Bob DeLeo escapes Beacon Hill, likely with a $135,000 pension

If he quits now, Rep. Robert DeLeo will be the first Massachusetts House speaker in the 21st century not to leave office pleading guilty to a federal felony and then having to report to the probation office upstairs.

Mistah Speakah, declare victory and get the hell out!

Forget the Curse of the Bambino – what about the Curse of Good Time Charlie, as in Flaherty?

Followed by Felon Finneran. Followed by Sal DiMasi, Bureau of Prisons #27371-038.

It’s not like Bobby DeLeo wasn’t an associate, shall we say, of those above-mentioned known criminals. Hell, he even graduated Boston Latin in the same class with Felon Finneran.

But the solon from Winthrop finally broke the jinx – he was merely listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the probation department scandal. Cost him (or his campaign committee) a half-million or so in legal fees, but DeLeo won his photo finish with the grand jury.

And now, after 30 years at the trough, he has accomplished all his goals, namely, getting public jobs for everybody in his family who wanted one, while “earning” a salary that is now $169,000 a year, setting himself up for a state pension of $135,000.

Not bad for a guy who in his early years in “public service” used a post office box as his residential address.

After a nationwide search, his girlfriend got a job as a secretary at the MWRA. His second cousin Paul is a BPD sergeant who made $186,095 in 2018. There were others. Remember this headline:

“Revere hired DeLeo cousin despite no-shows.”

Or, “Ralph DeLeo’s application for a state job.”

Must have been a good application – cousin Ralph’s up to $100,000 a year in the state Executive Office of Technology Services.

Then there was his godson, Brian Mirasolo, in, where else, the Probation Department. Despite all the trials and headlines, Mirasolo is now deputy commissioner for $141,871 a year.

DeLeo checking out isn’t really much of a surprise. Several of his hack pals didn’t run for re-election, like Rep. RoseLee Vincent of Revere. She’s 73. And Rep. Tom Petrolati from Chicopee. He’s 63, and would you care to guess where his wife works?

That’s right, the Probation Department, for $134,876 a year.

But even though DeLeo has been a short-timer all year, the unindicted coconspirator didn’t want to acknowledge it. It makes you look vulnerable. As the late Sonny McDonough used to say, “Lame duck is my favorite dish.”

DeLeo got the job after BOP #27371-038 was lugged by the feds when his bagman flipped. After three in a row that had to go, DeLeo adopted the ill-fitting pose of a reformer, even proposing a six-year term limit as speaker “to restore public confidence in government.”

Six years later, the guy who once asked voters to give a young man a chance now said there was no substitute for experience. So he ordered his minions to toss the six-year term limit.

Public confidence in government – fuhgeddabout it!

Now Bobby DeLeo, age 70, 11 years into his six-year term-limited tenure, passes the torch to a new generation, namely Ron Mariano of Quincy. He’s only 74.

There’s not a lot of intelligent life left in the Legislature, but with Mariano the leadership is about to spin out into yet another downward spiral. There’s going to be Mike Moran, a failed Watertown bar owner who was also mixed up in the probation scandal – he got a p.o.’s job for one of the bartenders at the Stockyard.

Another likely member of Mariano’s leadership team is a guy who recently had a close encounter of the third kind with a repo man early one morning, ending with the car towed away as the solon shouted the eternal question:

“Do you know who I am?”

These are the statesmen who are soon going to be controlling a $40 billion state budget. The unindicted coconspirator’s iron rule may shortly look like a golden age.

The question now is, when will DeLeo leave? For multiple reasons, the hacks would like to complete the transition before the swearing-in of the new House Jan. 6. First of all, more and more “progressives” have replaced regulars, and the hacks don’t want to risk having to ask AOC wannabes for their votes.

Another problem: As of Jan. 6, the senior House member will be Rep. Kevin “HoHo” Honan, and he would be wielding the gavel for the election of the new speaker. This could be a problem – even by State House standards, HoHo is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

The boys would prefer to have the transition handled by the current “dean,” namely Rep. Angelo Scaccia, no particular friend of DeLeo’s but he can still walk and chew gum at the same time. By the way, Scaccia’s only 78.

DeLeo, Mariano — nothing much will change, not even for their families. One thing about being connected, if you get caught cheating in some college or elsewhere, you get a pass. The people you were conspiring with will get the boot, but not you.

If you’re a lawyer and you get caught fixing a case, you won’t get disbarred, even if your dad’s a convicted felon.

It’s great to be the king. It’s better to be the speaker, even if you’re merely an unindicted coconspirator.