Nelson Benton: Holiday joy in short supply

 

Nelson Benton

Salem News

November 21, 2008 05:49 am

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'Twas the week before Thanksgiving and all through the House, there's all kinds of stirring — but no sign of a St. Nick coming to the rescue of beleaguered legislators who must choose between tolls and taxes and DeLeo and Rogers as next speaker.

Members of the upper chamber are hoping their woes are behind them now that the resignations of Sens. Dianne Wilkerson (facing extortion charges) and James Marzilli (charged with sexual harassment) are in hand.

But Wednesday, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi put his members on the spot by suggesting they consider an increase in the gas tax as a substitute for the huge toll hikes proposed for the harbor tunnels and the Boston extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Trouble is some aren't sure whether DiMasi, currently the subject of a state Ethics Commission probe, will be around much longer to take the heat if they go the tax route.

Indeed, the jockeying has already begun for the speakership. Robert DeLeo, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, drew some 70 legislators to a dinner he hosted in Worcester last week. According to our spy, attendees from this region included Reps. John Keenan of Salem, Mary Grant of Beverly, Ted Speliotis of Danvers and Steve Walsh of Lynn.

That same source says Reps. Joyce Spiliotis of Peabody and Lori Ehrlich of Marblehead are believed to be leaning towards Majority Leader John Rogers of Norwood in the speakership fight.

Things are so bad right now, even Republicans are fighting among themselves. Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading, faces a challenge from Lewis Evangelides from Holden for the leadership post.

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Politicians in Peabody are always saying they want to see more affordable housing built, but at the same time insist on buying up every piece of available land for "open space" in order to appease constituents who don't want anything — much less affordable housing — built next door to them.

In many locales, saying one thing and doing the opposite would be a recipe for defeat. In the Tanner City, however, it's the formula for electoral success.

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Happy trails to Sean Fitzgerald, Peabody Mayor Michael Bonfanti's longtime chief of staff, who's leaving the city to become town manager in Plaistow, N.H.

Fitzgerald learned his management skills from one of the best — the late Peter Torigian — for whom he served as staff director when the former Peabody mayor chaired the Essex County Advisory Board.

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Thanks to the efforts of Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, D-Peabody, and Rep. Keenan, Salem may be the first municipality in the country to directly benefit from new regulations requiring power plants to pay for the carbon dioxide they put into the atmosphere. The lawmakers inserted language into the bill making Massachusetts part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that is expected to yield the city $1 million for serving as host to Dominion's Salem Harbor plant.

Environmentalists are hoping for even more stringent carbon standards in the Obama administration to the point where, according to the Rev. Jeffrey Barz-Snell of Salem's First Church and the Salem Alliance for the Environment, the Dominion plant will "no longer be economically viable" in three or four years.

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The CEOs of the Big Three automakers all arrive in Washington in private jets to plead for a taxpayer-funded bailout. Is it any wonder their industry is in such dire straits?

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Datebook: Former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Beverly Republican City Committee on Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Beverly Public Library.

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Nelson Benton's column on North Shore politics appears in this space every Friday.

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