As is now being widely reported, Marty Meehan is the choice to lead UMass Lowell. And I’m hearing from a good source that he’s going to take it, announcement tomorrow at noon. (Big surprise, considering he hasn’t taken himself out of consideration.) I’ve got a call in to Meehan’s office to confirm that. Will update.
BMG Housekeeping: If this indeed goes forth, I’d like to suggest using the “MA-05” tag to label posts on this race. That’ll keep all the stuff under one rubric.
Update: Here’s Meehan’s statement, from LiL:
“I’m honored to have been selected by President Jack Wilson to be the next Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. If my nomination is approved by the Trustees, I plan to accept the position and to leave Congress in July. I’m grateful for the trust and confidence placed in me by the members of the search committee and President Wilson.
“The decision to leave the House has been the most difficult professional decision of my life. It has been a true honor to represent the people of my district and of our state in the House of Representatives. Being a member of Congress has been the best job I have ever had.
“But after serious personal reflection and many discussions with my wife Ellen and my close friends, the opportunity to serve as Chancellor of my alma mater is the right path for me. I believe in the University and the vital mission it plays in the community and in the state and I want to be a part of it.
“Obviously, this decision also gives me the opportunity to spend more time with Ellen and my young sons Robert and Daniel. Serving in Congress has its advantages, but being away from your family three to four nights a week is not one of them.
“Each of the successes I’ve enjoyed in my life can be traced back to the excellent public education I received growing up. I’ve always hoped to have the opportunity to play a role in strengthening the public education system and I believe this position gives me that chance.”
OK, so it’s on. Who’s your horse and why?
davemb says
That’s more consistent with the usage on Kos and MyDD.
charley-on-the-mta says
Will change.
hlpeary says
WBZ- Kellor reported on noon news that Meehan will take job.
<
p>
http://wbztv.com/top…
politicaljunkie says
Meehan released a statement saying, among other things: “I’m honored to have been selected by President Jack Wilson to be the next Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. If my nomination is approved by the Trustees, I plan to accept the position and to leave Congress in July. I’m grateful for the trust and confidence placed in me by the members of the search committee and President Wilson.”
ryepower12 says
We finally have a leader trying to take down DADT… and he leaves to go be a college president. I wish he could have stayed and finished the job. So close to doing it… yet, probably now so far away.
eaboclipper says
Marty Meehan has and will always be about one thing Ryan, Marty Meehan.
<
p>
You didn’t really think he’d give up the opportunity for a Bulgeresque pension did you. 80% of $265,000 is $212,000. Not bad a $17,666 a month pension, that doesn’t even begin to include the housing allowance.
<
p>
My question is will he disband the campaign account.
lynne says
After several personal interactions with him, and talking to others in the district, I really think he’s just really tired of being away from his young family.
<
p>
Also, he had never planned on being a congresscritter forever, as evidenced by the fact that he made the somewhat silly (now broken) term limit promise. I think he really meant it at the time, I don’t think he realized that it takes at least double that time to have any power in Congress to get anything done, but I don’t think he planned on being an incumbant forever.
<
p>
Plus, it’s a good move anyway, as he can keep his profile up with the things he does at UML, he can raise the profile of the school he cares about (and he does), and then if a Senate seat were to open up, say, in 6 years, he’d be in the position to decide to jump in.
<
p>
I also don’t think it’s a bad thing for pols to jump out of politics back into the real world for a while. He’s got his work cut out for him, and I do think he’s going to do his level best at it.
goldsteingonewild says
<
p>
priceless.
eaboclipper says
GGW,
<
p>
UML is more grounded than most campuses. I think that stems from the power than the Engineering and Business departments hold on the University.
<
p>
In my Engineering program for instance my labs weren’t ivory towers like a some other schools. Due to the limited funds, we often had to fix our own equipment. As students this gave us more skills than a pure theoretical experience. That was one of the greatest things about UML.
<
p>
Also the humanities departments, with the exception of the music program, are basically there to serve the engineering and business departments. Much to the chagrin of the humanities professors. I hope that doesn’t change too much.
<
p>
I wish Marty all the luck.
<
p>
Oh and P.S. Save the Chiefs’ River Hawks’ participation in Hockey East!
cos says
Good snark. But snark aside, unning a public university is “the real world” as that phrase is usually meant when we talk about politicians. Meehan’s not going to be a full time undergrad living in a dorm.
margot says
The AP story, at least as posted on the Worcester T&G web site, mentioned a few candidates for Meehan’s seat, but Eldridge wasn’t one of them. I added a comment saying Eldridge was considering a run. If he is definitely in, it might be good for others to add comments to that effect so his name is out there soon, and he doesn’t get relegated to “second tier.”
susan-m says
Jamie Eldridge is in this race.
<
p>
I don’t know why the T&G didn’t mention it in their article? I dropped a note in the comments that they should make a correction.
lynne says
You could come to one of our excellent Lowell blogs for news and information and conversation on the 5th! 🙂
<
p>
Yes, I say, Lowell blogs PLURAL! (Welcome to Richard Howe!)
susan-m says
that you’re not going to need to worry about getting traffic to your blogs. I’m sure your stats are about to go through the roof. 🙂
<
p>
Yay, for new blogs. Dick Howe is such a mensch.
lynne says
If I can’t get my act together…sigh…
eaboclipper says
I’m not in Lowell anymore, more to do with the 1 1/2 hour a day commute to Boston than not wanting to be there. Is Howe cryptically signaling that he is running for City Council. I got that from his statement “more on that[City Council] later.
<
p>
Dick Howe, Jr. is one of the few Democrats I would vote for. What he did with the Middlesex North Registry is amazing. He ran and won a hack seat but treated it like a real job.
mimi-p says
EaboClipper:
<
p>
Come back to Lowell! We need people who think like you. 🙂
mr-lynne says
I beg him to run for CC all the time but I think he really likes his current elected job and agreed, he’s treated as a public servant position rather than a “hack” job as you say. (I don’t know how the other Registrars operate, and I won’t assume they don’t also work hard unless I find out otherwise, but yes, it’s an elected position one could abuse as a hack if one wanted.)
<
p>
Dick is one of the most fairminded, diplomatic, respected, but tough cookies I’ve ever met. I value our friendship and I love working with him on various issues. Whether or not he runs for CC (I honestly think it’d be cakewalk for him if he wanted it, he’s got that much respect), he does a lot of good in Lowell and it’s lucky to have him, and to have had his father all those years.
<
p>
When I first moved here and heard Dick Howe Sr had been in office so many decades, my first thought screamed “whoa! incumbant hack!” But I quickly learned that no one anywhere directs Howe Sr, he was and is his own man. I didn’t always agree with him, but you always knew where he stood. 🙂 Plus he really made CC meetings fun and exciting (especially in the Cox days, heh).
lynne says
That was me, not my husband. I’m on his laptop and I keep forgetting he went off and got his own username on BMG. ;P
cos says
Well, I mentioned way back when the rumors about Meehan and UML first began, that Eldridge is my choice.
<
p>
Today I heard NPR reporting on this, and Barney Frank mentioned that Meehan was a leader on campaign finance reform in the House (for example, Shays-Meehan was the House companion bill to McCain-Feingold in the Senate, IIRC). Frank says that’s one thing we’ll be losing and need to find a replacement for in the house.
<
p>
Jamie Eldridge is the only person ever to win an election as a clean elections candidate in Massachusetts – that was his first election to state rep, in 2002. By electing him to Congress we can keep the spotlight on both Meehan’s leadership on campaign finance, and the need to move on to clean elections.
eaboclipper says
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform, is one of the most atrocious things I have EVER seen come out of Congress. It is the equivalent of an incumbent protection act, that guts the First Amendment. Marty Meehan’s campaign account shows how this is true. It is nigh impossible with a $2300 campaign account limit for a challenger to raise enough money to challenge a $5.1M account.
<
p>
Steverino and raj, I know it would probably pass Supreme Court muster, but that in and of itself doesn’t mean it would pass the original intent of the First Amendment.
eaboclipper says
charley-on-the-mta says
I think it’s one of the main things that has made campaigns like Dean’s possible. There’s been a definite change in emphasis back onto small donors and grassroots operations, ie. social capital. Who’s got that? The progs n’ blogs, and the religious right. And that’s who is in ascendancy right now, not the corporate DLC or corporate GOP.
<
p>
And money does not equal speech. No 1st Amendment worries here. Shays-Meehan is a great legacy.
eaboclipper says
steverino says
the pre-emptive plea for mercy. LOL! I’m starting to get those looks, like people who walk through the Common with a Staffordshire Terrier.
<
p>
Anyway, I am going to mod you up. I’m pro-reform, but your point isn’t obviously insane.
centralmaguy says
Even for a bunch of rich, landed white guys, I don’t think the Founders foresaw the disgustingly large gobs of money clogging up our electoral system when the devised our federal republic.
<
p>
Buckley v. Valeo was one of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever. It enshrined the idea that monetary contributions to political causes equals political speech and must be protected. In essence, it made it so that people with more money have a louder voice than those who don’t. I can agree to some extent that the band-aid solutions of recent campaign finance reform have done little to level the playing field, but to argue that it’s a good thing for democracy to not regulate political contributions or not to convert to a fully publicly-financed campaign system doesn’t make any sense.
<
p>
Indeed, it’ll take a constitutional amendment to correct this problem since the Supreme Court won’t touch this precedent.
shiltone says
You said it so I didn’t have to, and better, CMG. We differ on a few things, but you are 100% correct here, so I’m here to say Amen to that. The “Free Speech” argument, especially coming from the far-from-disenfranchised, is completely bogus from any rational standpoint.
cos says
I don’t know Eldridge’s position on Shays-Meehan and neither do you, but I didn’t claim to know and you jumped right out with a sarcastic, bitter, passive-aggressive title. Way to turn off anyone who isn’t already just like you.
garrett says
Now that Meehan has apparently chosen to leave congress, I’d like to know what he plans to do with the 5 million plus sitting in his campaign account. Can he transfer that to the DCCC or other Candidates? What use would he have for all that money now?
stomv says
EOM
eaboclipper says
I called the Presidents office of UMass two weeks ago to tell them that I thought a promise to disburse the funds be made a condition of employment. I did this as an alum of the University. $5M+ campaign account is too much of a temptation for Meehan to leave.
davesoko says
… a series of posts about each of the potential canidates, mostly about them as people, preferably by people who either know them or have friends who know them. What sort of people are Tsongas, Eldridge, etc, and what makes them qualified to represent us in congress? Before the horse race begins, lets take a look at why we might want each of them to speak for us in Washington.
<
p>
Lets pick our canidates carefully, and may the best woman or man win.
afertig says
I’d like their positions on a host of issues, rather than what type of person they are. For instance, would they support using Congress’s constitutional power to limit the funding of the Iraq war?
frankskeffington says
I’ve read at least 15 times here that Jamie Eldridge is the “progressive” candidate. That’s good enough for me. Why think and research? I got my 411, now I’ll go watch TV or play a videogame.
steverino says
is the very core of the mission of a state-level progressive blog.
<
p>
It’s not a job for the Glob.
annem says
AnnEM = Eldridge Malone
<
p>
No relation but so far I’m a big fan of Jamie’s politics.
<
p>
But Capuano’s my guy in Congress and I’m fairly content with him. Tho’ knowing that Mike is part of Pelosi’s “Team” I want/expect him to get us out of Iraq and quick!!!! And then get us real universal healthcare.
hopefuldem says
Just a reminder that every time there is a hint of an open seat in this state there is a clamoring for a woman to join our congressional delegation. This time it could happen, and it should! There are two women already in the race, both outstanding. Eileen Donohue is a strong city councillor with an impeccable record. Niki Tsongas, though never having run before, has felt the heat of a campaign. They both know a great deal about the district. Why not a woman?
Some men have thrown in their names and they have never run before (David O’Brien of Concord). Some don’t live in the district, like Sheriff DiPaola. And some are just running because they don’t have to make that awful decision to give up their safe seat because it’s a special election (like Barry “I’ve been running since I was 12” Feingold of Andover and Jamie Eldridge of Acton).
The issues have to count. The Dems are hanging on by their fingernails in DC right now. Someone who can hit the ground running, work with Pelosi, and knows hard-knuckle politics. Hmmm, do the names Donohue or Tsongas ring true?
frankskeffington says
…and to your first post! Secondly, as you point out, issues have to count. Yet your central theme is they do not count–what counts is electing a woman.
<
p>
Sorry, but I smell a plant. It’s to early to be on anybody’s pay roll, but I sense you’ve got your candidate already picked out and just playing with us here.
<
p>
You whack DiPaola for not living in the district, yet Tsongas doesn’t either. (Sure she has roots their, but DiPaola has been Sheriff of most of the district.) And why be so nasty with Finegold?
hlpeary says
Maybe it’s not really hopeful’s first post…style has a familiar ring.
<
p>
Glad to see you and Hoss have reappeared..what’s your take in the 5th?
frankskeffington says
…their first post HL, you’ve been around the block enough to know that it’s easy to find out when they first signed up on BMG.
<
p>
BTW, I’ve been around as much as you post November…mostly lurking but with an occasional post. And that’s easy to confirm.
<
p>
As for this race, the names that have surfaced don’t really excite me. Mostly acceptable (not fans of old school pols like Meceli or DiPoala, especially Mecili, given his voting record.) Don’t now much about Donoghue and I ASSUME Tsongas will vote “right” on the key issues. Eldridge and his folks are making the noise–are you going to be part of the Jamie cabal? I always thought Finegold was a good rep, but I’m surprised he doesn’t have folks pitching him here–nor have I heard that he’s been making calls, but I have to assume he is and I ain’t in the loop. O’Brien…the poor white kid from Tewsbury who makes good and moved to Concord–that story needs more meat on the bone…and I’m open to hearing more. Kerrigan, a lobbiest from tiny Lancaster in the outer reaches of the district? Who have I forgotten?
<
p>
Nope, nothing exciting to me. We’ve got two women fighting to make this the “year of the women”. We’ve got “Barry Eldridge Kerrigan” fighting for the progressive mantle. And we’ve got DiPoala and Mecili auditioning to be the next spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
<
p>
Funny, I thought we’re in the middle of a senseless war and this is what the field is shaping up to be?
<
p>
Your take?
cos says
I think HLpeary is hinting that Hopeful has commented in the past using a different account. I’m not experessing an opinion on whether that’s true, I’m just saying that’s what I think HL meant.
frankskeffington says
…sometimes its obvious and sometimes you miss the obvoius.
hlpeary says
Frank…Cos was right…that’s what I meant…I know how to check dates…but not aliases…
<
p>
As for the 5th race…hmmm…I’m kind of in the same boat as you (imagine that!?) I’m not overly enthused about the options.
<
p>
It would be okay to see a woman in the delegation…I don’t know either one of them well enough to say if they would be a big asset.
<
p>
I do not think I could support either DiPaola or Miceli…neither is impressive by any gauge…throw-back hacks at best.
<
p>
The only thing I know about Kerrigan is that people who had to deal with him at Reilly’s office described him as arrogant, self-important, and a fountain of poor political judgement (Frank, perhaps he was the one who encouraged Reilly to interfere in the Lt. Governor’s race…which was the beginning of Tom’s undoing)
<
p>
Eldridge appears to be coralling the younger Deval crowd but I know less than nothing about him…33 yr old State Rep…would have to do a lot of convincing…he is from a small base and this is not a particularly liberal district (Lowell, Haverhill, Methuen, Tewksbury…your not in Cambridge Dorothy!)
<
p>
I actually hesitate to elect anyone too young because they stay until they die (with the exception of a middle-ager who gets a financial offer he can’t refuse…which happens every 50 years)…the younger they are the longer their tenure…
<
p>
I was always opposed to term limits, but am leaning in that direction because the influence of money on these races has made it impossible to get rid of even the lazy or incompetent.
northshore324 says
After years of the same-old same-old, I think it’s time for a fresh start, which is why I support Steve Kerrigan of Lancaster.
<
p>
The only openly gay candidate to my knowledge, Steve was elected Selectman when he was 26, and has a wide range of experience at the highest levels of government. Aside from serving as a senior aide to Senator Kennedy, Steve was the Chief of Staff in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, overseeing more than 400 employees and a massive state budget. He also was the Chief of Staff for the Boston convention in 2004, and I think we can all agree that that was a tremendous success. (Not for the nominee, perhaps, but the convention itself went smoothly and safely, and Steve deserves a lot of credit for that.)
<
p>
Steve is a great guy with a great set of ides and progressive values. No one else from either party has his range of experience in government, and I know that he will be a much needed fresh face in the 5th district.
eaboclipper says
Lancaster is probably the second smallest town in the District after Dunstable. In a rough and tumble primary that will be decided probably by geography. Someone from Lancaster has no chance.
centralmaguy says
Jamie Eldridge is a good progressive who has done a lot of good for his district, particularly his work on improving local aid formulas (or is it “formulae”?). His claim to fame as the only Clean Elections candidate ever to win an election is a great indicator of his progressive credentials and dedicating to improving the health of our ailing democracy. He’s also the only candidate in the race with a 100% pro-labor rating from the MA AFL-CIO and was designated a “special friend of labor” by the AFL during the 2006 campaign. Furthermore, he’s proven that he’s able to connect with voters in a rather conservative-leaning suburban state legislative district, serve their interests, and be soundly re-elected while pushing progressive causes. He’s also worked in Lowell and Lawrence as legal aid attorney helping needy clients with housing issues, Social Security, etc…
<
p>
Jamie seems like the candidate best able to represent that economically and socially diverse district and has strong experience working for people across the district. If only I lived in the 5th!
cos says
Good point: He does represent a district that, by Massachusetts standards, is rather conservative, yet he’s able to both be progressive and remain popular with his voters.
shiltone says
I don’t have any knock on any other potential candidates, but I have the slimmest of connections to Jamie out here in MetroWest because he was literally everywhere I went when I was working on the DP campaign. Between him and Kate D. and others I have to apologize for not knowing or mentioning, there was a lot of good energy and a great GOTV effort. He’s a good man and a tireless campaigner, and until someone else really bowls me over, I’m in his corner.
raj says
…This is likely a vestige of the fact that the state’s two senators are sitting on their seats, have been doing so forever, and will likely do so until death do they part. Meehan saw no chance for advancement in the national political sphere, and decided to leave congress.
cos says
I’ve said it in past posts here and I’ll say it again: Why exactly is this a problem? Why should we place a higher priority on providing a well-defined path of advancement for our Congressional delegation, than on electing people we think do a good job? Why would it have been better for a Senator to leave and open up a seat for someone new, than for a member of the House to leave and do the same thing? I just don’t get it.
<
p>
I’m all for removing structural imbalances that protect imcumbents, and make it easier for challengers, but that’s not what you’re talking about. You seem to think that Senators should leave so that House members can advance upward, and that while that would be great, it’s not so great for a House member to leave so that state legislators, mayors, and the like can move upward. I can’t make any sense of that view.
cos says
Hey, look, I just gave a comment a 5 even though I thoroughly disagree with it. I’ve been doing that ever since we got comment ratings, but I get the feeling you’ve never noticed, so thought I’d point it out to you. Sometimes I even give them 6’s.