Boston Herald

FELONS BEHIND THE WHEEL!

‘OUR FEAR WAS NUMBERS LIKE THIS’

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Finally, I am getting some closure after the terrible crime that I witnessed back in 2003.

Yesterday, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled unanimousl­y that ex-House Speaker Thomas “Felon” Finneran should forfeit his $2,888.30-a-month state pension due to his “false testimony” before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals back on that rainy Friday morning that changed my life forever.

The Felon was in the middle of a lawsuit against his racist gerrymande­ring of the legislativ­e districts in the city of Boston. He did it to protect his white hack buddies. When called before the bar of justice, he got up in front of three judges and was sworn as a witness. Then he began lying, in front of several dozen witnesses, including me, who absolutely knew he was lying.

He later blamed his orgy of falsehoods and whoppers on the fact that he was “gulping” 16 Advils a day. You get hooked on Advils, apparently it’s worse than Oxys, or Twinkies. Yeah, that was the ticket, the Felon reasoned, he had an Advil jones.

Personally, I tried not to let his string of Susan Rice-like prevaricat­ions destroy my faith in the integrity of the Massachuse­tts General Court, but I am still not whole.

I was there in the federal courtroom when Finneran lied. I was actually sitting next to him moments before he went on his crime spree. When I sat down next to him, he glanced over and sneered at me, before returning to reading the little pocket book he had in his lap — a life of Winston Churchill.

That was Felon Finneran — he thought depriving black people in Boston of their constituti­onal rights was the equivalent of the Battle of Britain.

Felon Finneran had nothing to offer but blood, sweat and lies.

Anyway, since witnessing his terrible atrocities on the witness stand — lie after lie after lie, as the spectators gasped at the speaker’s perjury-rama — I have tried to put my life back together. I wanted to power through, as Hillary would say. But the memories … I still shudder every time I pass the courthouse on Northern Avenue.

When the Felon copped a plea I considered asking to be allowed to make a victim-impact statement at sentencing, about the terrible cynicism I now felt about the local hackerama. But why bother? In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.

The feds didn’t give the Felon even a day in the can for his atrocious crimes. He pleaded out and skated.

Then the Felon got his pension back, thanks to a ruling by a hack judge in Boston who was appointed by Small Deval, the governor Finneran joked with about his plans to kill me. Wonderful.

But yesterday, the SJC finally revoked his pension. At the end of the month, the State Retirement Board will consider how much he put into the state pension system, and how much he took out, improperly.

I hope the Retirement Board ends up sending the Felon a bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now that would be some real closure.

In the meantime, I’ll take an Advil or two or three. …

 ?? STAFF FILE PHOTO BY MATT WEST ?? JUDGMENT DAY: The Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that former Speaker of the House Thomas M. Finneran be stripped of his pension. Finneran pleaded guilty to obstructio­n of justice in 2007.
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY MATT WEST JUDGMENT DAY: The Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that former Speaker of the House Thomas M. Finneran be stripped of his pension. Finneran pleaded guilty to obstructio­n of justice in 2007.
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