Letter: Not impressed with legislator's alleged clout

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September 7, 2010

The Salem News Tue Sep 07, 2010, 12:02 AM EDT

To the editor:

In Nelson Benton's Friday, Aug. 20, political column, he noted how state Rep. Ted Speliotis says he is campaigning this year as a member of the incumbent Democratic leadership in the Statehouse and touting his supposed clout with the leadership and Gov. Patrick.

This made me smile. That there is little evidence of that clout in his district is not really the point. His attempt to portray himself as a powerful insider is in complete contradiction to the reality of who he is and how the Democratic machine in the Legislature really works.

Take the recent casino issue. The speaker held discussions with a few members behind closed doors and decided on what his position would be. Was Ted there? I doubt it, because he has always been a follower hoping that a few crumbs might fall his way if he was a good team player and voted for whatever the current speaker wanted.

The casino issue was no exception. Did Ted join seriously in the discussions either in private or public? At election time he has always claimed that he is "not that close to the speaker," yet the day after I'm sure was congratulated by now-indicted former speakers Finneran and DiMasi.

Why? He has always done the leadership's bidding, not its thinking. He and his party are in denial about the fact that the way business has been done for the 23 years Speliotis has been in the legislature, is the problem. The truth is representatives like Speliotis have been entirely happy doing whatever the speaker tell them to do. They haven't exercised any leadership whatever.

Pretending Rep. Speliotis has clout is clearly meant to obfuscate the real issue out there this fall, which is the lack of transparency in how the Legislature does its business. That is why he and many other incumbents need to get new jobs on Jan. 1. Maybe then they will have a little more empathy for the many citizens who work real jobs for not enough pay every day.

Normand E. St. Cyr

Danvers

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