t's time to move past Jane Swift's ethics issues and focus on a real scandal - the one involving Paul Cellucci, Hollywood, and the Teamsters.
Hollywood and the Teamsters is a scandal involving possible criminal wrongdoing. Cellucci and the Teamsters is a political scandal involving bad judgment and a real loss of business for the state. If criminal wrongdoing is found, the political scandal will be even worse for Cellucci.
Let's face it. This governor could declare ignorance about virtually anything going on in Bay State business or politics and be credible. He seems irrelevant because he so often is. Because of that, no one seems to care very much no matter what outrageous thing he does. Cellucci's latest outrage: vacationing for free in the elegant Azores retreat of a millionaire concrete magnate who does business with the state and fund-raising for the governor - and whose family does personal business with the Cellucci family.
Cellucci, however, did manage to carve out one tiny niche of relevance, and it involves the film industry. Even the most casual observer of the governor's priorities knows he fixates on Hollywood in general and on Robert De Niro in particular, a clear case of over-inflated machismo. Indeed, Cellucci's official schedule seems to boil down to West Coast Visits with studio honchos and movie stars, East Coast visits to the local cinema and - oh, yes, let's not forget - an occasional trade mission.
So, Cellucci starts off with a huge credibility problem when it comes to pleading ignorance about the strong-arm tactics of George W. Cashman, the president of Teamsters Local 25. And the governor's professed ignorance turns into a joke, if not an outright lie, given the paper trail of memos from officials in his own administration regarding Cashman's allegedly churlish behavior. As a result of that behavior, a federal grand jury in Boston is conducting a criminal investigation into allegations of extortion of moviemakers by some officials of Local 25.
Now, some will see little reason to weep over Hollywood studios having to pay more for the privilege of shooting films in Massachusetts. They will not even see scandal in business lost and taxpayer money wasted when a governor set on wooing an industry is undercut by a labor boss set on holding it up. But everyone should be able to see something wrong and outrageous in the continuing alliance between Cellucci and Cashman. Unfortunately, not even the opposition party is raising its voice in protest, most likely because the Democrats are even more beholden to labor.
Cashman gave Cellucci much-valued political support at a time he needed it most, endorsing his gubernatorial candidacy in 1998. Now Cellucci stands by Cashman, no matter how worrisome the union boss's alleged conduct. And the conduct at issue here is serious. It doesn't involve babysitting or underestimating highway construction costs but an old-fashioned labor shakedown - the kind that runs through the plots of countless Hollywood movies and would make for an intriguing episode of ''The Sopranos.'' But here in Massachusetts, it's not fantasy, it's reality.
Yes, loyalty means a lot in politics. But is it more important than taking a stand against union bullying and perhaps even outright extortion? Is it worth allowing Cashman to retain a policy role in government, along with his seat on the Massachusetts Port Authority's board of directors? (Cashman was first appointed by William F. Weld when he was governor and was reappointed by Cellucci; the Massport board is chaired by Mark Robinson, a former Weld official who once boasted sanctimoniously about the ''smell test'' that should be used to guarantee a higher moral standard of conduct involving interactions between government and the private sector.)
Maybe the governor doesn't care what Massachusetts voters think of him. But perhaps he should start thinking about the impact of a grand jury investigation on his personal political fortunes. Cellucci supposedly chats frequently with George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee. Any talk of a Bush victory in November brings with it speculation about a prestigious Washington position for the Massachusetts governor. Connections to a messy Teamster scandal can't be good for the governor's long-range political prospects, can they?
And while he is pondering that, Cellucci should consider the difference between being loyal and being loyal to a fault. In politics, the first is understood. The second is just a way for powerful people to protect their friends and cover up the truth.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist.
