 Howie Carr
Let us now consider the State House friends of Teddy Kennedy.
OK, so the senior senator's scheme to keep "his" Senate seat in the family is probably a non-starter. After all, it's too late for Teddy to provide the customary "gratuities" to the sleazy solons who in 2004 rolled over for him on the bill that took away the then-GOP governor's ability to fill a vacant Senate seat.
You know, the bill that Teddy demanded passage of, but which he now claims "concerns me deeply," because it's so, uh, undemocratic.
What sort of reprobate reps would vote for such palpably corrupt legislation? Let's go down the 2004 roll call on a proposed amendment to Teddy's sordid bill. It would have given Republican Mitt Romney exactly the same power to appoint an interim senator that Kennedy now believes a Democratic governor should have.
The amendment was defeated, 104-44. Below and in our photo array is a partial list of some of the usual Democrat suspects, and I do mean suspects, who followed Teddy's orders to deprive the people of their "continuity of representation," as Kennedy now puts it:
Jim Marzilli of Arlington, later elected to the Senate, now awaiting trial in Middlesex County on charges of harassing or molesting four women in Lowell last year.
Brian Dempsey of Haverhill: Arrested in 2003 for drunken driving, two years after his mother called 911 when Dempsey and his brother got into a barroom brawl in her living room.
Robert Coughlin of Dedham: Not charged, but named in the DiMasi indictment as filing bills at the speaker's behest that led to the $57,000 in bribes paid to DiMasi. Coughlin served as a job-application reference for a Turnpike toll taker who was charged with murdering, dismembering, then cooking the body parts of a cocaine dealer. Succeeded Felon Finneran as lobbyist for biotech industry.
Mark Howland of New Bedford. Defeated after one term in the House, then got into the business of selling wind turbines that didn't work. Said one customer: "He's a crook." Ordered to repay $488,000 to fleeced customers.
Robert Spellane of Worcester: Found guilty of diverting $50,000 from his campaign account for personal use. Dumped his wife last year, after which his 28-year-old girlfriend was hired to work for a State House lobbyist. Recently sent out a letter of apology to his constituents, then days later got into a shouting match with his ex-wife and ex-brother-in-law at a Little League game over $19.
John Rogers of Norwood: Fined $30,000 by the Ethics Commission after an investigation into a summer home in East Falmouth Rogers claimed he owned with one of his campaign consultants, a bank president. Rogers once compared the felony conviction of still another crooked House speaker to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
I'm out of space, with no room to name at least six more Kennedy stooges in the House who've been bagged for nonpayment of various taxes, not to mention two others fined by the Ethics Commission for accepting improper gifts from lobbyists. But you get the picture.
When it comes to Ted Kennedy's Svengali-like control over the Legislature, remember the old saying: birds of a feather . . .
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