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Auditor DeNucci to step out of the political ring

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 13, 2009 04:34 PM

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

It's time to hang up the gloves. State Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci will not seek re-election next year, ending a five-decade career at the State House in which the former champion boxer rose from legislative page to heading up one of the most powerful state offices.

A. Joseph DeNucci

''I am leaving because it is time,'' DeNucci said today. ''I knew it was time to go in my other career as a boxer. It was when I didn't want to be an opponent. I am on top and I want to keep it that way. I want to go out on top of my game.''

DeNucci, who was once one of the world's top professional fighters, said he would officially announce his retirement at a press conference on Monday.

DeNucci has been wrestling for months with a decision over whether to retire, according to those close to him. They said he was very torn over the decision, but was facing strong pressure from his family to step down after completing his record sixth term. When he leaves in January 2011, he will have been the longest-serving auditor in state history.

DeNucci's first career was as a professional pugilist. A Golden Gloves champion at age 16, he became a world-ranked middleweight fighter, who holds the record for the number of bouts in the old Boston Garden. He first came to the State House in 1957 as a House page. He rose to the position of court officer and then legislative aide.

He was elected to the House in 1976, eventually serving as chair of the human services committee. In that role, he became a strong advocate for the elderly and poor. Just as importantly, he developed close ties to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, which was instrumental in his election as state auditor in 1986.

''I have had a great career and I am proud of it,'' he said in a brief interview today. He said he now wants to spend time with his family and travel with his wife, Barbara.

The veteran political figure said his health was not a factor in his decision to retire. Rumors that he was in ill health had spread in political circles, even to the point of encouraging some would-be candidates to quietly begin to ready campaigns for the office.

His decision to leaves creates a wide-open campaign for the office next year. Even the Republican Party, which has held only one state constitutional office other than governor or lieutenant governor, since the late 1960s, is hoping to make a serious effort to win the post. Republican Mary Connaughton, who served on the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board, has said she plans to run for the position.

Democrats who may run include: former State Senator Guy Glodis, now the sheriff of Worcester County; Boston City Councilor Stephen Murphy; Patrick's labor secretary and former state representative Suzanne Bump; and State Senator Marc R. Pacheco.