• Font Size    
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Ethics Reform Heats Up On Beacon Hill

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +    Comments
Jun 3, 2009 2:49 pm US/Eastern

Ethics Reform Heats Up On Beacon Hill

Read: Jon Keller's Blog

Reporting
Karen Anderson
BOSTON (WBZ) ― Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo held a meeting with House Democrats Wednesday, a day after former Speaker Sal DiMasi and three associates were indicted by a federal grand jury on corruption charges.

All four are charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud in an alleged scheme to award a $15 million state contract to a software company.

 Read: Charges against DiMasi

DeLeo called the meeting, which was an informal session, to talk about the DiMasi indictment and ethics reform legislation.

There was a range of emotions among Democrats about the charges.

One said they're "sickened" by it, if proven true.

DiMasi's predecessor, former Speaker Tom Finneran, was also at the State House Wednesday.

When asked about the indictments, he said it will be a difficult time for DiMasi and his family and that it's "not good for the institution."

Finneran resigned in 2004 and was indicted in 2005 for obstruction of justice and perjury.

State Rep. Brad Jones, the Republican Minority Leader, told WBZ that he believes the problem is the heavy Democratic concentration of power in the Legislature.

If found guilty of all the charges against him, DiMasi could face up to 25 years in prison and $2.5 million in fines.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

WBZ's Most Popular

Add Comment

here. here. Need a log in? Register here
  •  * Will not be displayed with comment
  •  * e.g. (http://www.mywebsite.com)
  •  
  • Click here to refresh with new letters

Show Comments (0)

Close Window Login


Close Window Flag Comment


loading...
You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Politics

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Corporation. All rights reserved.