Docket includes fence mending
As midnight approached Thursday, Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, presiding over the constitutional convention, looked out from the rostrum and saw an agitated House member, one of Speaker Thomas M. Finneran's deputies, punching his fist into his hand and yelling at him over the din.
Representative Eugene O'Flaherty was angry. He and his House colleagues could not get Travaglini to recognize them to speak on the floor. Travaglini, suspicious that Finneran's team was trying to undermine Senate efforts to provide civil unions in a constitutional amendment, allowed a filibuster so the clock would run out and the convention would adjourn at midnight without a vote. O'Flaherty and 20 of his allies stormed out.
The Legislature's inability to reach a consensus this week over gay marriage reflects the divisions in public sentiment over the issue. But the heated two-day debate also brought new tensions to Beacon Hill and tore at the close working relationship that had developed between the Legislature's two most powerful members, Travaglini and Finneran.
Lawmakers left early yesterday morning, frazzled and angry. Alliances and relationships were strained, especially at the top.
"I suspect the Senate president will be very cautious when dealing with the speaker in the future," said Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr., Democrat of Pittsfield. "Fool me once, shame on you; but fool me twice, shame on me."
Senators were upset at Finneran's tactics, saying he had agreed when the convention opened that a Senate amendment would be taken up first. Finneran, the senators claim, took advantage of Travaglini, asking at the last moment to speak and then offering his own more restrictive amendment.
A member of Travaglini's leadership team, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the East Boston Democrat was furious at Finneran's procedural maneuvering and what he considers bad-faith negotiations by the speaker and House members. Another suggested that Travaglini has, almost naively because of his easygoing personality, put his trust in Finneran during the past year. The conflict with the House speaker over gay marriage could force that to change.
Travaglini was not available for comment yesterday. Finneran did not respond to a request for an interview.
Some lawmakers suggested the tensions could be attributed, at least in part, to the cultural differences between the branches. The 40-member Senate prides itself on its genteel decorum. The 160-member House is often rowdy. When the two get together for a constitutional convention, the mix is not always good. O'Flaherty's stormy exit was not groundbreaking for House members. Other conflicts broke out, too. Senate minority leader Brian P. Lees, a once-strong ally of Governor Mitt Romney, seethed over the governor's moves Wednesday to undercut Lees's attempts to push through a compromise amendment that would have outlawed gay marriage but enacted civil unions. Romney opposed measures mandating civil unions. Communications between the two Republicans have ceased.Some veteran lawmakers warned not to make too much of the tensions and their long-term effects. Peter J. Larkin, Democrat of Pittsfield and Finneran ally, said the flare-up of emotions is not going to disrupt the long-term working relationships between the House and Senate. Larkin is assistant vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "Sure it was an emotional moment, but I don't see this as an institutional roadblock," Larkin said. "There is too much personal relationship between the House and the Senate to allow some emotional outburst to pull us apart."
