A house divided still stands

Loosely Speaking by Nancy Gaines

Much of the clucking in media/political circles this season has been over the powerful lobbying and public-relations firm McDermott/O'Neill. Founding partner Pam McDermott left last year to open her own shop. Then her husband, Terry McDermott, a former Boston city councilor who was a lawyer and lobbyist with the firm, left last month to create a local legal/lobbying company. All of a sudden tongues, were wagging -- and noses decidedly out of joint. An article three weeks ago by the Globe's Joan Vennochi questioned the stability of the lobbying side of the firm, which has about $10 million in annual revenue, albeit mostly from PR. The portrait she painted of owner Tom O'Neill, the former state lieutenant governor and "sometimes tempestuous, sometimes charming son of Tip O'Neill," was less than flattering.

Rat pack redux Yes, the literati/glitterati snipe, and many did after Ted Kennedy's remarks at what was known to those of us not in the know as "Kitty and Ken's" party the other night. The Commonwealth's senior senator, speaking at economist/icon John Kenneth Galbraith's 90th birthday celebration at the Kennedy School, made a speech in praise of his wife, Vicki. While former wife Joan had to sit and listen. Too, lest any event with evocations of Camelot pass without bad taste, girls'-room chat meandered over just who of Galbraith's many acolytes -- from Pulitzer-winning biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin to newsgal Sharon King Hoge, both in attendance -- had been especially close to the lanky, legendary diplomat. (Okay, for the record, those two were said to have evaded the list.) But then, the harshest carping was about the missing-in-action Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, whose husband also spoke at the fete. "Yeah, she's a dyke, you know," one of the "refined" guests was heard to intone.

On Beacon Hill, corridor talk fingered Terry as a source of some badmouthing. Word was that McDermott, whose name was sometimes confused with the name on the door -- his wife's -- was playing up his status there and belittling O'Neill's contribution. "Nothing could be further from the truth," says McDermott, emphasizing that he and O'Neill have been friends for 20 years "and will be for another 20 or 40 years." O'Neill says he feels likewise. All business politics being local, some behind-the-scenes rivalry was, no doubt, fueled by competitors (George Regan among them). Then again, Terry McDermott is now a competitor, too.

Prince for a day

Boston Redevelopment Authority head Tom O'Brien, who labored in the shadow of former Menino chief of staff and top princeling in the Menino castle David Passafaro -- and who was, of late, increasingly on the outs with the mayor -- was said to be looking forward to some good old male-bonding moments with the boss after Passafaro quit to make money in the private sector. Indeed, Passafaro was so eager to plunge into his new job with Joe O'Donnell's Boston Concessions that he went on an out-of-town overnight assignment the very day after his City Hall farewell party last week.

But before O'Brien could even find directions out of the doghouse, word came that Passafaro would still be doing a bit of "volunteering" for the mayor around the office. Rough.

Native intelligence

No, the Ritz isn't falling down, although more than its façade seems to need shoring up these days. After 70 years, the exterior is being fixed up. As the Ritz has benefited from location, location, location, some spots seem cursed by it: Newbury Steakhouse, on Mass Ave at Newbury Street (which, dare we say, extended its lease on life largely because the Phoenix had its headquarters upstairs), didn't survive incarnations as Café Mojo or 575 but now resurfaces as Blue Cat Café, under the same ownership -- Kevin Troy and Steven Foster. Having remade itself as a "neighborhood bistro" with nightly DJ jazz, the spot is managed by Jay Leo, formerly of Armani Café, who points out there will be "no Euro nights." . . . Only very close friends are oohing congratulations to Joe Steinfield (partner at Hill & Barlow, the downtown white-shoe law firm that gave us Bill Weld and Mike Dukakis). Although neither wants to publicize it -- that would be wrong -- his wife, pianist Virginia Eskin, takes over this week as host of WGBH-FM's "A Note to You," NPR's longest-running classical music show. . . . Club-night promoter and real-estate broker Kenny Mack's got a brand new bag, which is Boston's long-needed "early bird" special: a jazz/funk band for the over-35 three-piece-suit set who want live music, drinks, food, pool tables, and whatever, beginning at 6 p.m. every Friday at the Exchange on State Street (yeah, but we still want disco).