Spring Housecleaning

NEW ENGLAND TRADITIONS die hard. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for instance, tourists continue to through to Faneuil Hall, the official Bay State beverage is still cranberry juice and in the political realm of the House of Representatives, Thomas W. McGee remains crown prince and dictator at the State House. The 59 year-old ex-Marine from Lynn is still among the most enduring of institutions on Beacon Hill, a man whose iron lock on the legislative process has long gone unrivaled by his elected colleagues. He has held the prestigious job of Speaker of the House for the past eight years--longer than anybody else since the early days of the 19th century. But now, Massachusetts has come alive with the restless spirit of democratic reform and, for the first time, the autocratic McGee has been seriously challenged. Furthermore, in this, his moment of vulnerability, all the signs indicate that a momentous revolution in the age-old form of Massachusetts representative government has begun.

Cruel irony it is indeed that in one of the most populist-minded states of the Union, a form of government akin to that of absolute monarchy has prevailed in its capital. James Madison, writing in the Federalist of 1787, warned of the dangers facing all large legislative assemblies, noting that "the greater the number composing them may be, the fewer will be the men who will in fact direct their proceedings." Madison went on to observe that in the earliest republics, a single orator or an artful statesman was generally seen to rule with as complete a sway as if a scepter had been placed in his single hand."

Such a description befits McGee's relationship with the 160-member House. According to the established written Rules of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the Speaker "shall preserve decorum and order; may speak to points of order in preference to other members; and shall decide all questions of order subject to an appeal to the House." But as party leader of the overwhelming Democratic majority. McGee also enjoys the all-important power to appoint every committee chairman and to fill every leadership position. That in turn means control over salaries: the base pay for a representative is a yearly $19,125, but those who head up the influential committees, such as Ways and Means, earn $34,000. McGee himself currently receives $65,000, making him (along with the president of the Massachusetts Senate) the highest paid state legislator in the United States. He directs the daily flow of legislation and has been known to condemn the initiatives of those he dislikes to infamous "Siberian" committees where bills are left to die, forgotten by all but the sponsors. Those bills that meet with the Speaker's favor are often rail-roaded through the chamber without debate or objection. McGee holds all the patronage strings necessary to command loyalty; as Speaker he dispenses office space, regulates staff size and even hands out parking privileges. For those on his good side, the avenues of advancement are wide open and unlimited; for those who oppose him, McGee is the first to admit that "the power of the gavel is pretty, pretty powerful."

Enter Rep. George Keverian '53 (D-Everett), lifetime politician and an unlikely though erstwhile challenger to the throne. For 17 years, Keverian had been the most loyal subject in the realm, one of McGee's personal favorites who was eventually rewarded with the title of Majority Leader. Whenever McGee had a tough floor fight on his hands, he let Keverian do the dirty work, and the quick-witted popular legislator came through time after time. Looking ahead as heir apparent, Keverian says he made an unwritten agreement with McGee back in 1982: the longtime Speaker would retire from polities the following year and thereby give his protege the chance to succeed him. After all, Keverian reasoned, eight years was long enough for even the best of Speakers.

But Keverian claims that McGee violated a trust when he announced that, far from abdicating, he had every intention of seeking re-election as Speaker in 1985. Betrayed by his mentor, Keverian threw down the gauntlet last October, proclaiming that he would oppose McGee as a rival candidate in the future election. Keverian's challenge had an immediate polarizing effect on the House, as representatives scurried to choose up sides. The battle lines were fairly well drawn only days later when McGee drew first blood: Keverian was sacked as Majority Leader and demoted to the status of rank and file member. A high-ranking Keverian ally, Charles F. Flaherty of Cambridge, also lost his job as House Chairman of the Joint Taxation Committee.

That two of the most able legislators in the House could be summarily removed without even so much as a debate was taken as proof positive by Democrats and Republicans alike that Speaker McGee clearly poses a threat to the future of pluralistic politics in Massachusetts. McGee survived the succeeding no-confidence motion, but 26 courageous representatives voted against the Speaker, with 35 others registering as present. Most felt that while McGee had acted in an outrageous fashion, he had not as yet broken any specific rules. According to Rep. Michael Barrett '70 of Reading, a vote of present "defined a protest--a sanctuary for those who want to protest McGee's behavior bud don't want to treat McGee as a criminal."

BARRETT IS AMONG a daring group of young liberal Democrats who are strenuously campaigning for substantive rules reforms aimed at more than just the downfall of Thomas McGee. They hope to reshape the entire power structure and old-style politics that prevail on Beacon Hill. To that end, they have joined forces with Keverian in his struggle with McGee, despite the fact that for years the former Majority Leader backed the Spealter's opposition to any form of procedural codification. For then reformers, beat on change within the party above all, the cause celebre created by Keverian's challenge has provided a perfect opportunity to rally support for the cause they have long advocated.

Popular forces have contributed to the reform drive. The Citizens for Legislative Reform recently collected 120,000 signatures below a petition calling for salary cuts, greater individual responsibility on the part of representatives and an end to the abuses perpetrated by the Speaker. Though rejected as unconstitutional tampering with the internal affairs of the House by the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, the petition helped prod the legislators into action. Five measures, including mandatory ratification of all leadership and chairmen appointments; a new procedure for discharge of bills lost in "Siberian" committees; and a clause requiring that bills be made available in print 24 hours prior to debate (to avoid the old railroading ways) have now all been adopted.

And while McGee still has ardent supporters in the State House, Barrett believes that a new era of creativity may already be under way in the wake of recent events. "Representatives are feeling the joy of acting autonomously in coming up with their own initiatives for the first time," he said. Such a constructive attitude could provide the balance needed to keep McGee under close supervision.

With many of the procedural reforms already in place, Redesign's appeal turns on personality, act institutions. Important with extensive rules that will bind and families the relationships between people, Keverian has said he will have his new candidacy on new blood and a healthy outlook. As he told the House in a recent speech, "My dream was that as Speaker I would provide access, I would not be dictatorial, I would be thoughtful. I would be compassionate.

And the consensus at the House is that Kevertian indeed would be an improvement on the old Speaker and his dictatorial ways. For George Keverian, finally out from under McGee's shadow, has proven himself to be a friendly, avuncular figure, much beloved by his colleagues, open to the press and eager to make amends for his previous association with McGee. Onlookers in the State House are betting that amiability will win Keverian the Speaker's seat in 1985.

But at the moment McGee's House is still his castle, and will be for at least until 1985. In the meantime, Thomas McGee has left no doubt that he will use any means to justify his ends--and remain in power. Only with his departure, therefore, will Massachusetts fully embark on an experiment in responsible self-government. Until then, the Commonwealth will probably retain the dubious distinction accorded to it by the historian Samuel Eliot Morison as "the least efficient and most corrupt of modern state governments."