"Witness says DiMasi denied payments; But associate says they quarreled over money" May 13, 2011|By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff
Once attorney Steven J. Topazio signed a deal with Cognos, the Burlington software company seeking state contracts, he provided his longtime friend Salvatore F. DiMasi with referral fees, as he had done each time the former House speaker sent clients his way, Topazio testifed yesterday.
But when Topazio received a lump-sum payment of $25,000 in back pay from Cognos in fall 2006, DiMasi wanted it all, so badly that they argued for the first time over money, according to the testimony in US District Court in Boston.
Because he had credit card debts.
“I didn’t feel I owed it to him,’’ Topazio said during DiMasi’s public corruption trial. But, he added: “I didn’t want to fight with him. I got a lot of business from him… . I wasn’t going to bite the hand that feeds me.’’
Ah, the sweet stink of Massachusetts politics.
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Related: DiMasi's Defense
Lame.
