 and 2007.

Vitale received $600,000 from Cognos's sales agent in those years. The lawyer, Steven Topazio, earned $125,000 between 2005 and 2007. The amounts surfaced during an investigation by Inspector General Gregory Sullivan.

House Ways and Means chairman Robert DeLeo, a DiMasi ally and candidate to succeed him, has told several people that he believes DiMasi's departure is imminent, according to one lawmaker who has spoken with DeLeo.

DiMasi's spokesman, David Guarino, sought to tamp down the speculation, issuing the following statement: "The Speaker is focused on the important work before the House and won’t be distracted by the latest round of State House rumors and gossip."

If DiMasi left, Democratic lawmakers would convene a caucus to choose their candidate and then the full Legislature would vote in the new speaker.

Both DeLeo and Majority Leader John Rogers, also a candidate for speaker, have been scrambling to shore up their support in the event a vote for a new speaker happens quickly. Both stayed in their State House offices late into the evening, and they both issued statements trumpeting their qualifications.

"As rumors abound, the phone is ringing off the hook," said Rogers in an interview. "During these fiscally tumultuous times, members of the House want proven leadership to steer us through these times. ... That's why they've been calling me all day because of my proven track record as the past chairman of House Ways and Means Committee, offering fiscal recovery budgets that led us out of difficult times."

DeLeo made a similar statement a short while later.

``There have been a lot of rumors swirling around the State House today, but the Speaker, to my knowledge, has not issued any statement indicating his intentions,'' DeLeo said. ``I am very encouraged by the increasing and growing support I have among the membership.''

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