Thomas Dimino said Richard Vitale told him that DiMasi favored state Rep. Robert DeLeo as his successor:
This is an updated version of a story posted at 12:11 this afternoon.
Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is seen outside U.S. District Court in Boston Friday.By KYLE CHENEY
BOSTON - In December 2007, Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s accountant, Richard Vitale, boarded a client’s private jet to return home to Massachusetts from a trip to Las Vegas. On that flight, he had a conversation with a longtime colleague, Thomas Dimino, in which he described DiMasi’s interest in leaving the Statehouse and joining the private sector to make more money – belying DiMasi’s public claims to the contrary.
Dimino, who testified to the conversation Tuesday in federal court, said Vitale told him on the plane ride that DiMasi had a favored successor as speaker: Rep. Robert DeLeo, then a top DiMasi ally and chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
“He mentioned that DeLeo was the person that he would like to succeed Sal,” Dimino testified.
Dimino’s testimony bolstered the contention by prosecutors in the corruption trial of DiMasi, Vitale and lobbyist Richard McDonough that DiMasi had set his sights on leaving public office more than a year before he actually acknowledged it. His preferred destination was WN Advisors, a separate firm Vitale operated that had, in 2007, received a $500,000 payment from the sale of a $13 million Cognos contract, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors have argued that DiMasi, who had seen diminished income from his law practice after assuming the speakership, had sought new sources of income to help maintain an extravagant lifestyle and manage tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt.
Dimino was the second witness in the trial to suggest DeLeo was DiMasi’s handpicked successor long before either acknowledged that DiMasi had plans to leave the Statehouse. Dino DiFronzo, a North End political ally of DiMasi’s, testified earlier this month that he met with DiMasi and DeLeo in December 2007 to discuss how to help DeLeo succeed DiMasi as speaker.
DeLeo, through a spokesman, has declined comment on the witness accounts. The Winthrop Democrat outpolled Rep. John Rogers in January 2009 to succeed DiMasi, who spent parts of 2008 reacting to turmoil in the House as allies of DeLeo and Rogers jockeyed in a fight to become the next speaker.
During cross-examination by Vitale’s lawyer, Thomas Drechsler, Dimino noted Vitale never specified where in the private sector DiMasi intended to land or “what specific options Mr. DiMasi might explore.”
DiMasi, Vitale and lobbyist Richard McDonough are charged with conspiring to steer two state contracts – a $4.5 million deal in 2006 and a $13 million deal in 2007 – to Cognos Corp., a Canadian software company, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. The three are charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud. DiMasi is also facing a count of extortion. Prosecutors allege DiMasi received $65,000 funneled through a law partner, that McDonough received $300,000 for his role in the two deals and that Vitale received $500,000 through WN Advisors.
Defense attorneys have argued that any financial transactions related to Cognos payments were legal and that DiMasi pursued software of the type offered by Cognos to help improve the efficiency and data analysis of state government.
Prosecutors neared the close of their close of their argument Tuesday – they expect to wrap up Wednesday – with testimony from Vitale’s administrative assistant Vera Copeland. Copeland testified that she would regularly send files, at Vitale’s request, to DiMasi’s office in the State House, including copies of a proposed consulting agreement between WN Advisors and Montvale Solutions, a Cognos reseller operated by Joseph Lally, who pled guilty in March to conspiring with DiMasi, McDonough and Vitale.
Vitale’s defense attorney, Martin Weinberg, had Copeland describe Vitale’s work with charities, including the Boys and Girls Club, documentation of which he would also send to the State House from time to time. When Vitale – who also worked for a stint as DiMasi’s campaign treasurer – departed his accounting firm, Copeland said, he expressed deep care and concern about her future and his clients’ future.
Another witness Tuesday – Mary Feeley, a paralegal in the U.S. attorney’s office preparing to attend a Boston University master’s degree program – described compiling detailed phone records indicating frequent, regular contact among Lally, DiMasi, McDonough and Vitale. Those contacts – occasionally dozens within a narrow timeframe – Feeley indicated, often coincided with significant events pertaining to the Cognos contracts in question. Flurries of phone conversations also preceded and followed events related to WN Advisors’ consulting agreement with Lally and the renewal of a contract between Cognos and Steven Topazio, DiMasi’s law partner, who redirected portions of $5,000 monthly payments to DiMasi.
On March 10, 2008, the day the Boston Globe ran an article raising questions about the Cognos deals, phone records show repeated early-morning contact among McDonough, Lally, DiMasi and Vitale’s phones. Those frequent calls continued through March 12, 2008, according to documents displayed by prosecutors.
Weinberg, Vitale’s lawyer, emphasized that Feeley’s testimony was limited to vague details contained in phone records.
“You cannot testify as to the content of any of those calls,” he said, getting an affirmative response from Feeley. “All you can say is a phone associated with one of those people is connected was connected with a phone associated with one of the other people.”
Weinberg also pointed out that prosecutors selected specific dates and events for Feeley to research and excluded phone records and emails on other days. In addition, Feeley could not testify whether Vitale actually picked up any of the phone calls made to his accounting office, Weinberg noted. He also showed emails and other records indicating that Vitale was working on unrelated matters at the time of some of the phone calls on Feeley’s charts.
More details coming in The Republican.