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Joe Moakley on Principles & ValuesFormer Democratic Representative (MA-9) |
Mr. Moakley was born, reared and lived his entire life in South Boston. He proclaimed himself a “bread and butter” politician and said he followed the adage of his mentor, Speaker Tip O’Neill.: “All politics is local.” Moakley helped bring home federal money for cleaning up Boston Harbor, for heating the homes of the poor and for the “Big Dig,” the rerouting of a Boston highway into a tunnel in one of the largest public works projects in American history. “He was unabashed when it came to trying to get federal money for Boston,” said a House colleague. “He never apologized for a dime of it.”
Moakley stated his personal and political allegiances simply. “As soon as we’re born, we’re baptized into the Catholic Church, we’re sworn into the Democratic Party and we’re given union cards.”
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