Frmr. Mass. Senate Pres to Lobby for Struever

Struever Brothers Eccles & Rouse and Janet Marie Smith get only props from N4N for their fine improvements to Fenway Park, including the much-coveted Monster Seats and the Rightfield roof deck. Here in Providence, where Struever is moving forward with its anbitious American Locomotive project, some have seen the Baltimore-based developer as a force for gentrification. Proponents cite Struever as making a positive contribution to the city's tax base.

Regardless of one's view, it's clear that SBER has a lot of tentacles, and now even more with the hiring of former Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini. From the AP:

Travaglini, who resigned his Senate post in March to launch a lobbying firm, has registered as a lobbyist for Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc., a Baltimore-based firm that is the program manager for the Red Sox' $100 million renovation of Fenway Park.

Thomas Kiley, Travaglini's business partner, said yesterday that their new firm recently signed a contract to represent Struever Bros. as it seeks to develop a Kenmore Square parcel with air rights over the Massachusetts Turnpike, a project unrelated to the Red Sox.

In 2005 and last year, Travaglini shepherded an economic stimulus package through the Senate that included $55 million for transportation-related projects in the Fenway-Longwood-Kenmore Square area.

Kiley said there is no conflict of interest. "We went to the Ethics Commission, sat with the chief of the legal division, laid out fully what had been done in the past, and got approval for what we anticipated doing," he said.

State law prohibits former state employees, including elected officials, from acting as lobbyist for anyone before the governmental body with which they had been associated for a period of one year.