The graduate

Part 4

Talking Politics by Michael Crowley

In his small office wedged into the fifth floor of the House Cannon Building (previous occupant: Sonny Bono), McGovern explains how important that sort of mentoring -- from both Moakley and George McGovern -- has been to his political identity.

The office itself is full of clues to that identity. Behind his desk hangs a painting of Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, a reminder of McGovern's Catholicism. Elsewhere, the congressman has proudly mounted several Telegram-Gazette editorial cartoons lampooning him as a liberal maniac. In one, Fidel Castro is shown holding a McGovern campaign sign. Even more telling: the copy of the Nation that lies on a desk.

"From Moakley I learned about the more practical aspects of politics," McGovern says. "The importance of taking care of your constituents. Making sure Mrs. O'Leary gets her Social Security check on time, making sure the World War II veteran doesn't get screwed by the [Veteran's Administration], and taking great care to make sure my district gets it fair share.

"From George McGovern," he continues, "I learned that it's okay to be an idealist. Its okay to take on big issues. You don't win everything, but it's important to stand on principle and to make the fight."

McGovern has delivered on both fronts. His pork-procuring cred shot up after that Transportation Committee hearing last month, at which the Big Dig was spared from huge cuts for at least six months, leading the Boston Globe to note approvingly that McGovern had "argued the case well before the committee." He'll happily take that credit -- even if his lobbying had less to do with the outcome than a budgetary squabble between committee chairman Bud Shuster and Newt Gingrich.

A more clear-cut victory was his successful intervention on behalf of the struggling Worcester Regional Airport. McGovern worked furiously to reverse Continental Airlines' decision to cancel its unprofitable Worcester-to-Newark express service, ultimately orchestrating an agreement in his office last month (with the help, ironically, of Peter Blute) to keep the airline in Worcester.

And McGovern is continually sprinkling smaller sums of money over his district: the $3.5 million procured in June for the renovation of Worcester's Union Station, last week's announcements of $1.5 million in federal aid for sewer projects ("a big victory for this city," said the Fall River Herald News), and nearly $1 million in federal dollars for a Worcester-area community health center.

Meanwhile, McGovern has established himself on the issues as one of the most reliable liberal votes in Congress. At a time when all of Washington has rushed to the center and hard-core liberals -- even Massachusetts ones -- are a curious anachronism, McGovern proudly touts his zero rating from the Christian Coalition (even Barney Frank did better).

McGovern hits the right liberal notes, big and small. He agitates for campaign finance reform. He pounds the theme of early childhood development and children's health. He has cosponsored a bill increasing federal Pell Grants for college tuition. An unflinching ally of labor, he also backs a bill strengthening protections on workers' pensions. He vehemently fought Republican attacks on the National Endowment for the Arts, which he calls "outrageous." On Cuba, an issue that brings him little apparent benefit back home, he calls US policy "stupid" and "gutless."

And perhaps the high point of his refusal to follow Washington's fashions: his opposition to the July balanced budget agreement, supported by President Clinton and all but 51 of his fellow Democrats. "It was not a budget that represented our priorities," says McGovern, who argued that the deal cut Medicare and sacrificed education and infrastructure for the military.

But for all his principles, McGovern doesn't seem to be above some classic political calculation. For instance, though he opposed the spending side of the budget deal, he voted for its $94 billion tax cut -- a gift to the rich that left many fellow liberals horrified. McGovern cites the bill's modest relief for middle-income families. But his support -- meaningless in an overwhelming vote -- looked like a strategic bid to insulate himself from being labeled a reckless tax-and-spender.

Likewise, McGovern's support for a flag-burning amendment, a vote he explains with muddled and varying rationales, seems a mysterious exception to his usually uncompromising defense of civil liberties.

Finally, while he may lack personal flash, McGovern isn't naive about working the press. He even found a niche in the media event of the year: less than a week after the death of Princess Diana, McGovern placed an op-ed in the Globe highlighting her work -- and his -- on an international land mine ban.

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Michael Crowley can be reached at mcrowley[a]phx.com.