DiMasi's rise from majority leader, to the top spot in the House, comes with the unexpected departure of longtime Speaker Thomas Finneran (D-Boston), who abruptly resigned his post in late September to take a position in the private sector. Within a day of Finneran's plans becoming public in the Boston Herald, DiMasi had gathered enough votes amongst fellow House members to hold a lock on the speaker's office.

One key step in becoming speaker was to avoid a potential showdown with House Ways and Means Chairman John Rogers (D-Norwood). As rumors of Finneran's interest in exploring opportunities outside of government began to swirl early in 2004, both DiMasi and Rogers began quietly lining up support to succeed the powerful speaker.

In a move to avoid a prolonged and divided political battle in the midst of an election year, Finneran is reported to have helped facilitate the deal in which DiMasi became speaker, with Rogers serving as majority leader. The deal gave DiMasi a unified front from which to begin his tenure as House speaker.

Rogers, age 39, will now serve as DiMasi's top lieutenant within the House leadership team. As Ways and Means chairman, Rogers developed an excellent grasp of our legislative goals relative to pensions. He knows the long-range impact on our state's funding schedule. He will be available to help the new chairman, when named, during the leadership changeover.

Entering the House in 1979, the 59-year-old DiMasi had been one of Tom Finneran's top lieutenants. In addition to serving as majority leader, DiMasi had previously served as an assistant leader and majority whip, as well as holding several key chairmanships during his twenty-five year career.

While having been known for his support of public retirees throughout his years in the House, it was in the spring of 1997 that DiMasi truly made his mark in Association history.

As members may recall, 1997 was the year in which the landmark COLA law was passed into law (Chapter 17, Acts of 1997). After months of studies and negotiation, Association officials thought they had struck a deal between legislative leaders, Weld Administration officials and municipal leaders.

At the eleventh hour, as the negotiated COLA bill was brought to the House Floor for a vote, lobbyists with the Mass Municipal Association launched an unexpected attack on the bill. Armed with false information claiming the bill would cause fiscal chaos at the local level, municipal officials nearly defeated the bill on the House Floor.

Had it not been for Sal DiMasi, who was then majority whip, the bill would have gone down in defeat. With the speaker, who had championed the legislation, away on a family emergency, it was left to DiMasi to guide the bill.

After losing on a procedural vote, which would have suspended House rules and brought the COLA bill up for the key vote, DiMasi orchestrated a parliamentary maneuver to bring the bill before the House for a second vote. He then took to the House floor himself to rally the necessary votes to pass the bill. After five hours of debate, the bill was finally passed into law by a comfortable margin.

"Sal DiMasi has been a good friend and longtime ally of our Association. He really came through for public retirees and survivors back in 1997 when the COLA law was on the line. Without Sal's support that day, I do not know where we would have ended up," said Association President Ralph White. "As speaker, I expect that Sal DiMasi will be the same approachable person he has been over the past twenty five years.

"Over the years, we have worked closely with both Sal DiMasi and John Rogers. Both men understand Chapter 32 (retirement law) and will make a good team for us to continue working with. We have a longstanding tradition of excellent relations with the House leadership and I fully expect that to continue."