Jun 3, 2009 4:18 pm US/Eastern
Patrick, Murray, DeLeo Unite On Ethics Reform
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Governor Deval Patrick, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray released a joint statement on ethics reform.
WBZ
Tuesday's multi-count
indictment of former House Speaker Sal DiMasi on corruption charges appears to have broken a political logjam over reform of the state's ethics laws.
Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo released a joint statement promising a quick settlement of their differences on ethics reform. The unusual joint statement comes amid fallout from the high-profile DiMasi indictment, which has unleashed a flood of public criticism of the Beacon Hill political culture over the past 24 hours.
The statement, obtained by WBZ-TV says: "The news of yesterday's indictments and the nature of the charges are deeply disturbing. All three of us have put forth serious proposals dealing with ethics, lobbying and campaign finance reform, the details of which are currently being negotiated in conference committee.
"In light of the recent developments, we believe it is critical that we stand united in our shared commitment to restoring the public trust. Therefore, we have agreed that ethics reform legislation will be passed and signed into law swiftly that includes the best provisions from all three of our proposals. We owe the people of Massachusetts nothing less."
House and Senate conferees must still approve details of ethics reform legislation. Prior to this latest agreement, the Senate plan in particular had drawn fire from Patrick for language reducing the authority of the State Ethics Commission to investigate alleged ethical abuses by lawmakers.
The Senate bill also removed a ban on cash gifts to legislators proposed by Patrick in the wake of bribery allegations against
then-State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson.
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