So Tom Finneran was not content to earn a few hundred thousand dollars per year with his radio gig. His original post-Speaker job as a lobbyist had been interrupted by that pesky felony conviction. The Mass Biotech Council didn’t want a felon as their public representative, and he was fired.

But a year had passed since then. Evidently Finneran thought that was enough time that people would forget that he was a felon and a perjurer. Is he that stupid? Or does he just have really low opinion of the public and its memory? It’s tough to say.

Whatever he thinks about the public, he miscalculated what his bosses at WRKO would think about his moonlighting. They recognized that when a talk radio host takes money from public employees he won’t be seen as a “fair” commentator. They enforced their contract with Finneran and forced him to give up his lobbying gig.

All of the press that I read about this was focused on WRKO and what they would do. Would they let Finneran be a lobbyist? Or would they (further) sell out their journalistic principles? What I can’t figure out is how the State Trooper’s union got off the hook.

Why would the State Trooper’s union hire a felon as their public representative? Aren’t they supposed to be on the side of the law? Of all the lobbyists, union leaders, senators, representatives, governors, and other State House insiders, why would they choose one who violated his oath and broke the law?

I’m not suggesting that it was illegal to hire a felon as a lobbyist. But it’s about the public relations, it’s about the image. If the State Police think they are best represented by a law breaker, what does that say about their respect for the law?