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| Home Front: Politix |
| Delahunt to spend more time with family |
| 2010-03-05 |
| While the getting's good. These guy's skying out must be seeing November in their nightmares... WASHINGTON — Representative William Delahunt will not seek re-election to Congress, the seven-term Democrat will announce tomorrow, ending a nearly 40-year career in elected office and giving Republicans hope of capturing the seat, which stretches from Cape Cod to the South Shore. "It's got nothing to do with politics," the Quincy Democrat said today. "Life is about change. I think it's healthy. It's time." Past time ... The 68-year-old lawmaker said he has been considering leaving the House for several years, but was talked out of it two years ago by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who convinced his friend he should stay and help President Obama with his first-term agenda. "He said, 'Come on — this is a new time. It's a new era. We [will] have a new president. We're all needed," Delahunt recalled Kennedy telling him. Once Kennedy died last year, Delahunt said he grappled with whether to stay and work on the issues Kennedy held dear. "Clearly, since his death, there's something missing. There's a void. With the void, you feel the need to be here because there's much to do," Delahunt said wistfully in an exclusive interview. But the congressman said he concluded that after nearly four decades in public service, the grueling House schedule was taking its toll on his personal life. "I've got a granddaughter," the divorced father of two said. "Given the pace down here, I don't want to miss out on her childhood, her first year." The congressman has faced recent questions about the handling of the 1986 Amy Bishop shooting case, which occurred when he was Norfolk County district attorney. Delahunt has said consistently that his office was not told that Bishop fled with a loaded weapon after killing her brother in what police then called an accident. But the case has absolutely nothing to do with his decision to retire, Delahunt said. Voters in Delahunt's 10th District gave Republican Scott Brown his best margins in the state in the special Jan. 19 election to fill Kennedy's seat. But Delahunt said the wave of anti-incumbent anger also did not affect his decision. Delahunt's retirement is the 17th among House Democrats, and the third among lawmakers with close ties to Kennedy. Senator Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and a close Kennedy friend, announced his retirement in January; Rhode Island Representative Patrick Kennedy, the late senator's son, followed suit last month. The lawmaker established himself in Washington as a leading Yeah, Suntan Billy liked heading south. And if he had to kiss some commie ass to get a free "fact finding" trip down in, like, February, it was a small price to pay. I'm sure Hugo and El Jefe will always be glad to see him. They might even put him on the payroll to be their mouthpiece in DC. He also hosted a "Grupo de Boston" weekend in the Cape with Venezuelan government and opposition leaders, hoping to get the feuding sides together by having them spend time together in a neutral place. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 A decent start. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-03-05 11:52 |
| #1 The Blogosphere takes another scalp! How many is this for this cycle? |
| Posted by: Formerly Dan 2010-03-05 08:22 |