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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
(Globe File Photo)
Martin T. Meehan's departure from Congress would ignite the first competitive fight for a Bay State congressional district in more than five years.
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
US Representative Martin T. Meehan has been chosen to be chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, a school spokesman said today.
UMass President Jack M. Wilson notified the university's 22-member board of trustees by e-mail just after 10 a.m. that he had selected Meehan among three finalists, said school spokesman Robert Connolly.
"President Wilson has talked about the congressman's intellect, passion, and experience," Connolly said. "It was clear that Congressman Meehan has a deep connection to research and believes that it can serve as the cornerstone for a region's economic performance."
The selection of Meehan, 50, a UMass Lowell graduate, must still be approved by a majority of the board of trustees' 19-voting members at its meeting Wednesday morning. In the past, the trustees have largely followed the recommendation of the president.
The Globe first reported in January that Meehan had emerged on the short list of candidates. Speculation that he might take the post ignited jockeying for what may be the first competitive fight for a Bay State congressional district in more than five years.
"We highly anticipate that the Congressman will accept the position, but we wouldn't want to speak for him," Connolly said.
Connolly said that he expected that Meehan's salary would be in line with other chancellors, which means he could expect to earn, with benefits, $100,000 more than his congressional salary of $165,200.
First elected in 1992, Meehan had vowed to hold hearings into the Iraq war after Democrats regained the majority and he became chairman in January of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. He was officially named one of three finalists for the chancellor's job while on a fact-finding trip in Iraq, where he said he was laying groundwork for hearings.
If Meehan leaves Congress, Governor Deval Patrick would have to call a special election within 160 days, and the new incumbent would then face a re-election campaign in November 2008. Connolly said they hope Meehan would be on campus by July 1.
Politicians eager to fill Meehan's seat have wasted no time positioning themselves for a run, with at least 10 candidates flirting with a potential campaign. The list of Democrats include Niki Tsongas, wife of the late US senator Paul Tsongas; state Representative Barry R. Finegold of Andover; Eileen Donoghue, the former Lowell mayor and current city councilor; state Representative James B. Eldridge of Acton; and Stephen Kerrigan, a former aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy and to Attorney General Thomas Reilly.
Two Democrat have already dropped out of the race. State Senator Steven Baddour of Methuen held a press conference Monday to announce he was not running for the seat. "In the end, I realized that while any one can be a Congressman, I am the only one who can be a father to my two daughters, Isabella and Victoria," Baddour said in a statement, according to State House News Service. State Senator Susan C. Tucker of North Andover removed her name from consideration last week.
On the Republican side, potential contenders include Michael Sullivan, mayor of Lawrence; Charles McCarthy, Meehan's 2002 challenger; and Donna Cuomo, a former state representative from North Andover.
The other finalists for the chancellor job were David C. Chang, chancellor of the Polytechnic University, and Nabil A. Ibrahim, the vice chancellor for academic affairs and chief academic officer at Purdue University in Calumet.
Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 11:02 AM
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