BOSTON — A Superior Court judge is weighing a request by the State Retirement Board to let it vote to suspend the state pension of former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi.

Assistant Attorney General David Marks said Tuesday the board should be allowed to place DiMasi’s $4,981.86 a month pension in an escrow account, given his recent conviction on federal corruption charges.

Marks said the board is trying to protect taxpayers, and the court should give them that leeway “given the changes in facts and circumstances,” referring to the jury’s verdict.

DiMasi, a Boston Democrat, was convicted June 15 on charges that he used his power as speaker to steer two state contracts worth a combined $17.5 million in exchange for payments.

The conviction, state officials say, is serious enough to allow them to suspend his pension payment.

Treasurer Steven Grossman, who also is the chairman of the Retirement Board, said the board plans to vote to suspend DiMasi’s pension at its next meeting if the court rules in its favor.
The board’s next meeting is Thursday, the same day that DiMasi’s next pension check is due to be mailed.

DiMasi’s lawyer, Thomas Kiley, argued in court that the board can’t suspend a state pension until after a conviction is final. Kiley pointed out that even Marks agreed that a conviction isn’t considered final before sentencing.

DiMasi’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 8.
Kiley went further, however, arguing that a conviction isn’t final until after every appeal has run its course, a process that could take years.

“It is by no means a given that there is going to be a conviction in September,” he said, pointing to possible appeals of the verdict.

Kiley also said that DiMasi needs the pension money, having exhausted much of his personal finances fighting the federal corruption charges. DiMasi didn’t attend Tuesday’s hearing.

“The reality is that Mr. DiMasi is in tough financial shape,” Kiley said. “Mr. DiMasi is strained. There is no doubt about it.”

Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders pressed Marks on the question of whether she could allow the board to block the pension payments before DiMasi’s sentencing, and said that question boils down to whether she believes the board has a reasonable chance of keeping DiMasi’s pension money.

She also suggested members of the public would be justified in questioning why DiMasi was continuing to receive a state pension despite a jury finding him guilty of one count of conspiracy, several counts of theft of honest services and one count of extortion under color of official right.

“There seems to be something really wrong,” Sanders said, with DiMasi collecting a pension after being found guilty of “essentially betraying his office.”

Sanders said she’d take the case under advisement.