February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jim Smith
BOSTON — Ending speculation that he might jump into the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Joseph Moakley, who died of leukemia on Memorial Day, former Boston Mayor and Vatican Ambassador Raymond Flynn endorsed state Senator Stephen Lynch last Friday for the 9th Congressional District seat.
News of Flynn’s support for Lynch came on the heels of Max Kennedy’s abrupt departure from the race earlier this month after polls showed the son of Robert F. Kennedy facing an uphill fight with Lynch, a 46-year-old former ironworker and labor law attorney who grew up in the housing projects of South Boston.
Lynch, whose roots are in County Galway, defeated Irish-American gangster James "Whitey" Bulger’s nephew, William Bulger Jr., for the state senate seat five years ago. Within months, he was embroiled in the bitter fight to keep a proposed New England Patriots football stadium out of his Southie neighborhood. Joining forces at that time with Moakley, Lynch and the South Boston neighbors prevailed over then-Gov. William Weld, the Boston media, and other stadium proponents.
Lynch, who delivered the oration at Saturday’s John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial Exercises at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, was preparing for another tough fight before Kennedy, a 36-year-old lawyer and environmentalist, dropped out of the race.
Lynch’s supporters expect that pro-choice and gay activists, who were prepared to rally behind Kennedy, will now coalesce around one of a number of more socially liberal candidates, such as state Senator Brian Joyce of Milton, who recently announced that he is switching his position on abortion from pro-life to pro-choice.
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And several columnists for the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald have recently described Lynch in terms all too familiar to residents of South Boston — too parochial, too conservative, and too traditional for a rapidly changing society.
Lynch remains unfazed by those labels. Like Moakley, Lynch is pro-life and proud of his Southie roots and the values that were instilled in him when he was growing up with his five sisters and attending St. Augustine’s School. Now he wants to take those values with him to Washington.
When Lynch learned recently that his brother-in-law, Joseph O’Leary, was suffering from cancer of the liver and needed an organ transplant, he talked things over with his wife, Margaret, and decided to donate half of his own liver to the 54-year-old carpenter.
On March 21 of this year, three days after hosting the annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast in South Boston, Lynch underwent a five-and-a-half-hour operation at the Lahey Clinic during which 60 percent of his liver was removed and transplanted into O’Leary, who is the husband of Lynch’s sister Karen and the father of three children.
Fortunately for both Lynch and O’Leary, the liver is an organ with amazing regenerative powers, and both men are doing remarkably well today.
"We’re coming along pretty well, and my doctor’s got me on a heavy red-meat diet," a robust Lynch said after the O’Reilly ceremony Saturday.
Although he experienced pain and fatigue for a couple of months after the procedure, Lynch said that he has been energized by the support he is receiving not only in Boston but in the surrounding suburbs such as Norwood and Brockton.
In announcing his support for Lynch Friday, Flynn said that Lynch is well equipped to succeed Moakley.
"Like Joe, Steve Lynch has deep roots in the district, and he’s someone who stands up for what he believes in," Flynn said.
The Democratic primary is scheduled for Sept. 11, with the general election to follow on Oct. 16.