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Editorial

Ex-Rep. John Fresolo’s shameless comeback bid holds lesson for Beacon Hill

State Representative John Fresolo posed next to a Mickey Mantle painting in his home’s basement.Jan Sturmann for The Boston Globe/File 2003

When lawmakers get pushed out of Beacon Hill because of ethics problems, it should be a high priority to make sure they don’t come back. But when Worcester Democrat John Fresolo quit the House in 2013, after an ethics committee investigation, the panel never released the report laying out what members thought he did. So now, as Fresolo mounts a dodgy, convoluted campaign to win back his old seat as a candidate of the fledgling United Independent Party, would-be voters are in the dark about his past conduct.

As the Globe’s Frank Phillips reported last week, Fresolo is trying to convince voters to switch their Democratic registration to become independents, and then cast absentee primary ballots for him as a candidate of the UIP.

One such effort by Fresolo to hustle up votes was caught by video camera during his visit to a Worcester subsidized housing complex for the elderly, in violation of that facility’s rules. (Fresolo subsequently insisted to MassLive.com that he’d been invited in by residents who wanted to vote for him.) All he needs are 150 write-in votes in the September UIP primary to make it onto the November general election ballot. It’s possible he can pull it off. State and local election officials have noticed an uptick in UIP registrations.

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When Fresolo left office three years ago, media reports alleged misuse of the per diem reimbursements that lawmakers receive for travel to the State House, and there were also suggestions of improper use of a State House computer. He flirted with a political comeback the following year but took his name off the ballot.

Fresolo’s commitment to his new party is anything but heartfelt. In a statement to Phillips, he said the UIP “was simply chosen as a vehicle to get my name to the general election ballot.” Using the party for that purpose angers founder Evan Falchuk, who said the party “totally and completely disavows him.”

No matter how quixotic his campaign, Fresolo is free to challenge state Representative Daniel Donahue, the incumbent Democrat who succeeded him. Still, it’s also clear that House leaders’ efforts to usher him quietly out the door in 2013 have backfired. The lack of transparency around the report back then is making it easier for Fresolo to operate in the shadows today. Releasing the ethics committee report would shed needed light.

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