To Finneran, it crosses line

By Adrian Walker
March 1, 2004

The portrait of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran that emerged from the written decision last week in the federal redistricting case was one of a duplicitous "political powerhouse" who had sacrificed minority political advancement on the altar of incumbent protection. It was a very different Finneran in his office Friday morning. The ruling, it appeared, troubled him relatively little. The implication that his machinations had been guided by racial insensitivity, that was quite a different matter.

"It's bothering me a great deal," he said, as he choked up, eyes watering. "It's bothering me a lot.

"Race has never, ever been a factor in my life. My neighbors, where I choose to live, what I've done in that district, and the inferences created by that decision -- I don't know if it's a defeat, but it's bothering the [expletive] out of me."

He paused, in an attempt to compose himself that was only partly successful. "I knew this was going to come up, and I knew how I was going to react to this. It's the most sensitive subject in the United States of America, always has been. In our lives, probably always will be. And the inference of the court that somehow or other I'm either intimidated to have a large number of black residents in my district, and that I've somehow engaged in manipulation of the process, it's outrageous. There is no foundation for it whatsoever."

To a large degree, it really does not matter why the Legislature took the steps it did on redistricting. The facts are clear. Lawmakers knew -- had to know -- that what they were doing undercut black and Latino voters, who saw no political gain despite a substantial jump in population. The court rightly overturned the Legislature's cynical effort.

Then there is the matter of Finneran's widely ridiculed testimony in which he pleaded such total ignorance of his 12th Suffolk District that he seemed either completely contemptuous or lobotomized. Even the judges got into the act, expressing their disbelief in several pointed footnotes.

"I know people had a lot of fun saying, `Gee, he doesn't even know the number of his district,' " he said Friday. "It's been the 12th Suffolk, the 13th Suffolk, and the 15th Suffolk over the course of these 20-some years. To me, it's Dorchester Lower Mills, it's Mattapan, it's Mattapan Square, it's running out to Cummins Highway. I know it by neighborhood. Show me someone showing up at your doorstep, saying 'I'm running in the Sixth Suffolk District.' Who cares what they call it?"

Finneran's district was a major bone of contention in the case. Previously 74 percent minority, it fell to 61 percent with the addition of several precincts in Milton.

That largely black district has often been perceived as Finneran's Achilles heel, even though he has been elected 13 times and hasn't had a close race in eons. He contended on Friday, as he has for years, that the role of race in elections is exaggerated.

"Byron Rushing's been selected by a white district. I've been selected by a black district. Liz Malia, a white lesbian, has been selected by what's been described as a minority district. Jeff Sanchez, a Hispanic kid on the rise, was elected in a white district," Finneran noted. "The court was just completely dismissive of all of this. They say, `Well, incumbency has all these advantages.' But I wasn't always an incumbent. I wasn't always speaker of the House or chairman of Ways and Means."

Finneran said he expects to meet with the civil rights groups that brought the lawsuit before another map is drawn -- mindful that the judges have already endorsed one of the plaintiffs' proposals as a starting point. The judges have given the Legislature six weeks to redo the map, though Finneran said he expects it to take less time.

He had one last thought. "I'm leaving a note for the next speaker," he quipped. "It'll say, when redistricting comes around, duck."

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.