The Iron Speaker

Some might have said that Mass. State Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) was crazy to run for House Speaker against incumbent Thomas M. Finneran (D-Mattapan). His foe was, after all, the same political boss who has taken a thoroughly dictatorial approach to his rule of the Massachusetts House over the last six years—the same speaker who has made sure those who so much as vote against legislation he supports are banished to obscure committees and cramped offices.

It is perhaps no surprise, then, that Rushing suffered a resounding 118-17 defeat, garnering six less votes than even snowball’s-chance Republican candidate Bradley H. Jones Jr. With the notable exceptions of the courageous representatives who voted to end Finneran’s tenure, the rank-and-file membership showed the same cowardice that has kept Finneran in office for three previous terms as speaker. When a referendum instructing representatives to vote against Finneran for speaker appeared on the ballot in 18 districts last year, all 18 passed it—but only three of those representatives voted against him. The fact that the other 15 representatives disregarded the express wish of their constituents is a testament to Finneran’s authoritarian, vehemently selfish style—which has fostered about as much open democratic discourse in the House as Stalin did in the Politburo.

But is there a chance that Rushing’s reform-minded platform has finally caused Finneran to change his stripes? He and his crack team of sycophantic representatives would have us believe so. In a speech to the House that had just voted him in overwhelmingly, Finneran uncharacteristically claimed that he intended to foster transparency and debate in state government, promising that he would “actively work to eliminate” the impression that he has stifled more liberal viewpoints and noting that “it is not only important to hear, but to listen.”

Yet it is difficult to hear these words coming from a man like Finneran and take them for anything more than the empty platitudes we all crank out around New Year’s, only to consign them to eternal oblivion a few weeks later. There is little doubt that Finneran will “listen” to what his few vocal opponents say—but it’s what he’ll do afterwards that counts.

In the last six years, Finneran has conducted budget negotiations virtually by himself, encouraged his supporters to overturn a term limit rule that would have made the upcoming two-year term as speaker his last and obstructed the implementation of the Clean Elections law. As much as we’d like to believe that those days are over, Finneran has a long way to go before the people of Massachusetts will believe that Wednesday’s promises of transparency and reform are more than empty resolutions.