Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Merritt told a jury that Patrick will be asked to testify that DiMasi personally lobbied him on several occasions to support a $15 million management software contract for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
This is an updated version of a story posted at 9:31 this morning.
Former Massachusetts Speaker of the House Salvatore DiMasi is seen at a meeting of the editorial board of The Republican in 2008.BOSTON – Prosecutors plan to call Gov. Deval L. Patrick to testify in the federal public corruption trial of former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, who prosecutors said was driven by mounting personal debt to rig state contracts.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Merritt told a jury Thursday that Patrick will be asked to testify that DiMasi personally lobbied him on several occasions to support a $15 million management software contract for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
Merritt said the former Democratic speaker, who prosecutors said reaped about $65,000 from the alleged kickback schemes, faced $50,000 in monthly credit card debt. Prosecutors also said he had much less time to devote to his law practice after becoming speaker.
“The bad news for DiMasi was that the income from his law practice took a significant hit,” Merritt told the 12 jurors and four alternates, adding that DiMasi needed the money “to keep up with an extravagant lifestyle.”
DiMasi and two co-defendants, Joseph McDonough and Richard Vitale, have pleaded not guilty. A fourth man charged in the scheme, Joseph Lally, pleaded guilty in a deal that could see him testify against DiMasi and the others.
DiMasi attorney William Cintolo said jurors shouldn’t believe Lally.
“He’s a liar. He’s a cheat. He’s a manipulator and the quintessential name dropper,” said Cintolo. “Beware of what Joe Lally is trying to sell you.”
Merritt acknowledged Lally isn’t the most sympathetic witness, calling him a gambler and greedy salesman, but said he’ll testify truthfully.
“Keep your eyes on the ball, see how much evidence is collaborated,” Merritt said.
Merritt said while there’s nothing in writing directly implicating DiMasi, the evidence will show a “tacit, mutual” understanding among the alleged conspirators.
At issue is whether DiMasi helped orchestrate a scheme to direct contracts to Cognos, a Burlington, Mass.-based software company.
Prosecutors say the scheme was hatched in late 2004, when DiMasi, Lally and McDonough arranged to have payments funneled to DiMasi in exchange for his helping Cognos land the first contract – a $5.2 million sale of software to the Department of Education.
Cognos agreed to pay a monthly $5,000 “referral fee,” $4,000 of which would be sent to DiMasi. In return, according to an indictment, DiMasi asked his staff to press another state lawmaker to sponsor budget amendments setting aside the $5.2 million.
Cognos, which cooperated with investigators, then tried to win a $15 million contract selling management software to the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
Merritt said DiMasi at several points made it known to Patrick that he was interested in the Cognos contract, including during a July 2007 breakfast meeting between the two. Merritt said Patrick passed on DiMasi’s wish to then-Administration and Finance Secretary Leslie Kirwan.
On Aug. 24, 2007, Kirwan signed the Cognos agreement. Days later, Cognos paid Lally’s firm $2.8 million. The firm, in turn, paid Vitale’s firm $500,000 and McDonough $200,000, according to the indictment.
The administration ultimately canceled the contract, and Cognos refunded the money.
Merritt said the $500,000 for Vitale was meant as “seed money” for a future business venture between Vitale and DiMasi once DiMasi left office.
“He wasn’t going to be speaker but for a few more years so they should make as much hay as possible,” Merritt said, quoting an alleged comment by DiMasi during an 2006 golf outing with others charged in the case.
“It was a perfect match of self-interest,” he added.
Merritt said there’s no evidence Patrick, Kirwan or any other public official was aware of the alleged scheme.
Kirwan and former state Education Commissioner David Driscoll also appear on lists of possible witnesses, and even celebrity chef Todd English is named as a potential witness in DiMasi’s defense.
Cintolo said it was administration officials, not DiMasi, who advocated for the contracts.
Cintolo said Driscoll had several chance meetings with DiMasi during which Driscoll pushed to get the money in the budget for the initial $5.2 million software contract, which Driscoll said was needed to help track teacher performance under the federal No Child Left Behind education law.
Cintolo said it was Patrick who helped push for the second, $15.2 million software contract.
He also said the arrangement where DiMasi received a portion of what Cintolo called a “referral fee” was a standard business procedure, not a bribe.
If Patrick is called to testify, it would be the first time a sitting Massachusetts governor has testified in a criminal trial since 1995.
DiMasi resigned amid the burgeoning scandal in January 2009, before the release of the indictment.
More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.