You’re not going to have old Tommy Finneran to kick around anymore. Today, his resignation from the House of Reps and from his role as Speaker is official and the North End’s Sal diMasi is poised to take over.
First, I should say that the move bodes well for the continued legality of gay marriage in Massachusetts. At the very least it’s another factor taking any momentum for a constitutional amendment, as neither house now will have an anti-marriage leader.
Beyond that, I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s hard not to cheer the end of blatant power-brokering-as-autocracy that Finneran perfected. But like Jay Fitzgerald, I think that the net result may well be GOP gain in the long run. Fitzgerald seems to imply that the “Progressive-Party Hack Alliance” will overreach, but watching a few Progressive reps on Greater Boston tonight I don’t sense that’s where their mood is - they seemed appropriately cautious. Even so, the Progressives will likely have more muscle, and Finneran’s laser-focus on fiscal discipline will surely be replaced with something at least a little weaker, so the two fronts offer the GOP a chance to realign the party lines a little and gain some of the more conservative Democrat support.
In the short run, however, the new slate of political marketed candidates that Romney is running will have to change their script and fast. The Beacon Hill Gang is all gone now, and I don’t think 2002’s election strategy will work this time around.
But so, too, will the progressive-political machine have to stop blaming Finneran for policy battles lost and actually do the work of convincing people and getting votes. And scrape the StopFinneran!.org bumper stickers off their cars.
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