Voting for Virtue

In a state long known for tolerating corrupt officials,* the voters left a surprised politician dangling in the winds of change last week. Joseph J.C. DiCarlo was the odds-on favorite to win a Democratic primary for a seat in the Massachusetts senate--the very seat, indeed, that he had held before his colleagues threw him out only this April. The reason for the ousting was the conviction of DiCarlo, 41, and Republican State Senator Ronald MacKenzie on charges of squeezing $40,000 from a New York consulting firm in exchange for suppressing a legislative report criticizing the company's work on state construction contracts. DiCarlo, who faces a year in prison and a $5,000 fine, is free on bail pending an appeal.

Despite his troubles, DiCarlo seemed unconcerned as election day approached. The Boston Globe predicted he would win. But the improbable happened: DiCarlo lost by 2,589 votes to a relatively unknown, 24-year-old alderman from Everett named Frank Mastrocola, who had pressed one issue hard --that his opponent had betrayed the public's trust. Said a chastened DiCarlo: "The people of this district have spoken and that's what counts."

*One celebrated case: James Michael Curley. who was jailed for mail fraud in 1947 during his final term as Boston's mayor, was paid his salary while in prison, and emerged to resume his duties.

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