Sal DiMasi just got eight years in the slams

for some bush league porchclimbing he did on behalf of a lobbyist for Cognos Inc. Meanwhile an oblivious state legislature is debating the revenues to realized off of as yet unlegalized casino gambling.
DiMasi's sad fate ought to be a wake up call to Beacon Hill, if we cannot run the Speaker of the House's office on the up and up, then who the hell in their right minds wants to add the temptations of casino gambling to that mix???
Humble Elias is no fool. He knows this is a lightly trafficked blog, but widely read or not let me state explicitly that casino gambling is political suicide for the Massachusetts democratic party, the monetary temptations thereon will prove too much for Beacon Hill with catastrophic consequences to follow.
There I said it, deal with it.

The Late Bruce Lee...

a man who came within an ace of being Nietzche's super-man in mind and body, was adamant about avoiding all processed sugar and baked goods in his diet.
I think, the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives would be well advised to impose the same regimen on himself with respect of lobbyists.
I mean look what they did for Sal DiMasi, the big schnook imbibed too heavily and the rollers ended up jacking him.
But of course, the problem is larger than mere individuals, the Speakership of the Massachusetts House over the past 20 years has become a virtual counter-governorship with it's own sources of patronage, powers of appointment and all of it cloaked in obscurity.
Til now at least.
DiMasi is the third House Speaker in a row to come under indictment, it seems pretty clear that we are gonna see more and more trials like his until there is serious and abiding reform in the State House of Representatives. Too much money cloaked in too much secrecy and to the benefit of too few insiders is not sustainable over the long term.
So yes let the guilty be punished, but there is a larger context here that has to be addressed, the House Speaker's role must change, evolve or at least grow transparent.

57K USD

That would be the cash reward former State House of Representatives Sal DiMasi allegedly extracted from the now infamous Cognos deal.
$57,000.00....
Hardly a down payment on a house in Menotomy really...chump change to be sure.

And yet this pissant jobbery threatens the state democrats prospects come 2010 up and down the ticket with the tarbrush of corruption. Yeah the state GOP is a wan and wasted thing but issues this good come along once in a generation and they can bulk up quickly on the basis of the opportunities that Sal DiMasi and his posse have offered them.
A lot of state reps from once invulnerable seats will be answering some uncomfortable questions come next summer on nothing more than having voted to re-elect DiMasi in caucus.
Right now, the only hope we have is to pass the Governor's ethics package and add some new draconian measures on top as a concession to public sentiment....even that may not be enough, but it is a damn good start.
Meanwhile at the risk of sounding like a broken record, let Humble Elias reiterate, 57K is chicken feed in the grand scheme of things. Nonetheless DiMasi will have to answer for it in a Federal Court...now imagine the ginormous possibilities for political corruption with the present system of public ethics left intact and casino gambling in the picture???
If you think Cognos alleged bribery is intolerable wait til the state starts auctioning off gaming licenses mah frenz!
Cha-ching My Ass!

So tell us Speaker DiMasi...

What is the plan to handle this little problem?

Well once again the Commonwealth has tried to do what the Federal Government refuses to do and close the health care gap.
And as usual the systemic costs are piling up like bat guano.
It is axiomatic for me at least the individual states are poorly positioned and capitalized to take on the ongoing health care gap in the USA.
But then what can anyone do? This situation has been forced on us and the other forty nine by the inability of anyone in Washington to break the deadlock.
The Presidency has been in the hands of stupid selfish witlings and congress is splendidly inert when it isn't wallowing in HMO lobbyist money like pigs on a farm.
The result is, stalemate.
I for one am getting damn sick and tired of being told, of what cannot be done...anyone else sick of stalemate?

Well...Sal DiMasi doesn't want casinos...

He doesn't want them in the worst possible way. And what the hell got his wish, fair enough casinos are a bad idea classic sort money low cost "problem appeasement".

But...if the Great-n-General Court isn't gonna dee-bate casinos, then are they any more inclined to debate the state's fiscal policy at all?
Humble Elias thinks that the current casino vote is sadly symptomatic of Beacon Hill's approach avoidance complex when it comes to discussing new sources of state revenues.
It would be nice if Speaker DiMasi would enlighten us as to what his plan is to make up our looming budget shortfalls, he could start with a practical plan to reign in the Commonwealth's health care costs.

And believe me we can't hide our heads in the sand on that one, some say the clock is ticking away.