Beacon Hill Cesspool

I realize that with about a billion hot national political stories floating around right now, a post on Boston city and Massachusetts state government may not be the most exciting, but I had to make a quick comment on the recent arrest of Massachusetts Democratic state Senator Dianne Wilkerson. In the culmination a long-running federal investigation, the U.S. Attorneys office this week handed up an indictment of Wilkerson alleging that she had accepted over $23,000 in cash bribes from undercover agents. The feds apparently have Wilkerson on tape, and have even released stills of her stuffing cash into her bra which are available at this link.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I've spent a good deal of time in Massachusetts, having served as a field director during the gunbernatorial race in 2006. During my time there, I had the opportunity to meet and become acquainted with many Massachusetts politicians and political figures. While the latter were generally good, fun people, I was extremely unimpressed with the men and women of Beacon Hill (the neighborhood of Boston where the statehouse is). I remember not long after starting on the campaign, I commented to a friend on the state reps and senators I had met or seen in action, saying exactly:

"I have never in my life met such unimpressive people."

I have worked, studied, and read about politics and its players for a while, so I have seen a lot of them, and by far, the politicians I met from Beacon Hill were, collectively, the most unimpressive assortment I have ever seen. Really, to be frank, it is embarrassing how unqualified and personally corrupt many members of the statehouse are. And being from New Jersey, I think I am somewhat qualified in assessing state political misdeeds. The only difference between the two is that I think New Jersey's legislators are at least mostly qualified (if still corrupt) where conversely I wonder if one-third of the Massachusetts General Court is borderline illiterate.

It is for this reason that I was not surprised one iota that Dianne Wilkerson, a notorious state senator, was ensnared in a corruption probe. My first thought was: what took so long?! That she was caught on tax was only icing on the cake. I saw a good deal of Wilkerson back in 2006, as she has been a powerful legislator from Roxbury, a poor, prodominently black neighborhood of Boston, and she endorsed our opponent. Let's just say that this arrest and indictment should surprise exactly no one who follows Beacon Hill, despite the loud proclamations of shock from her colleagues.

The Massachusetts legislature is rotting from the inside with many members equally unqualified and perhaps as equally corrupt as Wilkerson. And lest anyone wonder, the legislature is completely dominated by Democrats: 141-19 in the House, and 35-5 in the Senate. The state GOP is at the point where it basically doesn't exist anymore. Corruption can go both ways in this country.

Already, there is talk that Wilkerson will flip on perhaps bigger fish both inside and outside of Beacon Hill. Word is that even longtime Boston mayor Tom Menino is sweating as he is facing re-election next year. And make no mistake: Wilkerson is the exact type of person who will selfishly turn on any person she knows without reservation in order to save her own skin.

So, that's a quick tale on Masschusetts politics, and let me say that the state really does not get the attention it deserves as one of the most corrupt, poorly run legislatures in the nation. This is why I still read conservative Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr. While Howie has said a lot of nasty, mean-spirited, and at-times-reprehensible stuff over the last few decades, especially about Ted Kennedy, he is right in his continued disgust and (often-times hilarious) criticism of the way business is done on Beacon Hill.