House colleagues stick by DiMasi

Say Vitale charges don't taint speaker

Speaker Sal DiMasi (left) and his friend Richard Vitale.

Members of the House remained supportive of Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi yesterday, despite the ethics controversy that resulted in a grand jury indictment this week of Richard Vitale, DiMasi's personal accountant.

The sense of loyalty to the speaker, whose close friends and associates are now the subject of both state and federal grand jury investigations, was virtually unanimous among a sampling of representatives interviewed yesterday. The only faint signs of dissent were voiced by House members who declined to be identified. Even the small Republican minority declined to call for a change in leadership.

Representatives said that no allegations have been directly leveled against DiMasi, therefore they will not seek his ouster. DiMasi, who has denied helping his friends, has said he will be seeking reelection to another two-year term when the Legislature reconvenes in January. The vote for speaker is scheduled for Jan. 7.

"I'm sure that it's sending some shock waves through the membership," said Representative David L. Flynn, a Bridgewater Democrat, referring to Vitale's indictment. "But I'm not sure that it will change the election. Unless we see some more surprises, it seems to me that the speaker certainly has got the votes and at the present time there would be no opposition. I think it goes back to the old adage: You're innocent until proven guilty."

Representative Daniel E. Bosley, Democrat of North Adams and a staunch DiMasi ally, said the new information "doesn't change anything for me.

"I think he's fine," Bosley said. "I think people are waiting to see what happens. It still hasn't connected the dots to the speaker. I have faith in him. I've known Sal DiMasi for 23 years. I've never seen him doing anything untoward."

Richard Vitale, a close friend of DiMasi's, was indicted Thursday on 10 misdemeanor counts. The preceding investigation indicated that Vitale had repeated, direct contacts with DiMasi as he secretly pushed legislation on behalf of an association of state ticket brokers, said Attorney General Martha Coakley. Vitale sent information to DiMasi's personal e-mail account as he sought to trade on his high-level connections, Coakley said.

Coakley's findings directly contradicted DiMasi's strenuous denials in an April interview with the Globe, when he said he had no idea that Vitale had been working on behalf of the brokers in 2007. The brokers were backing a bill that would have gutted the state's antiscalping laws. The bill was approved in the House, but stalled in the Senate.

Vitale was indicted on charges of failing to register as a lobbyist and illegally making campaign contributions beyond the $200 limit permitted by lobbyists. His lawyer said he is innocent.

Two members of the House - Robert A. DeLeo, House Ways and Means chairman, and John H. Rogers, House majority leader - have been campaigning to succeed DiMasi, but neither has shown any interest in challenging the speaker directly. Both have said they would run only if DiMasi steps down.

Bradley Jones, House minority leader, also declined to break publicly with DiMasi, although he did call on DiMasi to provide more information. He called ethical controversies "an increasing distraction that commands people's time, energy, and attention."

"Every day, members are waiting for another shoe to drop," Jones said. "The speaker, if his goal is to remain as speaker, needs to get this whole thing resolved.

"That means being more forthcoming," Jones said. "You are a public official and you have a different standard than John Q. Citizen."

Representative Jay Kaufman, Democrat of Lexington and an unswerving DiMasi supporter, said he believes that DiMasi's only sin was not paying attention to what his friends were doing without his knowledge.

"I think this is largely a story of betrayal," Kaufman said. "Some of the speaker's good friends traded on his name and their friendship. And Sal is maybe guilty of being blind to their actions."

In a press conference announcing Vitale's indictment, Coakley said Vitale was paid $60,000 by the ticket brokers group while attempting to keep secret his work on its behalf.

She said that Vitale had repeated contact about the ticket brokers' legislation with both DiMasi and a key lieutenant, Thomas M. Petrolati, House speaker pro tempore.

It was the first time Petrolati has been publicly drawn into the expanding controversy. Coakley portrayed Petrolati as being among those most involved with the legislation.

Petrolati's alleged involvement also contradicts statements made by the speaker. In the April interview with the Globe, DiMasi said he did not believe that Petrolati or any other member of his leadership team met with Vitale or the ticket brokers, led by Ace Ticket owner James Holzman, to discuss the bill.

Some DiMasi supporters said they were deeply concerned about the inconsistencies uncovered by the Vitale case, but would support DiMasi, anyway.

"It's incredibly unsettling - the e-mails and the meetings," said one representative, who did not want to be named for fear of appearing disloyal. "Of all the things that have come out, that is the most dangerous to the speaker and the most concerning for the members.

"But unless things change dramatically between now and then, I will vote for him," the representative said. "I don't have evidence of wrongdoing or illegal behavior by the speaker, and I'm not going to leap to conclusions without evidence."