Former Mass. speaker resigns from job

BOSTON --Former Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas Finneran on Tuesday resigned from his $416,000-a-year job as president of a biotech industry trade group, days after he pleaded guilty to obstructing justice during a redistricting lawsuit.

The board of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council accepted his resignation, effective immediately. Finneran had taken the job in 2004 after resigning his legislative position.

In exchange for Finneran's guilty plea, prosecutors dropped three perjury charges.

As part of the deal, Finneran admitted making false and misleading statements under oath during his 2003 testimony in the voting rights lawsuit when he was asked whether he had seen and reviewed a redistricting plan before it was filed with the House clerk. Finneran had repeatedly denied doing so.