No Surprises from Wilkerson

This isn't Fitchburg news, but it's tough to ignore. And if you're someone who ever covered the State House, none of this is exactly surprising.

Sen. Dianne Wilkerson (D-Roxbury), caught stuffing money into various articles of clothing, isn't leaving the Senate. Instead, she's fighting to the end, which will likely include defeat in next Tuesday's election (UPDATE: Wilkerson said today she's dropping her campaign). She's going down in flames, just like you kind of always figured would happen.

I first met Wilkerson in 1992, when I registered to vote last-minute at Boston City Hall. She was standing outside the clerk's office meeting voters. I happened to be from her district. She lost that year, but won in 1994.

Since then, she's been one disaster after another. I covered her federal court visits for her income tax problems. When my buddies and met at the best Northeastern campus pizza place before the odd hockey or basketball game, we'd giggle that maybe we'd see her come out of the halfway house next door. She never was able to get her campaign finance reports just right. The financial problems, the skirting of the laws, just never seemed to stop.

But Wilkerson somehow managed to keep some measure of goodwill in the Senate. She kept just enough people -- and the right people -- on her side so that she could go home and get elected every two years.

Reporters didn't seem to deal with her very often. Part of that stems from the fact that as she marginalized her position by losing good chairmanships, she dealt with fewer and fewer big issues from a leadership role. She had minimal influence for a long-time senator. That, and she was difficult to get a hold of. Almost impossible, even on issues you'd think she'd want to talk about. Maybe it was a bunker mentality. Maybe she had as little use for reporters as she did the law. I don't know. I just know that you didn't see her much, and didn't talk to her much.

It would disingenuous for me or anyone else who has watched Wilkerson over the last 10 years (and much like a car crash, you can't help but be drawn to looking) to say they saw this coming. This is about as heinous an act a politician could (allegedly) pull.

Considering her past, however, the arrest and the charges aren't an overwhelming surprise. But what has happened since then shouldn't be a surprise at all. There was no way Wilkerson was going to stop her sticker campaign. There was no way she was going to agree to the Senate's call to step down. It could get worse for her today, if the Ten Point Coalition comes out today (as reported) and calls for her resignation.

Wilkerson is out of options. Her colleagues want her gone and one of the most influential organizations in her district wants her gone. Surely she is surrounded by a core group of supporters who continue to enable her bunkered-down, entitled, absurd attitude. On Tuesday she'll be out of options for another term, and then the Senate can either continue to press her to leave, or let her die a slow political death.

No matter the final steps, Wilkerson is going down in flames. While the details may have been surprising, is the end result really unexpected?