Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, who is fighting to become a registered lobbyist despite a 2011 federal fraud conviction, has a message for skeptics.

“Whatever you think I did, I think I’ve paid my debt to society,” said DiMasi, a Democrat, “and I think I can get a second chance to be a contributing citizen so that I can benefit the citizens of Massachusetts.”

DiMasi was accompanied by his attorney, Meredith Fierro, and his wife, Deborah DiMasi, Tuesday morning at oral arguments in his lobbying appeal.

The Lobbyist Division rejected his application in March due to a 2011 conviction for steering contracts to Cognos in exchange for kickbacks that prosecutors said he received while he was speaker.

DiMasi pocketed $65,000 in kickbacks in exchange for Cognos winning nearly $18 million in state contracts in 2005 and 2006, authorities said.

At issue in the lobbying appeal is whether the commonwealth’s 2009 lobbying reforms apply to his criminal history. Fierro argued the statutes limits disqualifications to those convicted of violating the Massachusetts laws on lobbying, ethics and campaign finance.

She also argued that the 2009 amended law removed the Secretary of State’s authority to decide who should or should not become a lobbyist beyond the automatic disqualifications cited in the statute.

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” she later told reporters.

Marissa Soto-Ortiz, representing the Lobbyist Division, argued that the conviction outlines conduct that run contrary to the lobbying, ethics and campaign finance laws, thus disqualifying him until at least June 2021. She also argued he was illegally lobbying while speaker and that his actions make him ineligible.

DiMasi left Tuesday without a decision, but he offered another message for the public: “Just be thankful for what you have and not what you don’t have. I appreciate everything I have — my wife, my family — and I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving.”

DiMasi was sentenced to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay a fine of $65,000 in 2011 after being found guilty on federal corruption charges. He served five of the eight-year sentence before being granted a motion for a “compassionate release” after DiMasi, prison officials and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz argued DiMasi’s health had severely declined following treatment for cancer.