DeLeo not interested in possible AG post
Speaker eager to end speculation
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo took himself out of contention yesterday as a candidate for attorney general if the current officeholder, Martha Coakley, were to win the special US Senate election.
If Coakley wins, the position would become vacant, and it would fall to the House and Senate to jointly select a candidate to fill it. Because the 160-member House far outnumbers the 40-member Senate, the House almost always dictates such choices.
DeLeo said he wanted to put an end to any speculation he was interested in leaving. He said it has put “a cloud’’ over the House leadership and its future and that nervous members have repeatedly approached him wanting to know if they faced another battle over who would be the next speaker.
“It’s so far out there it’s affecting the working of the House,’’ said DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat.
DeLeo took over the speaker’s post last January when Salvatore F. DiMasi, who was facing a corruption probe, left the Legislature. DeLeo had spent months in a tense, behind-the-scenes struggle with the House majority leader, John H. Rogers, as the two tried to win support from colleagues.
DeLeo said that it was far too early in his tenure to step aside and that he has an obligation to keep the House leadership stable as the state continues to wrestle with fiscal problems. He said that if Coakley wins the Senate seat, he would decide then to back a candidate for the position.
Those who have shown interest in becoming attorney general include Representative Charles A. Murphy, a Burlington Democrat who is DeLeo’s Ways and Means Committee chairman, and Representative Peter J. Koutoujian, a Waltham Democrat and House chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
