House leaders: Policy made on issues, not DiMasi friendships
BOSTON—Members of House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi's leadership team say a spate of recent newspaper stories about their leader influencing legislation are based on conjecture and not fact.
A group of six committee chairmen and the assistant majority leader called a news conference Thursday to make the argument after stories in The Boston Globe and Boston Herald highlighted work DiMasi's wife is doing with the wife of a developer with interests before the state, as well as apparent jockeying by two members interested in succeeding DiMasi.
One committee chair, Democrat Rep. Michael Rodrigues of Westport, says a bill dropping price limits on ticket resales reportedly pushed by DiMasi's friend and campaign treasurer was drafted and passed based on its merits.
