News Analysis: Countdown to the Firing of SJC Judges
Airplane Banners Tell SJC Judges to Resign Now and Save Pension
Rep. Emile Goguen Plans for End of Gay Marriage This Month
By MassNews Staff
            ● Yesterday at “Big E”
            This banner flew over the crowded “Big E” at Springfield for hours yesterday, greeting the crowd of over 1 million people who visited the fair this year officially known as Eastern States Exhibition. It advised Judge Greaney (who lives in Westfield, right next to the Big E) to resign now and not risk losing his pension benefits. He is one of three judges who voted to affirm Margaret Marshall’s plan to impose gay marriage upon the state while the other three (all liberal Mass. residents) say that Marshall has no right to impose gay marriage and she is operating a rogue court.
            The banner which flew over the fair yesterday had these words:

JUDGE GREANEY;  SAVE YOUR PENSION;   RESIGN NOW.

            John Greaney has been a judge over 30 years and a member of the SJC for over 15-years, having been appointed in 1989.
            A 15-year veteran of the Legislature, Rep. Emile Goguen (D-Fitchburg) has a Resolution pending to remove Judge Marshall and the three who voted with her, which would end gay marriage this month. He says Speaker Sal DiMasi understands that this issue is damaging the state and the Party and should be defused immediately.

● Today in Newton and Cambridge
            Today’s banner will fly over the homes of Judge Marshall in Cambridge and Judge Judith Cowin in Newton. It will advise them to take immediate action or lose all their pension benefits, which are well over $1 million for each judge. 

DiMasi Understands What Happened to Birmingham and Finneran
            Speaker DiMasi is an astute, crafty veteran, a survivor who realizes what happened to Tom Birmingham and Tom Finneran. He has no desire to watch the Democratic Party continue to self-destruct  under his leadership.
            He saw the ambitions of Senate President Tom Birmingham to be Governor deflated when the Senator broke the law and violated the state Constitution on July 17, 2002. Birmingham is now a private lawyer and has publicly said that his dream was lost because he broke the law in a desperate effort to stop MCM’s “Protection of Marriage Amendment” from going to a vote in the legislature.
            The Speaker also saw the Previous Speaker, Tom Finneran, become a private lawyer because he, too, violated the state Constitution in 2002. (Finneran personally did not vote to violate the Constitution that year and pretended to be against violating the law, while letting Sen. Birmingham take the heat).

This airplane banner flew over Cape Cod and Tom Finneran’s house in the summer of 2004, causing his wife to urge him to resign immediately.

            Speaker Finneran, clearly repeated his unlawful activities again. In the summer of 2004 he refused to allow a vote to take place on the Resolution by Rep Goguen (D-Fitchburg) to remove the four judges from the SJC. Finneran was besieged with banner airplanes over many locations across the state, including the State House.
             The Speaker heard ads on major radio stations, including the 50,000 watt, clear-channel affiliate of CBS in Boston, WBZ, which included this one:

Let Speaker Finneran know you’re watching. He must allow our Reps to vote on removing Marshall.   It’s required.  Tell Finneran you’re looking for a vote on Removing Judge Marshall and her three cohorts.  Call Finneran … 617-722-2500.

            While these ads may seem innocuous to many, they were not innocuous to one who knew in his heart he was “guilty as charged” and had enough decency to understand that.

            Just the Beginning
            Rep. Goguen says this is the beginning of a blitz to remove gay marriage this month (October 2005) either by 1) the resignation of the four judges or 2) Removal by a simple vote of the legislature under the provision of the state Constitution as written by John Adams in that he feared oppressive judges.
            Goguen says he has no personal ill-will toward anyone and that is why he is advising the judges to resign now. If the legislature votes and Removes them, it will be for “cause” and the judges will lose their pension benefits. 
            The three SJC judges who disagreed with Marshall say this is a rogue court which has no power to do what it is attempting. The vote in the SJC was a tie among the Associate Justices, with Marshall having to vote in order to break the tie in favor of herself. All polls show that the citizens are solidly against gay marriage.
            Speaker DiMasi has promised that a vote will be taken this year on Removal.

Emile Goguen’s Pilot
            The pilot who tows the huge banners around the state for Emile Goguen is Harry Nikitas from Aerial Supersigns from Goguen’s hometown of Fitchburg. They are good friends but their working happily together on this project is just happenstance.
            Nikitas also did the flying in 2004 up and down the Cape and around the state, which caused Speaker Finneran’s wife to realize there was no place they could hide anymore.

This is the airplane that towed the 100-foot banner from one end of the Cape to the other in 2004, including Speaker Finneran’s house. It’s a 1957 L-19 Birddog built by Cessna for the U.S. military after WWII as a spotter aircraft and now owned by Harry Nikitas at Aerial Supersigns in Fitchburg. It’s presently on a holiday as another reserve plane from Aerial Supersigns is doing the flying in order to stay in condition.