Barney Frank defends support of bank after call from disgraced pol

“Dianne Wilkerson asked me to do it!”

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said yesterday he has “no regrets” about his role in helping a troubled Boston bank qualify for a $12 million federal bailout now at the center of ethics charges against California Rep. Maxine Waters.

In fact, Frank – chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee – says he never helped OneUnited at the behest of Waters, whose husband had served on the bank’s board.

Instead, the Bay State congressman said he worked to promote the bailout at the request of scandal-plagued then-state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson.

“I was already working on behalf of OneUnited, I was called by Senator Wilkerson and others, I don’t remember who. I was out in California doing a hearing and got a call from Wilkerson,” he told the Herald yesterday.

At the time Frank said he acted on Wilkerson’s behalf, the senator was one month away from federal bribery charges to which she recently pleaded guilty. She had previously pleaded guilty to failure to pay federal income taxes and been cited for unreported campaign donations and expenditures.

In 2001, she was fined as a sitting senator by the State Ethics Commission for failing to report consulting fees from OneUnited’s predecessor, the Boston Bank of Commerce, for which she had lobbied.

Wilkerson did not return a call seeking comment, but Frank said he felt “vindication” from a federal ethics panel report released yesterday as charges against Waters were leveled by the U.S. House.

Frank said he advised Waters to “stay out of it” because of her potential conflict of interest in pushing OneUnited’s bailout under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

But when he was asked if he looked into OneUnited, which a few weeks later was slapped with a cease-and-desist order by regulators alleging improper lending practices and excessive executive pay and perks, including a Porsche for executives, Frank said he did not.

“No, I did not look into this specific bank because it was not my final decision on who got aid,” said Frank. “I think minority banks are healthy for the country’s economy. They’re the only minority-owned bank in Massachusetts.”

Waters approached Frank on behalf of OneUnited in early September 2008 and Frank, who is identified only as “Representative A” in the ethics report released yesterday, told her: “He would address the problem. Representative A then asked his staff to take over the OneUnited issue from Representative Waters.”

Waters faces a House trial this fall on three ethics charges relating to a request for federal help for OneUnited where her husband, Sidney Williams, had been a director and still owned stock. According to the ethics report, Waters called for and got a meeting with top Treasury and government officials, including representatives from Frank’s office and Sen. John F. Kerry’s office, on Sept. 9, 2008.

Yesterday, critics called Frank a “co-conspirator” with Waters.

“If Frank knew she had a conflict of interest and then he admits to the ethics committee he could use the cover of his interest in Massachusetts and minority-owned banks, then he’s just carrying water for Waters,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative, nonpartisan government watchdog. “I don’t know how he could stay clean or skate away on this.”

However, Frank (D-Newton) said, “They asked for all my records and at no point did they ever tell me that I was being investigated. I’m pleased that they’ve concluded that nothing I did raised any questions.”

OneUnited received $12 million from the massive federal TARP program. So far, OneUnited hasn’t proven too good an investment – the bank has missed five dividend payments to the Treasury Department.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1271935

Ethics trials highlight racial tensions in Congress
/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1271983

Democrats declare swamp of corruption drained
/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1271980

Judge who halts Sal DiMasi hearing a former donor

Photo by Herald file

The judge who abruptly pulled the plug yesterday on a hearing over indicted former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s bid to have his state pension restored gave $50 to the disgraced pol’s election campaign in August 1990, the Herald has learned.

DiMasi’s attorney, Thomas R. Kiley, was a character witness for Boston Municipal Court Judge Raymond G. Dougan Jr. when, three months later, in November 1990, Dougan was nominated an associate justice by then-Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, according to state records.

Dougan, 65, still has DiMasi’s case before him but has postponed it until June 30 so he can confer with BMC Chief Justice Charles Johnson “to determine who is best suited to hear the matter,” said Joan Kenney, state court spokeswoman.

DiMasi, 64, was an assistant Suffolk district attorney in the mid-1970s and later a private attorney who possibly stood before any number of jurists.

The endangered Democrat’s $4,952-per-month retirement allowance has been held up since November while he awaits trial in federal court on mail fraud and conspiracy charges alleging he took $57,000 in bribes from a software company in exchange for state contracts.

DiMasi has pleaded not guilty and claims he needs his pension to pay for his defense and to live.

“I need my retirement allowance to support myself and my family,” he said in court documents. “I had a thriving legal practice until I became speaker but restricted it upon becoming speaker (in 2004) to avoid conflicts and the appearance of conflicts.”

DiMasi resigned his State House seat on Jan. 27, 2009, prior to being indicted. Kiley could not be reached for comment last night.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1261647

John Buonomo jailed for stealing coins from copiers

Penny for pol’s thoughts?

Photo by John Wilcox

For the chump change he was caught on camera tapping from copiers and the cash he stole from struggling taxpayers who voted him into his $110,220 job, John Buonomo, former Middlesex register of probate, was sentenced to 30 months behind bars – and could be sprung in half that time.

The latest face of public corruption in Massachusetts kept his eyes downcast and hands folded yesterday as Middlesex Superior Court Judge Bruce R. Henry sentenced him to the Billerica House of Correction for ripping off $102,792 in campaign donations, as well as buckets full of coins from public copy machines at the Middlesex Registry of Deeds.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1212970

Sen. Anthony Galluccio headed back to court

Failed alcohol breath tests

Photo by Ted Fitzgerald

Disgraced state Sen. Anthony D. Galluccio is facing another brush with jail time today after he failed several Breathalyzer tests while under house arrest, blaming the high readings on his toothpaste.

The Cambridge Democrat is being hauled back into court to determine if he should be locked up to serve out his one-year sentence after pleading guilty last week to a hit-and-run crash.

Galluccio, 42, said he flunked several breath tests while in court-ordered home confinement Monday. He blamed the positive readings on his Colgate Total Whitening and Sensodyne toothpaste, which contain the sugar alcohol sorbitol.

“While I knew that mouthwash or cold medicine would set the machine off, it did not occur to me that toothpaste would,” Galluccio said in a statement.

“I am fully committed to sobriety and continuing treatment, and remain focused on serving my constituents,” he said.

Galluccio pleaded guilty Friday to an Oct. 4 hit-and-run in Cambridge that left a father and his 13-year-old son injured.

The two-time drunken driving offender was sentenced to six months of home confinement, and he was ordered by Judge Matthew Nestor to not touch a drop of booze. He was also required to submit to random alcohol testing, surrender his license for five years and pay a $1,000 fine. He was placed on probation for two years but was being allowed to attend formal Senate sessions and Sunday Mass.

Probation spokesman Coria Holland said last night Galluccio has been ordered back to Cambridge District Court in Medford today for a detention hearing.

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz, whose office prosecuted the case, said last night Galluccio should have been tossed in jail in the first place. Cruz sought a year sentence with six months served in jail.

“He hurt two people. He should be held accountable for that,” Cruz said. “It doesn’t matter who you are. You should be held accountable.”

A spokeswoman for Senate President Therese Murray said, “We expect Sen. Galluccio to comply with the terms of his probation.” Galluccio earns $61,400 as a state senator. He has stepped down from legislative chairmanships that paid him additional stipends.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1220665

Anthony Galluccio laps up wrist slap
/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1219877

Therese Murray warns Anthony Galluccio of murky Senate future
/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1219876

=============================================

Cops: By the way, we gave Galluccio a lift Police finally admit to driving Galluccio home

Photo by Ted Fitzgerald

Cambridge cops kept secret for a month the fact that they had driven home a state senator after responding to a report of an intoxicated man just hours before the lawmaker slammed his SUV into a minivan and fled, raising questions of a cover-up.

It was 25 days after an Oct. 4 hit-and-run wreck allegedly involving Sen. Anthony D. Galluccio when cops finally wrote up a report on the free ride.

=============================================

Anthony Galluccio laps up wrist slap

Photo by Ted Fitzgerald

So Christmas comes a week early for state Sen. Anthony D. (for Drunkard) Galluccio.

After his latest brush with a bad ice cube, the besotted solon gets . . . home confinement. Nice. Most guys jammed up as often as Galluccio would have gotten confinement in a new home, namely, the House of Correction.

This bum should be bunking with John Buonomo in Billerica, instead he’s telling reporters, “I’m going to open my home to constituents.”

The only problem is, sometimes when he’s got a load on he forgets where he lives. But you’ll be able to spot his house easily enough. It’s the one with the swinging doors.

“I have made a firm decision that there will be no alcohol in my life.”

Are you aware, Senator, that beer is in fact alcohol?

If I ever get in a jam, I don’t ask for any special favors. Just treat me like Sen. Galluccio.

There’s an old saying in the military that sums up this squalid case: “different spanks for different ranks.” I don’t so much blame the judge – Galluccio has been pardoned for two OUIs, and the clerk/magistrate in Boston broomed his demolition derby caper in the Back Bay. And of course, he ran away from his latest crash and hid long enough to make a Breathalyzer immaterial.

But still, the fact is, a lot of guys have done a lot less behind the wheel – and haven’t sent anyone to the ER – and they still ended up doing six months in Plymouth, or Dedham or Deer Island. They lost their licenses, their jobs, their families.

Galluccio gets a Dianne Wilkerson sentence, as they say at the State House. Hell, even Dianne had to go to a halfway house.

And Galluccio has the audacity to say, “I cannot overstate my regret for the decision I made that day.”

Give me a break. Not sticking around for the field-sobriety test – the sidewalk Olympics – was the best move he ever made, and he knows it. And where were the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) outside the courtroom?

I know, the apologists will be out in force. They’ll say he has a problem. Actually, the real problem belongs to the drivers who are on the road with him. And supposedly he loses his driver’s license for five years.

Yeah, right, just like Judge McEvoy supposedly had her license pulled for six months after her OUI. Four days later, she was tooling around Belmont. Another one of those “hardship licenses” . . .

Senator, to ask the question from the old song, was it the high cost of living, or the cost of living high?

Anyone can get into trouble once. As Rudyard Kipling wrote, there comes a night when the best gets tight. But when it happens over and over and over again, the phrase the cops use is “habitual offender.” As they say at the academy, it’s a trend as opposed to an anomaly.

This guy is acting like his last name is Kennedy. The only thing missing from yesterday’s sob story was a claim that he was on his way to a vote at the State House.

“This experience,” he blubbered, “has been a life-altering one for me.”

No it hasn’t. Six months in the House of Correction – that’s life-altering. This is a broom.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1219877

Sen. Anthony Galluccio headed back to court
/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1220665

Therese Murray warns Anthony Galluccio of murky Senate future
/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1219876

=============================================

Fellow cons have had fill of pampered pol Anthony Galluccio

Photo by Herald file

Disgraced ex-Sen. Anthony Galluccio, how do you like that beige jumpsuit you’ll be wearing for the next nine or 10 months at the Billerica House of Correction?

Enough already with this dreadful health-care fiasco. Let’s get back to more amusing topics, like a perennially overserved hack doing a year in the county jail for what amounts to open and gross drunkenness.

You remember the story. Time after time, the drunk Democrat got away with boozy accidents – he refused Breathalyzer tests, drove off after rear-ending a car, got a ride home from the Cambridge cops even though he forgot where he lived. Once he even got a pardon from his fellow Cambridge tosspot, Gov. William F. Weld. But Galluccio finally got locked up after he was caught drinking while under house arrest.

The statesman claimed he was framed by a tube of bad tooth paste. He was Arm & Hammered. It’s a scandal, and every scandal’s name has to end in -gate. Call this one Colgate.

Now I hold in my hand a letter from the solon’s new home, the House of Correction. It’s from “Concerned Irish Con” who is in the same substance-abuse unit, Pod A, as Galluccio.

“He’s still trying to convince people it was 80-proof toothpaste.”

Do you think Galluccio is in denial? “He is out of his cell more than anyone else, always on the phone – he must think he’s campaigning.”

At this point a call was placed to the warden – Middlesex Sheriff James DiPaola. He said Galluccio can make as many calls as he has money in his campaign, er canteen, fund to pay for. Remember, Galluccio’s mom and sister held a fund-raiser for the ex-mayor of Cambridge. And given the jail rates – $3 per call, plus 10 cents a minute – they’d better throw him another one soon.

Back to the anonymous letter:

“He gets special meals from the chow hall. Shrink wrapped with his name on it.”

Couldn’t confirm that one with the sheriff – apparently it’s privileged information. But 140 of the 900 inmates at Billerica get special meals, so it’s likely Galluccio is one of them. Not that special food means much to the ex-solon, unless he could score some rum cake.

“This (bleep) thinks he’s better than us convicts but he wears a jumpsuit just like us. He’s gone from a senator to a janitor. Cleans showers.”

All very interesting, Concerned, but what about me?

“He talks (bleep) about you, says you’re a scumbag and a loser but I don’t think you have any DUIs.”

That is correct, sir.

“He’s trying to get out on bail while awaiting his appeal. Get the kids off the street. I hate seeing this kiss-(bleep) getting special treatment.”

The sheriff says nobody’s getting any special treatment. No more Harvey’s Bristol Gleem for Mistah Chairman.

By the way, Galluccio’s roommate is not John Buonomo, the sticky-fingered ex-register of probate in Middlesex county. Buonomo works in the jail kitchen, and no, he doesn’t get to count the change from the vending machines.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1241955

Pol nabbed on New Hampshire booze run

A Westport lawmaker who voted to hike the state sales and alcohol taxes was spotted brazenly piling booze in his car – adorned with his State House license plate – in the parking lot of a tax-free New Hampshire liquor store, the Herald has learned.

Michael J. Rodrigues’ blue Ford Crown Victoria, emblazoned with his “House 29” Massachusetts license plate, was parked outside a Granite State liquor store on Interstate-95 South over the weekend, according to a witness who provided pictures to the Herald.

The witness, who requested anonymity, claimed he approached Rodrigues, noted his State House plate, and asked if he was on personal or official business. Rodrigues, who was loading booze into his car, snapped “mind your own business,” the witness said.

The witness’ account was also posted yesterday on Citizens for Limited Taxation’s Web site.

A member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Rodrigues did not return several phone calls yesterday. But in an online interview with The Standard-Times in New Bedford, he acknowledged buying the booze during a bathroom stop while he and his wife were on a weekend getaway in New Hampshire.

He also blamed the brouhaha on “Republican demagoguery.”

“Unfortunately, I think that’s why the Republican Party is in such bad shape in Massachusetts,” Rodrigues is quoted as saying. “The electorate here is smart enough to figure out what they’re up to.”

The Westport Democrat, whose family owns a rug business, was among the lawmakers who voted in an unpopular 25 percent sales tax hike for Bay Staters. The increase pushed the sales tax to 6.25 percent and slapped that same levy on booze – the first time alcohol has been subject to retail sales tax.

The hike has been blasted by business owners, especially those on the New Hampshire border, who say the increase has driven business north.

Mike Cimini, owner of Yankee Spirits liquor stores in Sturbridge, Attleboro and Swansea, said he’s lost about 10 percent of his business since the booze tax went into effect Aug. 1.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable that a Massachusetts state representative would be that hypocritical, let alone be that bold to actually drive his car with political plates to a New Hampshire liquor store,” said Cimini, noting Rodrigues represents communities close to his stores. “He’s up in New Hampshire to avoid the very taxes he approved.”

State law prohibits transporting more than 20 gallons of malt beverages or three gallons of any other alcoholic beverage. Police have the authority to detain and charge anyone illegally importing booze into the state. It’s unknown how much Rodrigues purchased at the New Hampshire store.

Authorities have also cracked down at the border, targeting Bay Staters seeking to avoid paying state taxes by crossing into New Hampshire to shop.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1194791

Salvatore DiMasi faces fraud rap

Photo by Angela Rowlings

Ex-Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi is facing up to 20 years in prison for allegedly taking kickbacks in yet another State House corruption scandal that has cast a pall over Beacon Hill and sent the onetime iron-fisted leader’s former colleagues scrambling for cover.

DiMasi was hit with fraud and conspiracy charges yesterday in a scathing indictment that painted him as the “coach” of a team of conspirators who cut lucrative deals in backrooms and on golf courses from Boston to Florida, lining his own pocket to the tune of $60,000, federal agents alleged.

Prosecutors said DiMasi used his legislative might to steer $20 million in taxpayer-funded software contracts to Cognos in 2007. In exchange, the Canadian firm funneled payments to an unnamed lawyer in DiMasi’s law office, who in turn cut the then-speaker checks ranging from $4,000 to $25,000, authorities alleged.

At one point during the alleged scheme, DiMasi boasted to a pal, “It’s about time we got business like this,” according to acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks.

Also charged yesterday were DiMasi’s friend and former accountant Richard Vitale, Cognos lobbyist Richard McDonough and former Cognos executive Joseph Lally Jr. All four were released on $10,000 surety and are due back in federal court Monday.

DiMasi, who became the third consecutive speaker to land in the defendant’s chair in federal court, had tears in his eyes as he addressed a crush of media outside Moakley Federal Courthouse.

“Every decision that I have ever made as the speaker or as a state representative was always made in the best interests of my constituents and the people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts,” DiMasi said, clutching the hand of his wife, Debbie. He brushed off media questions and left in a black Jaguar driven by his lawyer.

Meanwhile, Speaker Robert DeLeo, a longtime DiMasi ally, and his leadership team went into bunker mode yesterday. They discussed beefing up ethics rules in a bid to rebuild shattered public trust, including giving in to a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to ban gifts to politicians and give prosecutors power to tap crooked lawmakers’ phones, sources said.

One lawmaker said news of DiMasi’s indictment “sucked all the air out of the room” during the DeLeo leadership meeting.

DeLeo, who oversaw the key legislative committee that ushered through the Cognos legislation, said he was “saddened and disappointed” by the charges.

His attorney, Robert Popeo, sought to distance the speaker from the scandal, saying he has fully complied with investigators.

“He is not a subject, target or person of interest in any of the investigation that is taking place,” Popeo said. “People from his office produced records (to the grand jury). He was never in front of the grand jury.”

Patrick last night said the indictment was “deeply disturbing,” while one lawmaker called the charges “a huge distraction and a huge blow to the House.”

DiMasi’s indictment comes just two years after former Speaker Thomas M. Finneran was convicted of obstruction of justice and was put on 18 months’ probation. Finneran’s predecessor, Charles Flaherty, resigned from the Legislature in 1996 after pleading guilty to tax evasion and ethics violations. It also comes months after former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was charged with taking bribes.

McDonough’s attorney, Thomas Drechsler, proclaimed his client’s innocence and called the allegations “an attack on the lobbying profession.”

“What he is accused of is doing what he has done honorably and honestly for over 30 years and that is to lobby on behalf of his client,” Drechsler said. “He advocated for language in legislation. That’s what lobbyists are paid to do.”

Edward Mason contributed to this report.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1176446