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PROTEST
Speaker pique
BY KRISTEN LOMBARDI

Progressive activists have had the notoriously autocratic House Speaker Tom Finneran in their cross hairs for months now — hosting rallies and ballot campaigns meant to protest his " anti-democratic " hold on the state House of Representatives.

Next week, they will take yet another tack: publicly shaming Finneran before his own House Speaker peers. On Wednesday, September 25, activists plan to rally against what they call Finneran’s " iron-fisted rule " just as House Speakers from across the country kick off the 11th Annual National Speakers Conference. Every year, the conference attracts as many as 30 sitting House Speakers and their chiefs of staff for a leadership forum. This year, Finneran will host the four-day event — which features a tony dinner at the State House, guided city tours, and an array of lectures on politics and social issues — in Boston.

Before all that, however, House Speakers from across the land will get a taste of just how unpopular their Massachusetts counterpart has become among progressives. " His peers would probably envy the power that he holds here, " says Jeremy Pittman, chair of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Political Alliance of Massachusetts, which is sponsoring the event along with labor and progressive groups. " But it’s been a bar to progress " on everything from Clean Elections and gay-rights legislation to affordable housing. The rally marks a chance for people to show Finneran’s colleagues that, as Pittman notes, " we want to stand up for democracy in Massachusetts. "

Anyone eager to voice this message can get in on the action at Copley Square, at 6 p.m., on Wednesday, September 25.

Issue Date: September 19 - 26, 2002
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