Patrick Sweeney (politician)

Transcription

what made you decide to go into politics. Well I always was interested in and it and I loved and this may not answer it but I loved the stories of politicians, and I remember reading Ed Flynn's "You're the Boss" he was a boss of politics in tammany hall in the Bronx he was (uh) and the purple shamrock the biography of james michael curley who's a hero of ours and (um) James Farley (mhm) "Behind the Ballots" was his book and all those who, I just loved all of it. Have you ever had the chance to meet or see James Michael Curley? I did I was at the Hotel Bellevue I met him on two occasions and at the Hotel Bellevue it was in I think 1995 when he just had in a preliminary election the other candidates were eliminated and he and John Heinz had to face each other he Curley was way behind and he was an old fellow by then and I met him then and what I loved about it was he well was far behind and things were tough and his, his entourage they were all old people and people they're not of great prominence or resource but he asked the microphones be setup out onto the street of the hotel Brunswick and he said that (um), he said like John Paul Jones on the deck and the burning bon Homme Richard we have just begun to fight we will never surrender oh we could have marched on City Hall, it was terrific I loved all of that. Now one of the great Boston institutions you had a part in was the Saint Patrick's Day breakfast. Correct. an annual event. can you tell us anything about how that came to be or favorite moments? Well I loved it because and Congressman Moakley the senator by tradition is the host of the breakfast but moakley quickly recognized that the state representative myself. Loved to ham it up so he would call me up and let me do so and it was it at dorgan's at the corner of G and Columbia Road, and then ultimately elsewhere we (um) I really loved it. It was a big pivotal moment in the election season and I would put on the brogue and my mother she was born in Charlestown, my father in the North End and their parents are from the old country but I still remember my mother saying when did you become so Irish. I say when I realized eighty percent of the voters around here are Irish and I used to enjoy hamming it up just and so it, that was a big moment and I loved it all now was it important to learn a lot of irish songs? I don't know whether it was important, but it certainly helped me. well I know that if you were in the South Cove area or something there people from county Kerry, so you know the Kerry count the dedication of the Moakley law library at Suffolk (mhm) Joe Moakley said when we were growing up in the projects, Bill Bulger was the only kid who went the library even when it wasn't raining. Yeah that was joe Moakley and I were good friends, and I lived at 41 Logan and he lived at 51 Logan right near (by) each other and that he was a good friend, an older fellow and always always faithful to me I'm fortunate to have known him and he had a very good sense of it all no no big speechifying about it he just gave it his best and its his actions that really are a testimony to his wonderful sense of public service.