Decision time

Part 4

by Michael Crowley

If a congressional bid appears perilous, Birmingham's alternate future as Senate president looks pretty comfortable. To a job traditionally filled by control freaks like Billy Bulger and Kevin Harrington, Birmingham has brought a light touch and a willingness to allow his committee chairs and membership an unusual freedom. That's not to say he can't play tough. In the November 1995 struggle to succeed Bulger, then-Ways and Means chairman Birmingham -- who had been in the Senate just four years -- pulled off a stunning maneuver by leapfrogging Senate Majority Leader Louis Bertonazzi to the presidency. And yet he quickly healed the wounds from that episode by naming Bertonazzi's allies to leadership posts and generally making nice with everybody.

Some dissidents charge that Birmingham hasn't put an end to such age-old tricks as using office space as a political tool and needlessly shrouding legislation in secrecy. "Maintaining that Senate tradition of keeping everybody in the dark is something he's all too comfortable with," says one veteran observer of Beacon Hill.

Still, "there's a general sense of fairness within the chamber," says State Senator Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield). "The process is very aboveboard. It's fair, and each member has a lot of respect shown toward them. It's a pretty good atmosphere."

Even potential congressional rival Wilkerson praises Birmingham's leadership. "I would call him a comfortable leader who is confident enough to allow other people to have opinions and to express those opinions without fear of retaliation," she says. "Having had the benefit of living in the Senate under two very different leadership styles, I would say that this one is much preferred."

(In contrast to Tolman, Wilkerson has gone out of her way to keep political ambitions out of her Senate relationship with Birmingham. The two met privately late last year and agreed "not to let any of our future plans get in the way of our job," Wilkerson says. "He kept his word and I've kept mine.")

If he does run, Birmingham's record of liberal accomplishments in the Senate will please Eighth District voters from academic elites to the working poor. He was an architect of the state's 1993 $2 billion education-reform law, and this year he pushed through a package of $82 million in tax cuts targeted at low-income and elderly citizens -- although, he is careful to point out, his budgets are always balanced. He has recently backed family-leave measures, a higher minimum wage, and the assault-weapons ban.

Though he's not the legislative roadblock that Bulger was perceived to be, Birmingham can be obstinate. The Senate president had steadfastly refused to compromise this year with House Speaker Tom Finneran to lower unemployment-insurance taxes on Massachusetts businesses. Birmingham supported a freeze in the tax, but, arguing that the state must build up its tax-funded unemployment pool (known as the "rainy-day fund"), he resisted a cut to the level Finneran desired. Last week, after new figures showed the fund at a robust $1.25 billion, Birmingham agreed to a deal.

Birmingham knows that critics see his initial opposition as evidence that he is beholden to his many friends in the labor community. "Preposterous," he says. "I have a close relationship with labor, and I feel complete freedom to be `off' on labor issues."

Just as Birmingham will be accused of being a shill for labor, he must also brace for attempts to portray him as Bulger's insider chum. It was Bulger who gave Birmingham's early career critical support, naming him Ways and Means chairman after Birmingham had served just two years in the Senate. And their ties remain strong: Birmingham's wife, Selma Botman, a PhD in Middle Eastern studies, is a top aide to Bulger -- now president of UMass/Boston -- in her job as vice-president for academic affairs. Furthermore, in a dispute that is holding up the deal to build a $700 million convention center in Boston, Birmingham is clashing with Finneran by insisting that Francis X. Joyce, an old Bulger hand who now enjoys a controversial lifetime position as director of the Hynes Convention Center, also be put in charge of any new complex.

Birmingham says that if he does run, he won't stage a Bob Dole-like exit from the Senate to free him for the campaign. But whenever he does leave, Birmingham's would-be successors will be ready. State Senator Robert Durand (D-Marlboro), Majority Leader Thomas Norton (D-Fall River), and Senator Paul White (D-Dorchester) have long been jockeying under the assumption that the presidency will soon be open. Norton, a relatively conservative Democrat, is the early favorite, thanks largely to his smooth personal touch. Just before the Senate adjourned for summer recess last month, Norton sent each of his colleagues a small gift: a clip-on night-light.

Part 5

Michael Crowley can be reached at mcrowley[a]phx.com.