The wife of disgraced former Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi is looking for blame in far-flung places ahead of her husband’s incarceration later this month. Deborah DeMasi has now turned on those that support a casino business bill and claims that if he’d passed the legislation, he wouldn’t be looking at an eight-year stretch behind bars.
Accusations that some in the house may have had the knives out for him stem from DiMasi’s strong opposition to a bill back in 2007. Devel Patrick’s proposal would have allowed three resort style casinos in the state and in the process create 30,000 construction and 20,000 permanent jobs. None of this was enough for DiMasi who used personal experiences of his own dad’s gambling addiction to influence his opinion. The decision was a unanimous one as members voted 108 to 46 to reject the bill. It was a result shrouded in controversy as it emerged he may have offered out privileges to certain members – claims he strenuously denied. It seems neither side would be too bothered about “watching his back” as it were.
DiMasi was found guilty of seven of the nine counts levelled against him with the charges relating to conspiracy, honest services fraud, mail fraud, aiding and abetting, wire fraud and extortion. They were in relation to an accusation that assisted a software company so that it would win multi-million dollar contracts. In return he got kickbacks with prosecutors saying he conspired to “line his own pockets.”
Mrs DeMasi added that she never had to ask her husband if he was guilty, as she knows he isn’t. She obviously didn’t consider that if a man never gets questioned then he’s unlikely to reveal anything. As far as casinos in the state are concerned, the bill is continuing to advance and is now in its final stages before it is signed into law.
