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Thomas Joseph Lane spent more than two decades in the House of Representatives, but failed to make much of a mark on the history of the chamber. Little information remains about Lane's work, and he wasn't one to generate headlines - with one glaring exception. In 1956, CQ Almanac would refer to Lane as only the second known person to be elected to Congress after serving a prison sentence.
Lane was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on July 6, 1898. Following his graduation from high school, he worked as a retail clerk until he was accepted at Suffolk Law School in Boston in 1921. After earning his law degree from this school in 1925, he opened a private practice and later served in the U.S. Army.
Lane's political career began in 1927, when he was elected as a Democrat to the Massachusetts house of representatives. He served in this chamber for a decade, then became a member of the state senate in 1939. He left state politics at the end of 1941 after winning a special election called due to the death of Representative Lawrence J. Connery.
Lane would win the next nine general elections to the House as well. Representing an economically distressed textile manufacturing region, Lane was known as a labor supporter and New Deal backer who worked to secure federal economic assistance for his district.
On March 5, 1956, Lane was indicted on charges that he had evaded his income taxes between 1949 and 1951. The indictment charged that the congressman had seriously underreported his income in returns filed jointly with his wife, who was not charged. In 1949, the couple's joint income was $57,497 but Lane only reported $14,311, resulting in an income tax of $2,673 instead of $21,206. He reported income of $20,991.03 in 1950 instead of the actual figure of $43,198, resulting in a tax of $4,708 instead of $14,193. The couple earned $50,470 in 1951 but Lane said they had only taken in $30,956.43, giving them a tax bill of $9,515 instead of $20,039. All told, he had skipped out on $38,542 in taxes.
After indictment, Judge Charles E. Wyanski Jr. warned the press that he didn't want a "repetition of what happened in United States versus Delaney." It was a reference to the case of Denis J. Delaney, a former Massachusetts collector of internal revenue who happened to be a cousin of Lane's. Delany's first trial on charges of bribery and falsifying tax liens in 1951 was scrapped due to unfavorable publicity before trial, though he later pleaded guilty at a second trial.
Lane tried unsuccessfully to change his plea to nolo contendere before pleading guilty on April 30. In a tearful plea for leniency, he declared that "deep down in my heart I know there has never been a willful evading of the tax law." He was sentenced to four months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
He was still behind bars on July 20 when he filed his nomination papers to run for re-election to the House. After being released on September 4, he received twice as many votes as his nearest challenger, state senator Andrew P. Quigley, in the Democratic primary. He defeated his GOP challenger, Robert T. Breed, by a similar margin in the general election.
After being defeated in the 1962 election, Lane returned to private practice. He served as a member of the Governor's Council for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1965 to 1970, was an active member of the American Legion, and a vocal advocate for veterans' rights and benefits.
Lane died on June 14, 1994, in Lawrence.
Sources
Biographical Directory of U.S. Congress, Suffolk University Early Law School Student Profiles, "Lane is Indicted on Tax Evasions" in the New York Times on March 6 1956, "Legislator Gets Jail in Tax Case" in the New York Times on May 1 1956, "85th Congress Potpourri" in the CQ Almanac 1956, The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals, and Dirty Politics by Kim Long
