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Associated PressBOSTON – Massachusetts' House speaker said Sunday he would resign amid allegations a close friend used their relationship to push ticket-scalping legislation and paid off legal bills for the speaker's in-laws.
In a letter to colleagues Sunday, Democrat Salvatore DiMasi said his resignation as a state representative and as speaker would be effective at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
"No matter what the critics and cynics will say, all my actions as state Representative and as Speaker were based solely on what I thought was in the best interests of my district and the people of the Commonwealth," DiMasi said in his letter.
He said he would call for a caucus Wednesday to choose his successor.
DiMasi has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the criminal investigation of his friend, Richard Vitale. He had won re-election as speaker earlier this month, despite questions into his involvement with Vitale, who once served as his campaign treasurer.
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Vitale has denied acting as a lobbyist. His attorney said the work he did for the Massachusetts Association of Ticket Brokers was exempt from the state's lobbying registration requirements.
Attorney General Martha Coakley said Vitale was paid $60,000 in lobbying fees by ticket brokers interested in changing the state's scalping laws. She said Vitale communicated directly with DiMasi before the bill passed the House last year. The legislation died in the Senate.
DiMasi had been the House speaker since 2004, after his predecessor resigned under his own ethics cloud. He was first elected to his seat representing Boston's North End in 1978.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_on_re_us/massachusetts_corruption
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