Adviser to GOP had gay wedding

(Clarification: A story in yesterday's City & Region section about the reported marriage of Republican political consultant Arthur J. Finkelstein described him as an adviser to Governor Mitt Romney. Finkelstein conducted one poll for Romney in 2002 before he entered the race for governor.)

A Republican consultant known for his sharp attacks on liberal causes -- and for boosting conservative careers like that of former US senator Jesse Helms -- married his longtime male partner late last year at their home in Ipswich.

Arthur J. Finkelstein, 59, has advised Governor Mitt Romney, who opposes gay marriage, and Governor George S. Pataki of New York, who said gay marriages performed in Massachusetts would not be recognized in his state. Finkelstein played a key role in Helms's come-from-behind victory in 1990, a campaign denounced for using homophobia to win votes.

Helms, who represented North Carolina in the Senate for 30 years, has rejected gay rights and has called homosexual behavior ''disgusting."

But Finkelstein, who was identified as gay in a Boston magazine story nine years ago, was quoted as saying in The New York Times that he married in December to secure the same rights granted other married couples, such as hospital visitation and healthcare benefits. He and his partner have been together for 40 years, the newspaper reported yesterday.

The marriage was a surprising move by a figure closely associated with conservative politics. Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said the marriage was glaringly inconsistent with Finkelstein's work.

''He's a hypocrite," Johnston said. ''For years he's worked for right-wing candidates who demonize gays and lesbians, and who have tried to prevent gays and lesbians from being married."

A New York native who moved to Ipswich after helping his friend Avi Nelson, the TV and radio personality, campaign for Congress in Massachusetts, Finkelstein has been praised as a political genius and has been condemned as an architect of negative strategies.

He helped former state treasurer Joseph D. Malone cast Paul Cellucci, then acting governor, as a liberal spender ''just like Mike Dukakis," the former governor and presidential candidate, in Malone's unsuccessful bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1998.

And he helped another North Carolina Republican senator, Lauch Faircloth, depict his Democratic rival, John Edwards, who ran with Senator John F. Kerry last year, as a ''Bill Clinton liberal."

Finkelstein also worked for Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, in his unsuccessful campaign against Ehud Barak in 1999, which tried to convince voters that Barak would give up too much land to the Palestinians.

Known for protecting his privacy and rarely granting interviews, Finkelstein could not be reached yesterday.