Tom Finneran was once arguably the most powerful politician in all of Massachusetts. Now, after deciding to plead guilty to a federal obstruction of justice charge in order to avoid imprisonment, his reputation has fallen precipitously. Today, the former Speaker of the state House of Representatives is a convicted felon.
At first, Finneran was dismissive of the 2002 lawsuit brought by the Black Political Task Force, Boston VOTE and the statewide Latino organization �O�ste?, among others. The suit charged that Finneran had unconstitutionally gerrymandered the redistricting process to diminish the political clout of black voters. According to his lawyer, Richard Egbert, the former Speaker felt importuned by the lawsuit, and lied under oath out of pique.
For this one indiscretion, Finneran is paying dearly. He was fined $25,000 by the court. He was forced to resign from his $416,000-a-year job as president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. The state Retirement Board is considering whether he should forfeit his $31,000 annual state pension. And as a felon, he might lose his license to practice law.
Finneran is fortunate not to be a resident of Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Virginia or Wyoming - in those 11 states, felons are not allowed to vote.
This is a heavy price to pay for an unguarded moment of anger. Young black males should learn from this - there are high costs for losing control of one's anger.
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