Alan David Sisitsky was an American lawyer and politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate.
40 Facts About Alan Sisitsky
1.
2.
Alan Sisitsky attended Springfield public schools and went on to graduate from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts in government, Harvard University with a Master of Arts in political science, and Yale Law School with a Bachelor of Laws.
3.
Alan Sisitsky was on the staff of The Cornell Daily Sun and a member of the Quill and Dagger society at Cornell, and editor of the Yale Law Journal.
4.
Alan Sisitsky was credited with creating the state Auto Insurance Rating Bureau and having auto insurance companies return $35 million in excess profits to Massachusetts drivers.
5.
Alan Sisitsky sponsored legislation to compel insurance companies to include investment income in their calculations when making annual rate-increase requests and helped pass legislation to provide protective regulation for elderly people purchasing health insurance policies and prevent the arbitrary cancellation of homeowners insurance.
6.
Alan Sisitsky disagreed with the committee's recommendation and delivered an impassioned speech in defense of Bonin.
7.
Alan Sisitsky raised money and campaigned for Dukakis during his 1970 run for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and ran his campaign in Western Massachusetts during the 1974 gubernatorial election.
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However, Alan Sisitsky broke with Dukakis soon after he became governor.
9.
Alan Sisitsky faulted Dukakis for cutting spending on human services and for "doing very little" to promote court reform.
10.
Alan Sisitsky considered running against Dukakis for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1978, but instead decided to run for reelection to his Senate seat.
11.
Alan Sisitsky was mentioned as a possible candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts if Democratic incumbent Thomas P O'Neill III decided to challenge Edward Brooke in the 1978 senate election, however O'Neill chose to run for reelection instead.
12.
On May 20,1981, Sisitsky asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to investigate Hampden County District Attorney Matthew J Ryan.
13.
Alan Sisitsky accused Ryan of abusing his office by using the indictment process for "intimidation", protecting mobsters, and protecting a close friend who was charged with shooting at two police officers.
14.
Chief Justice Edward F Hennessey advised Sisitsky to take his case to Massachusetts Attorney General Francis X Bellotti, whose office reviewed the charges.
15.
Ryan's supporters, including Assistant District Attorney Guy Peznola, claimed that Alan Sisitsky bore a grudge over Ryan's prosecution of Alan Sisitsky's father in 1960.
16.
Alan Sisitsky said that he had forgotten about his father's case long ago.
17.
In 1981, Sisitsky clashed with Senate President William M Bulger over the autonomy of the Springfield and Boston Housing Courts, which had been placed under the Boston Municipal Court as part of the 1982 Budget.
18.
Alan Sisitsky felt that these courts had been downgraded because the chief judge did not appoint a friend of Bulger's to the position of assistant clerk.
19.
On July 14,1981, Alan Sisitsky announced that he would resign from the Senate effective September 1.
20.
Alan Sisitsky cited the actions of Bulger and Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Chester G Atkins as his reason for resigning.
21.
Alan Sisitsky blamed Bulger and Atkins for stalling for two weeks before approving an emergency spending bill.
22.
Alan Sisitsky listed a number of reasons for his change of mind, including an overwhelming response from the public urging him to stay, the cost of a special election, and his desire to attempt to reform the Senate.
23.
Alan Sisitsky announced that he would run for statewide office in 1982, but did not state which office he would run for, and that in addition to his Senatorial duties, he would work part-time as a teacher at Puget Sound Law School in Tacoma, Washington.
24.
On October 27,1981, Alan Sisitsky made a motion to remove Bulger as Senate President.
25.
Later, Alan Sisitsky interrupted another Senator while he was speaking on a bill and, while the Senate was debating a bill reported out of the Banks and Banking Committee, Alan Sisitsky said that the committee should be disbanded and instead a rubber stamp should be given to the cleaning lady.
26.
Alan Sisitsky was escorted out of the chamber by a court officer.
27.
On November 2,1981, the Senate Ethics Committee recommended that Alan Sisitsky be reinstated only if he issued a formal apology to the Senate.
28.
That same day, attorneys for Alan Sisitsky filed suit in the Supreme Judicial Court seeking to overturn his removal.
29.
Whitey Bulger had his associate Kevin Weeks call Alan Sisitsky and threaten to kill him.
30.
Alan Sisitsky spent hours making calls to reporters and news organizations, sometimes into the early morning.
31.
Alan Sisitsky tore up a newspaper and then tried to piece it back together so he could finish an article that angered him.
32.
Senate Minority Leader John F Parker described Sisitsky as having "carried on in a frightful way" and went on to say "I think his wheels are coming off".
33.
On January 29,1982, Sisitsky attempted to deliver a battered bouquet of roses to Governor Edward J King.
34.
Alan Sisitsky received no medical treatment and left the hospital after a few hours.
35.
Alan Sisitsky claimed that the conspiracy against him was fueled by anti-Semitism.
36.
Alan Sisitsky described Sisitsky's disruptions as having no rational purpose and "bizarre".
37.
The next day, Alan Sisitsky's family announced that he had been hospitalized for "physical and emotional fatigue".
38.
Alan Sisitsky was sent to Westwood Lodge Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Westwood, Massachusetts.
39.
Alan Sisitsky returned to the Senate on June 2,1982, three weeks after being released from the hospital.
40.
Alan Sisitsky died on July 7,2017, at the Jewish Nursing Home in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.