Will Dems Dethrone King Sal?

In the past month, House Speaker Sal DiMasi has gone from seemingly invincible to looking surprisingly vulnerable. Phantom voting made a comeback, and then there’s the matter of the three ethics complaints Republicans have made about DiMasi’s dealings.

The GOP isn’t the only party that smells blood in the water. Dissatisfied Democrats are also looking to oust DiMasi, according to the Herald.

Lawmakers confirmed that several leading Democrats are lobbying members to back Ways and Means Chairman Robert A. DeLeo for the top job in open defiance of the speaker, even initiating conversations on the House floor as budget deliberations carry on around them.

It’s just like Jenny trying to wrest the position of Queen B away from Blair on Gossip Girl. Subterfuge! Backstabbing via the local media! But the clothes aren’t nearly as nice on Beacon Hill as they are on the Upper East Side.

And much like Jenny’s futile bid to rule the popular clique, we doubt the unhappy Democrats will beat DiMasi at the game that eventually brought him to power.

DiMasi would be presented with the opportunity to take a whack at another giant when he and his buddy Tom Finneran. . . put themselves on the track to leadership by helping overthrow Tom McGee, the autocratic House boss from Lynn. “He was a strong, do-as-I-say speaker, and he wouldn’t leave,” DiMasi recalls. “Even though his time had come.”

[J]ust over a year later, DiMasi was heading the influential Judiciary Committee. However bold the move appears in retrospect, the pair likely wouldn’t have risked angering McGee if the speaker had had the votes to hold on to his post. But they read the political winds correctly, broke in front of them, and profited handsomely.

Good luck, Dems. You’re gonna need it. The only thing Sal does better than golf is keep up on what’s happening in his house.

Photo by John Goodman