Massachusetts Sen. Stan Rosenberg resigns after ethics report says he failed to protect state Senate from his husband Bryon Hefner
Gintautas Dumcius | gdumcius@masslive.com Gintautas Dumcius gdumcius@masslive.com www.facebook.com
Massachusetts Sen. Stan Rosenberg has resigned, ending a political career that at its peak had him becoming one of the most powerful people in state government and the state Senate's first openly gay leader.
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By Gintautas Dumcius and Shira Schoenberg

Massachusetts Sen. Stan Rosenberg has resigned, ending a political career that at its peak had him becoming one of the most powerful people in state government and the state Senate's first openly gay leader. It is a career that crashed when sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against his husband Bryon Hefner.

His resignation becomes effective Friday at 5 p.m. In a statement, Rosenberg issued a public apology for his actions.

Rosenberg, a 68-year-old Amherst Democrat and a former aide to Congressman John Olver, has been a state senator since 1991 and served as Senate president between 2015 and 2017.

After four men accused Hefner of harassment in late 2017, Rosenberg stepped down as Senate president and moved to the basement of the Massachusetts State House.

Now he's completely leaving the building following a devastating report by the Senate Ethics Committee, released Wednesday and put together by investigators with the Hogan Lovells law firm. The report laid out a pattern of alleged misconduct by Hefner and repeated interference in Senate business, despite Rosenberg promising a "firewall" between his professional and private lives.

Weeks before the report's release, a statewide grand jury on March 29 indicted Hefner on counts of indecent assault and battery, open and gross lewdness and distribution of an image of nude or partially nude person. Hefner has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Suffolk Superior Court.

The Ethics Committee, in its report, noted that Rosenberg is not "directly responsible for the alleged misdeeds of his husband." But he made "significant failures of judgment and leadership" as state Senate president, the report added.

"In essence, he did not protect the Senate from Hefner, who he knew could be disruptive, volatile and abusive," the report said.

The committee did not consider expulsion, its report said, because "there is no evidence in the report that Senator Rosenberg engaged in criminal activity, or was even aware of Hefner's allegedly criminal acts."

But the committee recommended that Rosenberg be stripped of all leadership positions through 2020. Typically, every Senate Democrat holds a committee chairmanship. Rosenberg cited that recommendation as a reason to step down.

"I had hoped that, with the conclusion of the investigation, I would be able to focus, once again, on representing my constituents and contributing meaningfully to the work of the Senate," Rosenberg said. "In light, however, of the disciplinary measures recommended by the Ethics Committee, it would not be fair to my constituents to have a representative in the Senate who lacked the authority to represent their interests fully."

As Senate president, Rosenberg brought increased clout to Western Massachusetts, a region that is not always well-represented in top positions at the State House.

While in the state Senate, Rosenberg was a key figure in the fight to protect a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage and he co-authored a 1993 "Motor Voter" law aimed at increasing voter turnout.

According to his biography, Rosenberg is also "chief architect" of the 2011 law expanding gambling in Massachusetts. The law set up the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and has led to the construction of the MGM Springfield casino and the Wynn Boston Harbor casino in Everett, north of Boston.

Rosenberg had faced an increasing number of calls for him to resign, starting with Attorney General Maura Healey and Gov. Charlie Baker immediately after the Ethics Committee report's release, and senators, from John Keenan of Quincy to James Welch of West Springfield.

The incoming Senate president, Karen Spilka, added her name to the list on Thursday morning.

"Because Senator Rosenberg allowed a destructive pattern of behavior to continue over the course of many years, violating the trust that my colleagues and I invested in him, it is my firm belief that he should resign," she said in a statement. "Doing so will move us towards our goal of healing the Senate and making it a safe, welcoming and productive place for everyone."

Rosenberg represents the Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester district.

"Although, as the report notes, I was unaware of many of the events attributed to Bryon, and took steps to address those incidents that came to my attention, that does not diminish my sorrow at what reportedly transpired or my sense of responsibility for what the Ethics Committee concludes was a failure on my part in not doing more to protect the Senate," Rosenberg wrote in his statement Thursday.

Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to file signatures with city and town clerks to run for his seat. Only Rosenberg and Democratic challenger Chelsea Kline filed their signatures, according to clerks in Northampton and Amherst. There are no independents or Republicans running.

Under Senate rules, a special election is only called if a vacancy occurs before April 1. With Rosenberg's resignation, his seat will remain empty until the general election in November 2018.

The only way for anyone other than Kline to run in November would be to mount a write-in campaign.

Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, said Rosenberg's move to resign was the "right decision" that will serve Western Massachusetts well, because the area needs "vigorous representation" at the State House.

"I mean, quite frankly, the default for us is to be left out decisions made in this building," Lesser said.

"So I hope that in the next several months we're going to have an across-the-board, vigorous conversation about what we need to do in Western Mass. to make sure we reverse some of the things we've seen, like the job losses we've seen, some of the continued population we've seen," he added. "We need some big visions and we need to stay focused on that vision."

This post was updated with additional comments and information.