At least now he does.
On March 20, 2008, DeLeo - then a top DiMasi lieutenant - was among the majority in a 108-to-46 vote against expanded gambling. So was his top deputy today, House majority leader Ronald Mariano of Quincy.
Yet like DeLeo, while Mariano voted against casinos in 2008, he voted in favor of them last week.
DeLeo spoke for many members and fellow Democrats when he defended his change of heart, saying the Great Recession that took root in fall 2008 underscored the need to use any means to create jobs in Massachusetts. Casinos, he says, will create 15,000 of them.
That said, the ranks of fellow flip-floppers ran the course of the House alphabet, from Atkins and Ehrlich to Miceli, Story, and Wagner, according to roll calls of each vote.
The ideological, if not political, consistency award goes to the House Republican caucus.
Of the caucus members who were in the House both in 2008 and this past week, all voted the same way, either for or against expanded gambling, each time.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where debate is scheduled to begin Sept. 26.
Councilors stymie another court pick
The inaugural “Political Intelligence’’ column focused on the growing problem Governor Deval Patrick has had getting some of his judicial nominees past the Governor’s Council.
Little more than two months later, councilors have stymied another one.
William Rosen, who the governor tapped to fill the top administrative post at the Hampshire County Probate and Family Court, withdrew after councilors questioned his experience in the court system, his work as a lobbyist, and whether politics played a role in his selection as register.
Another question focused on why Patrick was using his appointment power to fill the post when it will be up for public election in November 2012.
The job has been filled on an interim basis since Register David Sullivan was sworn in as Northwestern district attorney in early January.
O’Reilly will host show from Boston
Fox News Channel personality Bill O’Reilly is coming back to Boston.
