The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 6

on Glob A6 NationRegion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2008 Wilkerson terminates reelection campaign JOHN TI.LMACKIGLOBE STAFF State Senator arrived at Charles Street AME Church in Roxbury to meet with community ministers. Since her arrest, the FBI has blanketed the State House and Boston City Hall with grand jury subpoenas. WILKERSON Continued from Page A I inside. But the end of her political career did not stop the swirling fallout from her arrest. Seeking to restore faith in a Beacon Hill culture that has been marred by ethics controversies and now a bribery scandal that revealed backroom deals, threats, and alleged payoffs, Governor Deval Patrick announced yesterday that he is forming a task force to recommend ways to improve ethics laws.

Since Wilkerson's arrest, the FBI has blanketed the State House and Boston City Hall with grand jury subpoenas, seeking documents on land deals and liquor licensing proposals, as well as e-mails from some of the state's most prominent legislators. In addition, a second grand jury run by the state is seeking testimony on the dealings of a close cadre of friends of House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who made hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees in a questionable computer software deal that has since been revoked. "In a successful democracy, the currency of government is not money; it's integrity," said Patrick, who ran in 2006 on a platform of changing the political culture of Beacon Hill. Patrick, who said yesterday that her arrest made him "embarrassed" that he endorsed her reelection campaign, had previously reserved judgment on his ally and did not join in the emphatic calls for her resignation.

Nonetheless, his move yesterday ratcheted up the pressure on lawmakers to reform the political culture. He did not single out individuals by name, but demanded swift action to prevent further erosion in public trust. "We are placed here by voters to do the best we can on their behalf," he said. "And we are expected to conduct their business honestly and openly." Yesterday began with what was expected to be a call for resignation by the city's black clergy members, who had backed Wilkerson, the only African-American state senator, through past ethical and legal problems. But Wilkerson placed calls to the ministers and asked them to delay their press conference and meet with her.

Arriving around 10:50 a.m., several burly men surrounded her as reporters peppered her with questions. She marched into Charles Street AME Church, her gaze straight ahead, her lips tight. During the hourlong meeting, the ministers were emphatic about the need for her to end her campaign and resign, but she asked for more time before resigning, according to a participant in the meeting. She agreed to end her campaign immediately and "do the right thing" next week, the participant said. "The concession was: 'I'm going to resign.

I'm going to jump. Just don't push said a second source, who was not in the meeting but was briefed by participants. After the closed-door session, Wilkerson emerged and, flanked by the ministers, acknowledged what everyone seemed to know but her: the campaign, and her political career, was over. The church was where she made her first public comments after she pleaded guilty to federal tax charges 11 years ago. In September 1997, Wilkerson offered a public apology and asked constituents for continued support, in an emotional prayer service at Charles Street AME Church.

In an interview after the press conference, Boyce Slayman, her campaign manager, said that Wilkerson made the decision in the best interest of the community and her family. "Her political career is probably a thing of the past, and she'll now be focusing on her family and her personal future," said Slayman. "Boston's going to lose a huge champion." The FBI affidavit released following her arrest Tuesday, along with accompanying photographs, portrays Wilkerson as accepting bribes in restaurants around the State House, in one case stuffing a $1,000 alleged payoff into her bra. The shock waves continued on Beacon Hill, where the governor's proposal for an ethics law overhaul was met with mixed reaction from legislative leaders. "I am open to looking at any meaningful changes to the ethics laws," was the one-sentence response from Senate President Therese Murray, who has been subpoenaed in the FBI's investigation of Wilkerson, is mentioned as a key player in a political deal for a liquor license in the FBI affidavit, and whose name is listed in subpoenas sent to other government offices.

DiMasi, who has been politically weakened by questions about the business dealings of his close associates, did not respond personally to the governor's plan, instead issuing a statement from his spokesman. "We join with the governor in this commission to review our ethics laws," said the spokesman, David Guarino. "While Massachusetts already has among the toughest ethics laws in the jj wSlkc mm PATRICIA MCDONNELL FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE BIZUAYEHUTESFAYEASSOCIATED PRESS 'We are placed here by voters And we are expected to conduct their business honestly and openly' GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK Anmmncingformatwn of task force on ethics laws 'My door is always open to you, and I cannot do this job without SONIA CHANG-DIAZ In an appeal to Wilkerson supporters at a press conference has a clear path to the seat. Chang-Diaz held a press conference yesterday outside the State House, saying she wanted to reconcile hard feelings in the district. She made a direct appeal to Wilkerson supporters: "My door is always open to you, and I cannot do this job without you." Patrick said he plans to file legislation that he wants action on in the first 30 days of the new legislative session.

When asked if his legislation was targeted at DiMasi, who has been politically vulnerable amid investigations of his close friends and associates, the governor said, "This is not about one person or one allegation." "But there are a whole host of things that have been in the news, officeholders and other officials," he said. "There are a whole host of ways which the actions now of a few have cast a pall on the good behavior of many." Wilkerson's withdrawal means that Sonia Chang-Diaz, who beat Wilkerson in the Democratic primary and was fighting Wilkerson's write-in effort, now nation, any necessary changes proposed by this commission will be fully considered." The special commission will be headed by Ben Clements, the governor's legal counsel and a former federal prosecutor in Boston. His aides are expected to reach out to former attorney general Scott Harshbarger, Common Cause executive director Pamela Wilmot, and former prosecutors. Matt Viser can be reached at Ma Visergbbe.com. Rockefeller Republicans falling victim to GOP's rightward shift illlfs'i I mW- mrn mmm ibBBjBBbI i-S'1' mm mmmW Hoping to save his seat, US Representative Christoper Shays of Connecticut, one of a vanishing breed of so-called Rockefeller Republicans, stumped yesterday.

Other party moderates are Maine's two senators, Olympia Snowe (middle) and Susan Collins. can from Concord, N.H., has served 13 terms in the State House since 1972 but was defeated in the September primary by a slate of newcomers in the state's multi-candidate House election system who teamed up to beat her with a more conservative message on taxes. She predicts her constituents will vote Democratic on Tuesday. Her loss, she said, was a defeat for Rockefeller Republicans, and she's discouraged. "I don't see any groundswell to get the moderates back into the Republican Party," she said.

"What I've been thinking is that the Republican Party will go away around here and another party will emerge in the middle." The national Republican Party is bracing for a harsh day on Tuesday. Presidential polls in a number of battleground states favor Obama, and Republicans are almost sure to lose seats in the House and Senate. But political observers don't expect the national party will turn to moderates for help. They don't see a reversal in moderates' fortunes. "Unless they can self-finance, it's going to be very tough for a moderate Republican to raise money," Muth said.

The New England "Rockefellers" will run as Democrats, Muth predicted, or they'll try what Weicker successfully did in Connecticut and run as independents. For Chafee, running as a Democrat would be "difficult" after a career serving as the "loyal opposition," he said. If he runs for Rhode Island governor in 2010, for instance, he would ran as an independent. His comments were similar to those of another moderate Republican who is supporting Obama, former secretary of state Col-in Powell, who served under President George W. Bush.

"I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years," Powell said on "Meet the Press." "It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it." Before the party began moving right, with the nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater for president in 1964, New England was reliable Republican territory. Defying Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 Democratic landslide, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut supported Republican Herbert Hoover. In the late 1940s, Republicans held 21 of 28 House seats in New England. This year, Obama leads polls in all six New England states, including the former Republican stronghold of New Hampshire, which George W.

Bush won in 2000. On Tuesday, US Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican, may lose his seat to former governor Jeanne Sha-heen, a Democrat. Shaheen led 52 percent to 44 percent in a poll released yesterday by Rasmussen Reports. The poll's margin of error was 4 percent. The last best hope for the moderate Republicans may have passed in August, said Chafee, when John McCain picked conservative Sarah Palin to be his running mate, over more moderate Republicans such as former governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.

The cheers and applause from MODERATES Continued from PageAl deadpanned in an interview. "They're all homeless, pushing shopping carts." In 1973, 10 of 25 US House members from New England were Republicans. There's one left Christopher Shays of Connecticut, who calls himself an "endangered species." Shays faces another tough race this year, against Democrat Jim Himes. Maine has two moderate Republicans in the US Senate, Olympia Snowe, reelected in 2006, and Susan Collins, who is fighting a challenge this year from US Representative Tom Allen, a Democrat. Polls lean in Col-lins's direction.

Count Chafee among the politicians without a party. After losing reelection in 2006, Chafee concluded that the Republican Party had gone too far to the right. He disaffiliated to become independent, following the example of other moderates, such as Jeffords, the former US senator, and Weicker, a former US senator and governor. Last week Weld, the former Massachusetts governor, axed whatever future he might have had as a Republican candidate, by crossing party lines to endorse Democrat Barack Obama for president. To become the majority party again, Weld said, the Republican Party needs a bigger tent.

Paraphrasing Bill Parcells, a former New England Patriots coach, Weld told Republicans in an MSNBC interview: "Let's elongate the field, and we'll put more points on the board." religion out of politics, two points of disagreement with the GOPs religious right. "Once the Republican Party moved south and west, that was it," said Nelson, the University of Vermont professor. The GOP "found Jesus" with the rise of the religious right, he said, which "left no room for the New England Republicans." Weicker, who formed his own independent party to ran for governor of Connecticut in 1990, said the GOP's intolerance for liberal social views has shrunk the tent so much that New England no longer fits. "Social issues can't be the rai-son d'etre of the Republican Party," said Weicker, who also has endorsed Obama. Conservatives sometimes call the Rockefellers "RINOs," for Republicans In Name Only, and blame them for colluding with ideological enemies from across the aisle.

Moderate Republicans "give Democrats cover by supporting their bills, to allow them to be called bipartisan," said Chuck Muth, a Nevada-based writer and blogger who heads the conservative networking organization, Citizen Outreach. "It hurts the GOP when you have people in the party who don't agree with the philosophy. It confuses the brand." The split between the Republican Party and its Rockefeller wing began when the namesake was hooted down at the party convention in 1964, and continued when he was squeezed off the Republican ticket in favor of the more conservative Bob Dole when President Gerald Ford sought reelection in 1976. The decline of the moderate Republicans accelerated under the presidency of George W. Bush, said Chafee.

Moderate political donors who supported Chafee when he ran for US Senate in 2000 were reluctant to give to his reelection campaign in 2006, when party control of the Senate was a key issue. "These people didn't want a conservative Republican controlling the Senate Judiciary Committee," said Chafee. State Representative Elizabeth Hager, a pro-choice Republi religious conservatives over Pa-lin's selection drowned out the sound of the door slamming on the "Rockefellers." "The Palin pick was very big," said Chafee. "It was a huge signal as to the future of the party." University of Vermont political science professor Garrison Nelson put it more bluntly, "The Rockefeller Republicans? They're dead. These guys have been so banished.

Chris Shays is walking around as a caucus of one." Rockefeller Republicans are named for Nelson Rockefeller, the former New York governor whose political resume as a diplomat, presidential adviser, and national candidate was so vast, his two years as Gerald Ford's vice president are almost an afterthought. A leader of the more liberal wing of the Republican Patty in the 1960s and 1970s, he dii i in 1979. The "Rockefellers" are generally known for being tight-fisted with the public's money, for strong environmental policies, and for holding liberal views on social issues. They generally favor abortion rights and keeping.