Although former House speaker Salvatore DiMasi is headed to federal prison on Wednesday, he said that he maintains innocence in the charges made against him and has held high standards during his 30 years in office.
“While there will be time to dwell on specifics in the months and years to come, I think it is important to once again – as I have from the beginning – profess my innocence,” DiMasi, 66, said in a statement released to the Boston Globe on Tuesday. “In three decades of public service, I was always driven by a core set of beliefs that dictated all my actions.”
After his six-week trial on June 15, DiMasi was sentenced to eight years in prison for charges of conspiracy, honest services mail fraud and extortion, according to an Oct. 19 press release from the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Office.
DiMasi was found to have conspired to sell his office to help Cognos, a Burlington software company, gain two state contracts worth $17.5 million. In exchange, he received $65,000 over a two-year period.
Regardless, DiMasi said that he has remained loyal to the public and hopes to appeal his sentence.
“I have never nor would I ever violate the public’s trust,” DiMasi said. “I still believe in the American justice system and my hope, faith and attention are now focused on the Appeals Court.”
DiMasi accredited a number of accomplishments to his efforts, including health care reform, green jobs, same sex marriage, court reforms and his refusal to sanction casino gambling.
“The irony that the casino culture prevailed after so many years just one week before I traveled to Kentucky is certainly not lost on me,” DiMasi said, according to the Globe.
DiMasi will spend his eight-year sentence in a federal prison in Kentucky starting at noon, but said he will strive to regain his reputation following the scandal.
“I remain outraged that my reputation, my integrity and my good name have been sullied by this process,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to earn back those things in the coming years.”
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