DeLeo’s rising star could propel Reinstein, Walsh to new political heights

LYNN – “I’ll go wherever he would like me to go,” said Kathi-Anne Reinstein Friday by way of downplaying the political promotion she and other North Shore legislators could enjoy in return for supporting Revere Rep. Robert DeLeo’s successful bid to become Massachusetts House Speaker.”There were an awful lot of people who worked with me throughout this whole process,” DeLeo told the State House News Service following the mid week House vote that made him head of the 160-member House.Reinstein was among 16 legislators who backed the Winthrop resident early in his bid to succeed Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. The News Service said the group met in DeLeo’s office weekly for over a year to discuss strategy and update their lists of supporters and opponents. Their loyalty could be rewarded as early as Monday with assignments to top legislative posts.”We all worked hard to help Bob become speaker,” Reinstein said.Reinstein is already the top House member on the Elder Affairs Committee but a new assignment could potentially position her as a leading House voice on transportation issues at a time when state transportation officials are threatening to hit North Shore commuters with a doubling in tunnel tolls to seven dollars.”Wherever he thinks is best is where I’ll go,” she said.Reinstein worked closely with DeLeo since 2003 to propose bringing slot machines to racetracks, including Suffolk Downs and Wonderland Greyhound Park. DiMasi opposed gambling initiatives but DeLeo’s top task as speaker will be to draw on his budget making experience as former House Ways and Means chairman to find ways to bail the state out of a revenue shortfall.DeLeo’s core support group expanded this month to include state Rep. Steven Walsh who was quick to counter the initial announcements of toll hikes last November with a call for a better thought-out transportation plan. Walsh and Reinstein are both political veterans who learned the ins and outs of the State House from family members, namely Reinstein’s late father, former Mayor and Rep. William Reinstein, and Walsh’ mother, Deborah Smith Walsh, and his uncle, James Smith.Legislative committee leaders like Walsh and Reinstein earn between $7,500 and $25,000 in additional pay, on top of the $61,440 base salary. Committee chairmen, given their expected influence over legislation, also become instant targets for campaign contributions that can send their war chest balances higher and brighten their long-term political prospects. While DeLeo settles into his new office, dozens of immediate and difficult decisions that could define his tenure have members, from his fiercest backers to the House Democrats most reluctant to vote for him, watching closely. DiMasi’s resignation Tuesday came before the House dug into the policy decisions pending at the start of the new legislative session. That puts the responsibility for the zero-sum committee post assignment process squarely with DeLeo, positioning the Winthrop Democrat on politically tricky terrain from the outset. Already, some competition has cropped up within the internal factions of the DeLeo core over shares of influence with the new speaker. “I think that any type of discussion for who’s going to go where, I’m honestly going to tell is premature,” DeLeo told the News Service Thursday, saying that he had been busy until recently with ensuring his win. “Until you have it sewn up, then you can start thinking about those types of things.”Reinstein said the North Shore is heavily represented among DeLeo supporters, but local legislators on the outer orbit of that power configuration include Lynn Rep. Robert Fennell and Marblehead Rep. Lori Ehrlich. They supported DeLeo but, in Ehrlich’s case, as a relatively legislative newcomer, and in Fennell’s, came late to the proverbial power sharing table.Fennell is House Transportation Committee vice chairman and he reaffirmed in the wake of DeLeo’s ascendancy to speaker his commitment to “making sure the Commonwealth’s tran