By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-974695.mp3
Springfield, MA – James " Whitey" Bulger was one of Boston's most notorious mobsters. His younger brother, William Bulger, was one of the most powerful politicians in Massachusetts history. WAMC"s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..
William Bulger was a classic Boston Irish politician ,with a quick wit and sharp tongue, who knew how to pull all the strings of power and patronage. He was the subject of a flattering profile by Morley Safer on Sixty Minutes which aired in 1992..
The children of Irish immigrants, the Bulgers grew up during the Great Depression, in a housing project in South Boston. William Bulger , who went to law school after serving in the US Army, was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1961. He was elected State Senate President in 1978 and held the office for 17 years the longest tenure in Massachusetts history.
Barbara Anderson, head of Massachusetts Citizens for Limited taxation, delt with Bulger during his time as the powerful legislative leader.
Bulger who had a love for classic literature and was fluent in Latin was a champion of education as a legislator. He pushed for funding for libraries and public higher education. He was also an early proponent of school choice and charter schools.
Bulger rarely gave media interviews, and press critics attacked him for his autocratic ways. There were published allegations that Bulger had secretly benefited financially from a downtown Boston real estate deal, but no criminal charges were ever brought.
In 1996, Bulger, a Democrat, parlayed his friendship with Republican Governor William Weld into being appointed president of the University of Massachusetts System. Ralph Whitehead, a long time professor of journalism at UMass Amherst, worked part time in the president's office during much of Bulger's tenure
William Bulger became UMass President the year after his gangster brother fled Boston and went into hiding.
It ceased to be a source of amusement in 2003 when William Bulger was called to testify to a Congressional committee probing the relationship between the FBI and mob informants, which Whitey Bulger had been. Testifying under a grant of immunity, William Bulger said he only vaguely knew what his notorious brother did for a living. He said he hope rumors of his crimes would be proven false. He also admitted he had gone to an arranged location to take a phone call from his fugitive brother in 1995.
The fall out from the testimony led to Bulger being forced out of the university presidency by Governor Mitt Romney.
But controversy still followed Bulger as he waged what turned out to be a successful court fight to boost his six figure pension by claiming a university housing allowance that he never used.
William Bulger, now 77 year old and retired, told a Boston Globe reporter quote..thank you and no comment when the reporter called to get reaction to the capture of his older brother.