Convicted felon and former House Speaker Sal DiMasi lobbies for pot

Those who remember when Sal was convicted and sent to prison might have thought that was the last time you would read his name in Boston politics. But the guy has nine lives and is now lobbying City Hall on behalf of a pot company wanting to set up shop on Newbury Street.  Sec of State Galvin has already said Sal can't Lobby Beacon Hill, but new rules allow him to lobby at City Hall. Unbelievable.

 From the Globe:

A fledgling medical marijuana operation has tapped former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi to lobby on its behalf at City Hall, making the convicted felon the latest ex-politician to edge into the growing industry.

Geoffrey Reilinger, the founder of Compassionate Organics, hired DiMasi to help in the “siting and establishment” of its proposed dispensary on Newbury Street, according to a disclosure DiMasi filed this month under the city’s new lobbying rules.

Meredith G. Fierro, DiMasi’s attorney, cited his hand in helping build the state’s landmark 2006 health care law and his own battle with throat and prostate cancer, saying he has an “acute understanding of a patient’s need for access to treatments that can help relieve nausea and cancer-associated pain.”

 “He brings a demonstrated commitment to expanding health care options for all the residents of the Commonwealth,” she said.

Compassionate Organics has tried for a years to open an operation in Boston, first in Allston, where it faced opposition from a local city councilor, before seeking one in the Back Bay, where it won approval from city zoning officials in 2017. The company has a provisional state license, but it still must clear several steps — including completing a host community agreement — before it can open, according to spokeswoman Dot Joyce.

DiMasi, who is locked in a separate fight to lobby at the state level, has “extensive expertise and personal knowledge of medical marijuana, the law, and policy that surround our efforts,” said Joyce, who is also a registered city lobbyist.

Both she and DiMasi are working on a month-to-month basis for Reilinger, and have been paid $7,500 apiece since April, Joyce said.

DiMasi first registered with City Hall on April 23 — a week after Boston’s newly passed lobbying ordinance took effect and just a day after he appealed a decision by Secretary of State William F. Galvin to deny his application at the state level based on his 2011 public corruption conviction.