By Evereth Woodruff 
In a political era gone by, that state representative bagged for drunken driving on Beacon Hill the other day — or night — might have gotten a break.
Watertown state rep. John Lawn might even have walked had he not hit another car – and had not the issue become so important.
But the “don’t you know who I am?” defense does not cut it the way it did back in the day. There were no cameras on every corner or cell phones in every pocket back then.
And today’s political mantra of “Nobody is above the law” was hardly heard in the good old days of Beacon Hill politics, which were more old than good, depending on your point of view.
The late Kevin White, the flamboyant and charismatic mayor of Boston for 16 years, (1968-1984), made sure the Boston cops took good care of members of the Legislature during late night sessions when they were hitting the bars.
The Boston cops, he said, were “good to these reps. They never pinch them.”
That being the case, White expected the Legislature to reciprocate when he filed legislation affecting Boston.
White, who died in 2012 at age 82, thought and acted big to make Boston a world class city.
And he also went first class — at taxpayer’s expense, of course — which led me back then to label him Kevin DeLuxe, the Mayor of America.
I also called him the China Clipper after he barred me from covering his trip to Communist China, which had just opened to American visitors.
He got even with me for that, but that is another story.
He was the last Boston politician with swagger.
As far as the State House is concerned, White expected the Legislature to pass laws that benefited Boston, the city he ran for four often turbulent terms.
When the Legislature did not succumb to his requests, or demands, White — unlike politically correct Boston Mayor Michelle Wu — called them ingrates and “a bunch of stiffs.”
That’s what he did when the Legislature initially killed his sweeping 1981 tax reform bill that would have provided raises for Boston cops and firefighters.
“Boston has been good to these outside reps,” he told me for a column I wrote, which is included in my 1983 book “Pols & Politics.”
“They come in here, they park, they live, they eat, they go to the Celtics. They do very well. They’re seldom arrested.”
Boston cops, he said, took care of legislators “when they get stiff (drunk).”
When the Legislature dumps on Wu, as it did when her proposal to shift more home property taxes to business went down in flames, she just takes it.
Not White. He attacked the Legislature until he got his way, especially on the pay raise bill. “I’ve got every friend of every rep parked on Beacon Hill, but I don’t mind. What I mind is when they go after the city and don’t give it a fair shot.
“They should take the whole goddamn capital and move it to Springfield, for all I care.”
He also cautioned that if he did not get his way, the days of Boston cops giving wobbly legislators “wide latitude” would be a thing of the past.
“If I were the police I would do my duty,” he warned darkly.
The Legislature eventually passed his bill and White apologized to Speaker Tom McGee for calling legislators “stiffs.”
“But the reps, they know I‘m right,” he added.
There was a drinking culture back then at the State House that no longer exists in the same way today.
Back then the Golden Dome Pub (now the 21st Amendment) on Bowdoin Street beside the State House was so crowded nightly with drinking legislators, lobbyists and reporters that it could have doubled as a raucous legislative hearing room.
One senator from western Massachusetts, with his Rolls- Royce parked outside the pub, regularly ordered two Manhattans for the road. He, however, had a driver.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
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