Should members of the house and senate be automatically thrown out when they are caught in a scandal? This woman sold out her country for $23,000. Man, I thought we were worth more than that.
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From the City & Region staff at The Boston Globe
Senate may move to oust Wilkerson
October 30, 2008 11:11 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +
By Frank Phillips and Matt Viser, Globe Staff
A Democratic lawmaker is expected to move today to expel Dianne Wilkerson from the state Senate after she was ensnared in an FBI corruption probe and accused of accepting $23,500 in bribes.
State Senator Michael W. Morrissey will move to expel Wilkerson from the Senate today when Democrats caucus behind closed doors, according to a senior State House source whom Morrissey consulted. The move by the Quincy Democrat will put his colleagues on the line and test whether Wilkerson has any goodwill remaining in the Senate.
Wilkerson was spotted in a car on Bowdoin Street outside the State House at 10:30 a.m., but she did not enter the building. A member of Wilkerson's staff informed State House officials that she will not attend the caucus.
It is highly unusual for a lawmaker to be expelled from a legislative body before they have been convicted of a crime. No one has been ousted from the state Senate for corruption since the 1970s, when two members were convicted of extortion for accepting kickbacks from a construction firm building the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. In what became known as the MBM scandal after the McKee-Berger-Mansueto construction firm, Joseph J.C. DiCarlo, a Democrat from Revere, and Ronald C. MacKenzie, a Republican from Burlington, were both thrown out of the Senate after their convictions.
local news updates
updated
Thursday, 11:31 AM
Thursday, 11:31 AM
From the City & Region staff at The Boston Globe
Senate may move to oust Wilkerson
October 30, 2008 11:11 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +
By Frank Phillips and Matt Viser, Globe Staff
A Democratic lawmaker is expected to move today to expel Dianne Wilkerson from the state Senate after she was ensnared in an FBI corruption probe and accused of accepting $23,500 in bribes.
State Senator Michael W. Morrissey will move to expel Wilkerson from the Senate today when Democrats caucus behind closed doors, according to a senior State House source whom Morrissey consulted. The move by the Quincy Democrat will put his colleagues on the line and test whether Wilkerson has any goodwill remaining in the Senate.
Wilkerson was spotted in a car on Bowdoin Street outside the State House at 10:30 a.m., but she did not enter the building. A member of Wilkerson's staff informed State House officials that she will not attend the caucus.
It is highly unusual for a lawmaker to be expelled from a legislative body before they have been convicted of a crime. No one has been ousted from the state Senate for corruption since the 1970s, when two members were convicted of extortion for accepting kickbacks from a construction firm building the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. In what became known as the MBM scandal after the McKee-Berger-Mansueto construction firm, Joseph J.C. DiCarlo, a Democrat from Revere, and Ronald C. MacKenzie, a Republican from Burlington, were both thrown out of the Senate after their convictions.
