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October 7, 2004

Activists see reform in post-Finneran era

Yawu Miller

Common Cause Executive Director Pam Wilmot doesn’t know for sure whether it was her call to the US Attorney’s office earlier this year that prompted the federal investigation of House Speaker Thomas Finneran, but the perception is there.

“A corporate lobbyist tole me the other day ’they’re really afraid of you,’” Wilmot said, chuckling.

Finneran’s departure from the State House after eight years in the speaker’s seat has Wilmot and other advocates for electoral reform optimistic about a host of causes ranging from redistricting reform to campaign finance reform.

“We’re all encouraged by the shake-up on Beacon Hill,” said Attiya Dangleben, an organizer at Boston Vote, one of the plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit against Finneran. “We’re moving toward a more democratic state.”

Under Finneran’s leadership, the Legislature became a less democratic institution than it was under his predecessor, Charles Flaherty. During his tenure Finneran developed a reputation for iron-fisted rule and swift retaliation against dissenters.

Representatives who voted against Finnernan-backed measures, including a measure abolishing term limits for the speaker of the House, were often stripped of committee assignments in retaliation.

It was Finneran’s alleged influence over the redistricting process that prompted a coalition of organizations to file a law suit against Finneran and the state Legislature that led to Finneran’s subpoena and elicited Finneran’s testimony that he had no direct knowledge of the redistricting process, no direct knowledge of the new lines of his district and no recollection that his district is called the 12th Suffolk.

Now that Finneran has stepped down, reforming the redistricting process is high on the list of issues activists are hoping to advance.

Wilmot says Common Cause will ask the Massachusetts voting public to consider taking the power to draw legislative districts away from lawmakers and turn it over to a non-political body. That way, rather than representatives seeking to hold onto their incumbency, the residents of the districts would be given the power to draw political lines, according to Wilmot.

“They would be guided by the principle of keeping communities together,” she said.

Under the current system, Finneran was able to appoint representatives to a redistricting committee. While the committee held limited meetings in different parts of the state, ultimately it was up to the appointed lawmakers and Finneran’s long-time friend, attorney Larry DiCara, to draw the new district lines.

Thus, few were surprised when Finneran’s own 12th Suffolk District went from 70 percent people of color to 56 percent in the Legislature’s proposed map.

Finneran, who is reportedly leaving the State House in January to head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, has in the last five years received at least $48,000 from health care-related interests, according to an analysis by the Commonwealth Coalition. That figure was culled from the 60 percent of his donors who reported their connections to health care and biotech firms.

Another 40 percent of his donors did not disclose their affiliations, apparently taking advantage of a longstanding loophole in campaign finance law, according to Commonwealth Coalition Executive Director Guillermo Quinteros.

“When a lawmaker is voting on an issue, you never really know why,” Quinteros said. “There’s no transparency.”

Quinteros says more accurate reporting would at least reveal the extent to which lobbyists for corporations and special interest groups are funding lawmakers’ campaigns.

While activists are hopeful that Finneran’s departure will clear the way for reform on Beacon Hill, much depends on newly-elected Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, Wilmot notes.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Wilmot says. “We’re not sure how the new speaker will assemble his new leadership team. There certainly is a major opportunity here.”

 

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