Miracles Can Happen: Tom Finneran Punished
by Brian Maloney, March 13th, 2009 at 04:05pm
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After hearing that The Felon might actually face lasting consequences as a result of his conviction, count me among the truly amazed. Justice, in Massachusetts?
How could the bar not buy his excuses, especially considering his “arthritic hip”?
Now, the former Democratic house speaker / WRKO morning host’s last hope is the Supreme Judicial Court. Any old friends there who might owe him a favor?
The state Board of Bar Overseers has recommended that former House Speaker and WRKO radio host Thomas M. Finneran be disbarred, a decision that could prevent him from ever practicing law again in Massachusetts.
Only one member of the 12-person board, which deliberated Monday night, cast a dissenting vote. Eight of the members are lawyers.
Finneran’s license to practice law was suspended in 2007 after he pleaded guilty to giving false testimony in a federal lawsuit over his role as speaker in a 2002 redistricting plan that diminished minority clout. Finneran was convicted of obstruction of justice.
[...]
In its decision, the board said disbarment is warranted in Finneran’s case.
“The purpose, but fortunately not the effect, of his false testimony was to impede the claim and to obscure his own role in the development of the illegal plan,” the board wrote in its decision. “Disbarment is the presumptive discipline for a lawyer who is convicted of a felony or a crime involving obstruction of justice of false swearing.
“The various factors offered by the respondent in mitigation, including pain from his arthritic hip, concern over his wife’s orthopedic health condition, anger at the perceived (and erroneous) inference that he had been motivated by racial animus, the purportedly ‘private’ nature of his misconduct, and his long and distinguished public career, do not warrant a departure from the presumptive sanction. We recommend that the respondent be disbarred,” the decision states.
The board’s written recommendation will be given to the Supreme Judicial Court, which has the final decision.
Finneran’s case will be assigned to a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, his attorney said.
Does this mean The Felon need only hope for one sympathetic justice and he is home free? At the same time, it’s hard to see the court overturning a nearly-unanimous decision by the State Board of Bar Overseers to recommend disbarment.
Here’s the apparent irony: had Finneran merely allowed the previous two-year suspension to stand, he’d be able to return to practicing law shortly. Because he fought it, however, the full board has voted for his permanent divorce from the legal profession.
UPDATES: As could be expected, fellow WRKO host Howie Carr has had a field day with this development:
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, that bug-eyed, sticky-fingered little chromedome. That’s the good news. The bad news is, now he’ll still be stinking up the radio airwaves - my airwaves - with ratings lower than whale excrement. From Jerry Williams to gerrymandering.
The caveat is, this was only a recommendation by the BBO. Lately, though, the SJC has been coming down harder on crooked lawyers, usually in cases involving clients’ funds. But the fact is, the Felon has pickpocketed everybody in the commonwealth. Everyone in the state who makes, say, $50,000 a year has $150 stolen from him every year thanks to Felon Finneran’s imperious decision to stop the voter-approved rollback of the state income tax from 5.3 to 5 percent in 2000.
Felon Finneran is a disgrace. He’s tight with every shady character lurking in the shadows of the State House. You know state Sen. Marian Walsh, also known as “Mother Superior,” who just got the $175,000 hack job from Deval, after her husband Paul Buckley got a $113,000 hack job at age 70 from the governor, after Buck reached mandatory retirement age as a judge. This couple’s greed knows no bounds.
Yours truly did a bit of venting as well:
Ex-House Speaker and WRKO host Thomas M. Finneran appears to be on the fast track to losing his law license, leaving little doubt that he’ll try to keep his radio career afloat.
“He was looking for a way out, and now we’re stuck with him,” said media and political analyst Brian Maloney, author of the Radio Equalizer blog. “He’ll just take talk radio along for the ride as long as he can, as long as that contract says he can.”Finneran has been fighting to get his suspended law license back but hit a major roadblock yesterday when the state Board of Bar Overseers recommended that he be disbarred as a result of his 2007 felony conviction. Only one of the dozen board members cast a dissenting vote.
“Disbarment is the presumptive discipline for a lawyer who is convicted of a felony or a crime involving obstruction of justice or false swearing,” the board wrote in its decision.
More local coverage of the special election at Hub Politics.
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23 Comments Add your own
1. Joe from Brighton | March 13th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
OK, now how do we get him off the radio?
2. JazzOrganist | March 13th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Can he be disbarred from a microphone at WRKO?
3. BostonVernon | March 14th, 2009 at 10:21 am
When does our punishment end?
4. Circlet Soft | March 14th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Well, even though Felon Finneran continues to bore us on-air, I for one think “half a loaf” (disbarment and continued forfeiture of 32k pension) is better than nothing.
Plus, the J & J team will cut him loose sooner or later. Once the next “next biggest thing” comes along (and, no, I am not talking Scott Allen Miller “big”!!!).
Scotto, you out there? Your ratings were low, dude, but this Felon Finneran character makes your ratings look Rush Limbaugh-like. How goes the battle with the scale, Scotto? You still jamming with that band? You working now?
5. WRKO Stafer | March 14th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I think J&J would be very, very smart to get Johnny Angel. He is an old Boston guy who is doing radio out in LA. He’s been on Howie’s show a couple of times. He was in the local Boston 80’s rock band The Blackhearts. He was also in another band called The Thrills and he has collaborated with Robin Lane. Smart guy and very good on radio. The only thing, he is probably a bit to open minded for some of the cretins in AM land. They’d probably be happier with a Scotto type hick clone.
6. WRKO Stafer | March 14th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Scotto’s band was called “Red State”. I think the name says it all.
7. Pat Lucci | March 14th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Does my former employer have no shame? Me thinks not.
8. tmp | March 14th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
tommy,tommy your quite the guy, discraced pol, disbarred lawyer, convicted felon, fired from the only private sector job you ever had and everybody is either a dope or morron but you. RAAAgan this is your papa
9. piratetoby | March 14th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Staffer, Don’t know this Johnny Angel guy, but do remember Robin Lane and the Blackhearts. I think my younger brother was part of her road crew for a while. Angel does sound vaguely familiar. I was pretty much into the Boston music scene years ago. When it was good!
10. WRKO Stafer | March 14th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Cool, then you know bands like The Real Kids and the Neighborhoods. There are still some good local bands out there.
11. piratetoby | March 14th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
love the Neighborhoods, O Positive, Scruffy the Cat, Throwing Muses, Salem 66, Skin and my favorite, Tribe.
12. piratetoby | March 14th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
don’t know the Real Kids (not the New Kids on the Block….I happen to know McFlea is a New Kids fan). Mission of Burma, Jonathan Richmond, Willie Alexander, Rick Berlin (Berlin Airlift). I was v. good friends with Moulty’s brother (Barbarians) years ago. Moulty was the drummer who lost a hand when he blew something up (a homemade bomb maybe?). My following the local scene goes back to that time~ the sixties w/the Barbarians and Orpheus. Another obscure band was Private Lightning. They were from the 70’s.
13. Sorenson | March 14th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
That picture of Finneran:
Take an onion, cut it in half, leave it on the grill just a lil too long, yup looks just like that picture.
The story is only how long it too the bar assoc. to move this. How pathetic. Thank God there is a younger generation chomping at the bit to run this country. More power to them, and fast!
Sometimes you just gotsta chuck a whole generation in the toilet cos that is where they came from.
woo hoo!
14. WRKO Stafer | March 14th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
The Real Kids are legends in Boston (All Kindsa Girls). I am also really into the Lyres and all sorts of Boston rock n’ roll. Yes, this town is great and I don’t need “McFlea” to scream that notion in my ear.
15. Sorenson | March 14th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
hey rko Stafinfection
You just want her to do that other stuff in your ear right?
You are still disgusting I see.
They still letting you lick the plate after they are done with it at rko?
lol
what a boot licker.
shalop!
yum.
dont you give anything up for lent?
geesh
16. maryann burke | March 15th, 2009 at 7:23 am
ok, it’s 8:15 am Sunday morning. I logged on to listen to the felon at the breakfast and the gutless wonder isn’t on the air.
17. WRKO Stafer | March 15th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Sorenson….I see McFlea’s drunken buddies have chimed in.
18. piratetoby | March 15th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Speakin’ of “All Kindsa Girls” and drunken buddies, what happened w/the “Divas” thing TKK was promoting w/the 3M’s….Magpie, McFlea & Mel? It never happened…..wonder why?
I rarely listen to the radio on Sat., but happened to get stuck working later than expected in cleaning a pig sty left by a former tenant. The A Bros. were on. Kinda goofy brothers, yucking it up w/each other. But they did a funny bit about U2, and the band being Jewish, not Irish. It was pretty funny. “Jew 2″ is the name they used.
And then they pledged their support for Gumpy Severino in the “Who Gives a F**K” feud between him and Imus. Really! Does anyone give a rat’s *** about these two, with their enormous egos, except each other? One resembles a bug from outer space, and the other’s appearance is starting to morph into an aging Irish nun sans habit. All kidding aside, I remember a nun from years ago who looked like Imus does now. And trust me that Sister was MEAN!
Staffer, yeah, I’d forgotten about The Lyres. Great band.
19. WRKO Stafer | March 15th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Two of those A-Brother are mighty p-whipped. I hope for their sake their wives are decent looking to justify the b.s. they seem to go through.
20. piratetoby | March 15th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Staffer, I haven’t listened to them enough to make any comment about their being whipped. But in general, those men who goof around about being whipped, either directly or indirectly, are not bothered by it, nor are their wives. If their wives are Jewish as well, then they all knew what they were getting into when they married. First thing to go, after the “Mazltov” and the “I do’s” the day of the wedding is b-jobs. That is the reason a young Jewish bride is all smiles on her wedding day. It’s true!
The man who is truly P-whipped keeps it to himself. It only comes to light after wifey files for a divorce the cops find her body months later in a storage bin.
21. Sorenson | March 15th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Did anyone find out yet if Severens father is actually dead.
Holy smokes you are all slow.
I’ve needed this data for-ev-er!
Lets go!
Staffer you quirky lil boot licker. How does she say it staffer? “come ova heeya you lil doll face!”
Like that? then you go over on all fours?
sweeeeeet.
lol
22. WRKO Stafer | March 15th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Sorenson - Hi “Celtic Frost the First”
23. Circlet Soft | March 16th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Sonenson, you are playin’ with fire. A word to the wise is sufficient…
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