Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and three associates have been indicted for a scheme in which DiMasi allegedly used his influence to steer state computer software contracts to a Canadian company, according to court records.
DiMasi was charged with conspiracy, honest services mail fraud, aiding and abetting, and honest services wire fraud, in the awarding of contracts to Cognos ULC, according to an indictment filed in US District Court in Boston.
Sal Dimasi makes three Democratic speakers in a row to face indictments from federal grand juries. The liberals wonder why we'd rather keep our own money than have it taken from us by Beacon Hill. This is one of the reasons. The Democratic corruption machine treats crime as business as usual. They use our money to commit fraud and write illegal contracts. They give away cushy hack jobs to their politically connected friends or whoever bribes them the most.
This is yet another issue to hit Democrats on in 2010. Yes, there was plenty of corruption on their part in the '08 cycle as well. This alone will not win anything. It's just one of the dominos that needs to fall.
For most freshman house Democrats, voting to keep Dimasi in power was one of the very first votes they took. When issues for political reform come up during house debates this is yet another good bullet point that can be raised.
Incidentally, this makes 3 Democrat speakers carried off in cuffs since Brad Jones was first elected to the state house in 1994. I seriously doubt this will ever happen with Jones or Tisei. I don't think there is a single member of our delegations on Beacon Hill who got involved in politics for illegal kickbacks and bribes. Who would they sell out to? Virtually 100% of the government corruption here in Massachusetts is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party. It's not a "few bad apples" either. In the State House, this all starts at the top.
