Sal DiMasi says he wants ‘a second chance.’ Here’s why.
“I want to help the homeless. I have a great deal of experience in the Legislature in those issues, health care, criminal justice reform, especially."
Former Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi says he’s paid his debt to society.
Now he wants “a second chance.”
DiMasi, convicted on federal corruption charges in 2011 after resigning two years prior, is seeking to become a state lobbyist, a position he says he would use to advocate on issues such as prison reform and homelessness.
Secretary of State William Galvin denied DiMasi’s registration application in March, a decision DiMasi is seeking to appeal, the State House News Service reports.
“I think I can contribute a great deal. I want to help the homeless,” he told reporters Tuesday, after making his case with his attorney to a hearing officer. “I have a great deal of experience in the Legislature in those issues, health care, criminal justice reform, especially. There are a lot of things I feel strongly about, and I would love to be able to contribute as much as I can to make this a better state and a better country. God knows we need some improvement.”
Fmr House Speaker Sal DiMasi is trying to become a lobbyist. Says he’s “paid his debt” and believes he can get a “second chance” to lobby for criminal justice reform, health care and the homeless. DiMasi also says he is feeling “pretty well” adding he’s grateful for what he has pic.twitter.com/3gh1NdPxvB
— Sharman Sacchetti (@SharmanTV) November 26, 2019
DiMasi was convicted for using his office to funnel $17.5 million in state contracts to a Burlington software company in exchange for $65,000 in kickback payments.
He served five years of an eight-year sentence and was granted a “compassionate” release in 2016 so he could receive medical attention while battling throat and prostate cancer.
Since leaving prison, DiMasi has already been pretty vocal about the conditions prisoners with cancer face behind bars.
“My legacy’s not over,” he said in an interview with WBUR last year, during which he also said he witnessed “cruel and inhumane treatment” while in prison. “I think I can help these people that are suffering in prison, and we can have more compassionate release, that we can have more compassion in the system. So I can still be productive I think.”
On Tuesday, DiMasi said he’s feeling well and told reporters, “Whatever you think I did, I think I’ve paid my debt to society and I think I can get a second chance to be a contributing citizen so that I can benefit the citizens of Massachusetts,” the news service reports.
“That’s all I always wanted to do during my career, as you know, passing all of that monumental legislation, health care for all,” he said. “So basically I feel like that’s my purpose in life, so hopefully I can do that.”
According to Galvin’s office, state law mandates that DiMasi is automatically disqualified from becoming a lobbyist for 10 years because of his criminal conviction.
But DiMasi’s attorney, Meredith Fierro, asserted that state law addresses convictions in state court for violating ethics, state lobbying, and campaign finance laws, not federal crimes, according to the news service.
Fierro said Galvin is “overstepping his authority.”
“Even if there is an omission in the statutory language, whether intentional or inadvertent, it is not for the secretary of state to fill in his own language,” she said. “The secretary is not a lawmaker and he does not have the power to unilaterally amend the statute, yet that is exactly what the lobbyist division has done in order to reach its desired result, which is to disqualify Mr. DiMasi from registering as a lobbyist.”
Attorney Marissa Soto-Ortiz, representing the Lobbying Division of Galvin’s office, said its common for agencies to be granted authority in how laws are interpreted, adding that DiMasi’s convictions were also violations of state law.
According to Soto-Ortiz, lawmakers passed an ethics reform law in 2009 drawing from DiMasi’s case as the impetus, the news service reports.
Galvin’s office has also offered an “alternative theory” that DiMasi’s application may have been shot down because he pushed, while serving as a legislator and not registered as a lobbyist, for contracts for the software company in 2005 and 2006, according to the news service.
Soto-Ortiz said what DiMasi did falls under the definition of lobbying.
Fierro said, however, that that argument shouldn’t be considered because Galvin’s office never held the required hearing needed if it were to file a civil lobbying violation against him, the outlet reports. She also pointed out that DiMasi was a lawmaker at the time.
“We clearly made it known that a hearing would be able to be called,” Soto-Ortiz said.
There is no set timeline for the hearing officer to issue a ruling, but Fierro has requested an expedited decision be made within 45 days.
“This has been going on long enough already, so if we do not have a favorable decision we would like to get to the court as quickly as possible,” she told reporters.
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