By Globe Staff, 6/11/2000

Facing legal challenges to his nomination papers and continued snubs from prominent Republicans, GOP US Senate hopeful Jack E. Robinson is not planning on going away quietly.

Robinson is telling anybody who will listen that if he is knocked off the ballot in the weeks ahead, he will run as a sticker candidate in the GOP primary in September. That means, unless the Republicans were to find another sticker candidate to oppose him, Robinson would be the Republican nominee to face Edward M. Kennedy in November.

Democratic sources say they plan to challenge many of Robinson's nomination signatures, which barely reached the 10,000 required to land a spot on the ballot when he turned them in last week. They claim that the papers are rife with invalid signatures and that he will be disqualified.

But Robinson doesn't seem fazed. He jauntily declared he plans to crash a fund-raiser Thursday that Governor Paul Cellucci is throwing for GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush at a Boston hotel.

''I expect to get Governor Bush's endorsement,'' Robinson said last week. He brushed aside questions as to how Cellucci, Bush's close political ally and friend, would allow that to happen.

An endorsement is news to the Bush people. ''Not a chance,'' said one top Massachusetts Bush operative. Cellucci and the state GOP have rejected Robinson's candidacy because of controversial incidents in his personal life.

Count Laplante in on sticker campaign

Lawrence City Councilor Marc Laplante couldn't get organized enough to gather the necessary signatures to qualify for the Republican ballot and nomination to oppose US Representative Martin T. Meehan, of Lowell.

But that is not stopping the GOP contender. Laplante says he, too, will run on stickers in the primary to get his name on the fall ballot.

Of course, that is all music to Meehan's ears. Despite advice that he is wasting his money, the Fifth District Democrat is dying to spend some of the $1.5 million he has in his congressional campaign account. Assured of a GOP candidate, Meehan, who may consider a run for governor or even US Senate if John F. Kerry steps aside in 2002, could flood the Boston TV airwaves with ads and boost his statewide image.

Laplante is not considered a serious threat to Meehan. But without an opponent, an ad campaign would be out of the question - particularly for a political figure who has carved a national image as a campaign finance reformer. The opposition also would give Meehan, a voracious fund-raiser, a chance to rake in more donations.

Former BRA chief O'Brien departs for job with N.Y. development firm

Thomas N. O'Brien, a former director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, is leaving town. O'Brien has accepted a senior position at New York-based development firm Tishman Speyer Properties, where he will oversee several pending projects. O'Brien resigned in October after a furor erupted over his approval of a sweetheart deal for his chief of staff, Matthew J. O'Neil Jr., who bought a condominium in the Charlestown Navy Yard for much less than its market value. While O'Brien often sparred with Mayor Thomas M. Menino during his time in City Hall, insiders also credit him with reviving the sagging fortunes of the BRA, and laying the groundwork for the development of the South Boston Waterfront and a new Fenway Park. He is expected to begin his new job next month.

Birmingham won't jump into this one

Don't look for Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham to get too deeply involved in the dispute between Menino and South Boston political leaders, including state Senator Stephen F. Lynch. Birmingham recently tried to set up a meeting between Menino and other city leaders who object to the deal cut by South Boston political leaders for so-called linkage benefits paid by developers building along the South Boston waterfront. Birmingham tried to set up the meeting at the request of Senators Dianne Wilkerson of Roxbury and Marian Walsh of West Roxbury, who believe that other Boston neighborhoods are being cut out of their fair share of linkage payments because of the arrangement made by Lynch, City Councilor at Large James M. Kelly and Representative John A. Hart Jr. But Birmingham, who says he plans to run for the Democratic gubernatorial primary two years from now, isn't about to get into the middle of an argument that could divide Democrats from the state's largest city.

Finneran careful to keep House voting aboveboard in wake of all-night fiasco

The fallout from a much-derided April all-night budget session is still clearly on the mind of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran. Discussing a timeline last week for the Legislature's budget, for instance, Finneran was careful to say that any budget vetoes by Cellucci would be ''taken up in the full light of day.'' And after reports that court officers improperly cast votes on behalf of House members during the budget session, Finneran has been extra cautious about the practice. During a May House session, Finneran explained that court officers would be voting for Representative David Connolly because Connolly was incapacitated by minor surgery. And in an unusual move, Finneran filed an order last week explicitly authorizing court officers to cast votes for the House's three budget conferees during their meetings with Senate negotiators.

Cellucci finds time to play errand boy

What with Lieutenant Governor Jane M. Swift still embarrassed by reports she pressured aides to, among other things, pick up her dry cleaning, maybe Cellucci isn't taking any chances. Returning from his daughter's Harvard graduation last week with his wife, Jan, the guv was seen headed into his office with a thick load of freshly pressed clothing in hand. But it turns out Cellucci wasn't even carrying his own clothes. ''It's my wife's,'' the governor confessed.

Frank Phillips, Michael Crowley, Adrian Walker, and Stephanie Ebbert contributed to this report.