His hopes for a presidential pardon down the drain, Tom Finneran is now telling the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers he deserves his law license back because he's suffered quite enough shame, thank you very much. The state Office of Bar Counsel wants him disbarred for good for lying about his role in state redistricting after the 2000 census. The Supreme Judicial Court will have the final say.

Leans out the window of his limo as the White House motorcade comes to a stop and asks:

Pardon me?

And cut!

The Outraged Liberal ponders the irony of the tough-on-crime ex-speakah angling for a pardon:

... I applaud Mitt Romney for his decision not to sign the letter as much as I question Dukakis for his decision to do so.

Finneran is guilty of something far worse than a white collar crime. He sat before a federal jury and lied about how he used his influence and authority in conducting the public's business.

What message would we be sending by letting him say "I'm sorry" and go back to practicing law and collecting his pension as if nothing had happened? ...

Turns out Dianne Wilkerson has at least one fan in the media: WRKO talk show host Tom Finneran, who, of course, had his own courtroom issues, if not to the extent of facing 40 years in jail.

Bruce Mohl at CW Unbound reports on hearing by a Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers panel that concluded Finneran had "mitigating circumstances" for lying about his role in legislative redistricting back in his Speakah days, notably intense pain from a hip problem and being distracted by his wife's knee surgery. Also, he's accepted responsibility for his misstatements, the panel said.

Finneran's legal fate is ultimately in the hands of the Supreme Judicial Court.

Or Tom Finneran, at any rate.

Earlier:
Tom Finneran to give up State Police lobbying gig.

The WRKO job must pay more. The Globe has more.

Speaker-turned-blabmeister apparently out to prove this is a post-ethical world we're living in.

Just so you don't go around thinking it's just the Globe that proclaims "trends" based on the statements of one or two people (cheesemakers, anyone?), John Gonzalez notes that today the Herald has apparently redefined the term "experts" to mean "one former flack turned BU professor" in a short story about whether Mitt Romney and Tom Finneran prove it's OK for men to bawl in public (although the story, does mention a study in the very last sentence). Gonzalez adds:

... Next, perhaps, the Herald will address other pressing, age-old questions, among them "does wearing pink make you gay?"

Otherwise, how else would we know about him saying if he'd been Britney Spears's manager in Las Vegas, he would have slapped her in the face?

... Diva? You know what she'd be if I was there waiting for 4 1/2 hours? She'd be a diva with a black eye. I'd give her a dope slap. ...

Sure, Buddy Cianci wound up back in Providence, but wouldn't he make just the greatest on-air partner for Tom Finneran on WRKO? Jeff Keating says it'd be a win-win:

... By all accounts, Buddy is a real personality, he’s got tons of radio experience, and WRKO is clearly looking for someone to partner Tom up with. Heck, they're both convicted felons! Sounds like a perfect marriage to me.