BOSTON -- Former Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas Finneran, once considered the most powerful man in the Statehouse, pleaded guilty Friday to obstruction of justice in a deal that spares him prison time for misrepresenting his role in a redistricting plan that diluted the clout of minority voters.
Federal prosecutors agreed to drop three perjury charges against Finneran in exchange for his guilty plea to a single count of obstruction of justice.
"I apologize to the people of Massachusetts," Finneran said, choking back tears as he spoke in a federal courtroom packed with about 100 family, friends and political colleagues. "I embarrassed myself. I shamed myself. I shamed my family."
"It was a divergence from a code of conduct that I have tried to follow in my personal and professional life, for the entirety of my life," he said.
Under the deal, Finneran will pay a $25,000 fine and be placed on 18 months of unsupervised probation. He has also agreed not to seek political office for at least five years.
Separately, Finneran still faces a possible suspension of his law license or disbarment by the state Board of Bar Overseers.
As part of the deal, Finneran admitted making false and misleading statements under oath during his 2003 testimony in the voting rights lawsuit when he was asked whether he had seen and reviewed a redistricting plan before it was filed with the House clerk. Finneran had repeatedly denied doing so.
The indictment, however, cited several meetings Finneran conducted before the formal release of the redistricting map, including one in which he reviewed a redistricting plan for each district in the state, including his own.
In accepting the guilty plea Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns asked Finneran why he had misrepresented his role in the redistricting plan.
Finneran replied that he found the lawsuit's accusations "very troubling" and when critics objected to the plan, "I was angered by it, and I think, quite frankly your honor, it led to this entire series of events that leads us here today."
Since leaving the Legislature, Finneran has been president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, where he earns a salary of about $416,000 plus bonuses.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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