BOSTON—House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi says he never discussed a bill lifting restrictions on the ticket resale business with longtime friend Richard Vitale.
Vitale isn't a registered lobbyist but was tapped by a group of ticket brokers looking for help getting their message across on Beacon Hill. Besides being a friend of DiMasi, Vitale also gave him a $250,000 third mortgage.
The bill easily passed the House.
A spokesman for Vitale told the Boston Globe he didn't engage in lobbying but refused to say how much he was paid. If he was paid more than $5,000, Vitale would have had to register as a lobbyist -- and his loan to DiMasi would have run afoul of the conflict of interest law.
------
Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe
rising
falling 