< Back to front page Text size +

DiMasi not the first speaker to land in trouble

June 2, 2009 04:47 PM

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Massachusetts is no stranger to House speakers who end up in trouble with the law.

Today, former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi became the third former speaker in recent memory who has been in legal hot water.

Former speaker Charles F. Flaherty was forced to resign in 1996 when federal prosecutors charged him with income tax violations after months of investigating his relationship with lobbyists. For three years, the US Attorney's office had investigated nearly every aspect of Flaherty's personal and professional life, and the speaker accepted a felony plea bargain on a 1987 tax issue, ending his 29-year House career.

His successor, Thomas M. Finneran, was charged in 2005 with obstruction of justice for having lied under oath in a civil suit involving a legislative redistricting plan. He pleaded guilty in January 2007 to a federal obstruction of justice charge. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation and fined $25,000. Finneran now has a radio talk show that airs each weekday morning on WRKO-AM.

E-mail this article

Invalid email address
Invalid email address

Sending your article

Your article has been sent.

On The Beat

Reporter John R. Ellement is in Lawrence, where a court clerk is accused stealing more than $2 million from the Probation Department.
John Ellemont
TALK TO US
breakingnews@globe.com | Twitter | 617-929-3100

Editor's Choice

Living in unity

Living in unity

Residents of a small Maine town embrace Amish neighbors and their belief in leading a simple life.
Bound for Copenhagen

Bound for Copenhagen

New England will be well represented at international climate talks.
MORE

From Today's Globe

MORE BLOGS

White Coat notes
Overweight men with prostate cancer have a higher risk of dying Men who are overweight when they have locally advanced prostate...
Articles of Faith
Questions on Communion and swine flu The big news of the week on the Boston religious...
A report on people from Boston who are making an impact in the world, and on people from abroad doing noteworthy things here.
Report: religions finding common ground Judging by recent newspaper front pages, there's plenty of reason...
N.H. company pledges greener luxury paper bags Here is something you probably didn’t know: Some of those...
archives

LOCAL BLOGS

BOSTON AREA

Universal Hub

A collection of writing from hundreds of Boston-area bloggers.

The Chinatown Blog

Stories and events related to Boston's Chinatown and the Asian American community in Massachusetts

CommonWealth Magazine

Politics, ideas, and civic life in Massachusetts

Red Mass Group

News and commentary about Massachusetts and beyond

Blue Mass Group

Politics in Massachusetts and around the nation

Boston 1775

History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution.
COLLEGE NEWSPAPER SITES

The Berkeley Beacon

The weekly student newspaper at Emerson College

The Daily Collegian

The student newspaper of UMass-Amherst.

The Daily Free Press

The independent student newspaper at Boston University

The Harvard Crimson

The nation's oldest continuously published daily college newspaper.

The Heights

The independent student newspaper of Boston College

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Suffolk Voice

Suffolk University's student-run 24-hour online news resource

The Tech

MIT's oldest and largest newspaper

The Tufts Daily

The independent student newspaper of Tufts University