QUESTION 8 JAMS DELAHUNT'S BRAKES

When U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt was first running for Congress, one of the
issues in the campaign was his decade-long use of state-owned cars seized
in drug cases. Delahunt always referred all questions on the matter to his
lawyer, Tom Kiley.

Well, what a difference five years makes.

Now there's a statewide referendum pending - Question 8 - that would in
effect end the policy of confiscation of drug dealers' vehicles. The
treasurer for the campaign . . . Tom Kiley.

And listed in the official ballot-question booklet as a supporter of the
question is . . . Bill Delahunt, longtime beneficiary of the policy he
wants to overturn now that he can't benefit from it.

"Your property can be confiscated without your being convicted of a
crime,'' the pro-Question 8 forces proclaim. "And the police keep the money!''

Asked what's changed in the five years since he used to defend the policy,
Kiley said, "I haven't flipflopped. I've always been upset with the way we
take property from people with no due process.''

And of course, as a congressman, client Delahunt no longer has claim on a
seized drug-dealer's Audi 200.

Howie Carr, David R. Guarino, Cosmo Macero Jr., and Joe Battenfeld
contributed to this report.