Posted on 01/06/2007 12:56:31 AM PST by raccoonradio
Tommy Finneran always thought he was the smartest guy in the State House. But yesterday, the former speaker started crying as he cops a plea at the federal courthouse, and this was all he has to say in his own defense.
I was an idiot. I was a bad boy, a very bad boy. I am very, very sorry.
And then he started choking up, and blubbering, and melting into a puddle, and from now on you can just call him Boo Hoo. You had to wonder, what would he have done if he’d been handed some real prison time, instead of a slap on the wrist by Judge Richard Stearns.
Stearns was so deferential, in fact, that he even almost apologized for using a word in the statute: corrupt.
“It’s archaic language,” the judge explained. “A corrupt endeavor. Corruptly means willfully. An endeavor is only an attempt.”
Tom Finneran, a tin-pot tyrant, used to fancy himself a Winston Churchill. The day he went into federal court and started lying, he even brought with him one of those short bios of Churchill. I know, I was sitting next to Finneran that day. He was using the book to show his contempt for the court and its proceedings. He had better things to do with his time than worry about some damn lawsuit.
But yesterday, he turned into Alibi Ike. His lawyer made the pathetic case for his serial lying. Richie Egbert, who mainly represents mobsters and corrupt pols, admitted that Boo Hoo arrived on Northern Avenue with a “bad attitude.” Funny thing about arrogant jerks and bad attitudes. They go together like House speakers and felonies. From Good Time Charlie Flaherty to Boo Hoo Finneran. The more things change . . .
But remember, it wasn’t Finneran’s fault.
“He was rediagnosed with a degenerative hip disease,” Egbert said, “and he had found out he would have to obtain a hip replacement and he had difficulty walking and he was denied medication.”
Sounds like the smartest man in the world should have found himself a new doctor, eh?
“And his wife, Donna, was in Mass. General for tests on her knee and she was waitng for him to pick her up.”
Next time call a cab, OK?
“And they called several expert witnesses ahead of him.”
Ah, there’s the rub. Didn’t they know, Mistah Speakah comes first? No wonder he started lying, er, giving “obviously misleading answers,” as Egbert put it.
What a terrible way for the Legislature to begin a new year. Things had been looking up, too. Until yesterday, it had been almost four months since a state rep had taken the fall on a federal rap. That would be ex-rep Chris Asselin, in whose golf tournament Boo Hoo played every summer.
When Asselin was going down for the count, he mentioned his sainted ma. Yesterday, after copping his plea, Finneran followed in that squalid tradition.
“My mother,” he began, “who is now 86 years old, always told me to admit my mistakes.”
What mistakes? He’s a wonderful guy. The judge was apologetic asking him about drugs (a required question for anyone pleading guilty) and sadly told him he could no longer own a firearm - “not that you’d want one.”
And Egbert made him seem like a veritable civil-rights pioneer.
“He didn’t flee Dorchester,” Egbert said. “He now lives on a street where he is the only white person or one of two.”
A regular Abraham Lincoln Boo Hoo is. Outside, after the plea, I tried to shout a few questions in his direction. “Heard from Chris Asselin?” I yelled, but Boo Hoo just kept walking.
“How does it feel to be a convicted felon?” I bellowed, as Finneran climbed into his car, silent for once, just another State House pol so crooked, as they say, he needs a corkscrew to get into his pants in the morning.
Go to this page and click "Watch the video" for Ch 7's report on the Finneran plea. About 30 sec. in you'll hear Howie:
"How does it feel to be a convicted felon?"
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO39072
And you can see Howie near the end of the Fox 25 report.
Right after "and serve 18 months unsupervised probation"
video here
http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=1976626&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
BUMP for excellence in freeping.
Dollars to donuts the brilliant, ingenious voters of Boston re-elect this crooked scumbag Finneran. And why not? After all, they keep re-electing a fat drunken killer....
Sorry? Sorry he got caught is more like it.
No mention of his party affiliation in the article, so that means Democrat.
I can only hope that Jim Black former speaker of the house of North Carolina has read or will read this article. Just because you step down, doesn't mean you don't have to pay for your crimes.
This is the most poorly written article I have read in years.
All I was able to gather was that some guy named Finneran is crying in court with a bad hip and an 86 year old mother and some guy maned Howie Carr does not appear to like him.
I did not learn who Finneran is, nor why he was in court, how he lied, how his hip is coming along, or the health of his mother.
A 6th grader could have written this better and included at least one fact or crumb of background. What a waste of time.
Carolyn
Tom Finneran was the democrapic Speaker of the Mass. House of Representatives.
Howie Carr is a popular, fairly conservative (he leans libertarian) talk show host in the Boston area. His newspaper columns are meant as political humor, and are written for an audience that already knows the facts. This column would have appeared in the Boston Herald, in which factual columns would also be available to fill in the missing details, etc. I am personally a fan of Howie's writing; it makes me laugh. Also, having lived in MA for plus-two decades, it was nice to be able to tune into at least one fairly conservative voice now and then. That was a rare treat in a sea of far left liberalism, believe me.
And the Dems have the gall to label the Republicans "the culture of corruption"! MA, NJ, LA are inhabited by Democrat pols who should never get out of prison. And this judge is an example of how they get away with it for years. Voters in these states are a prime example of why our forefathers did not want the USA to be a democracy, but a republic. Stupid voters give life-time employment to these crooks in their little fiefdoms. Only the feds can touch them, and even they are at the mercy of Democrat judges who administer justice in tiny doses.
Just watched the Vid. As usual it was nice to see my Rump Swab State Rep Tom Rogers Defending that piece of crap, Just like A few years ago comparing Good Time Charie to Jesus Christ. At least he looked Sober.
If you were from MA, you would already know that stuff!!!Consider yourself fortunate that you don't!!!!
One BIG reason We now live in AZ.
"If you were from MA, you would already know that stuff!!!Consider yourself fortunate that you don't!!!!"
Ain't that the truth. The fact that we can understand exactly what he's writing about proves that we have been here too long!
Howie writes for the Boston Herald, which means local, which means that they're all corrupt Dem pols. Howie probably just overlooked the (D), assuming everybody knows that he's a Dem.
Yesterday, Howie pointed out on his radio show that there's a distinct possibility that the guy will lose his state pension.
And, as a lawyer, Finneran always waived jury trials for his clients, prefering to go before just a judge.
BTW, did you know that as a state rep in general, and the house speaker in particular, he had a say in the appointments and pay raises of judges...
Howie also pointed out that Finneran may pursue a radio career at Howie's own station. In Howie's studio, perhaps.
As you hang around Free Republic more, you gain a lot of knowledge. Give it time, you'll catch up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this typical Howie Carr column.
Carolyn
Not nice to rub it in !!!!!!
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