SPRINGFIELD - A quarter of a century after he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrat Richard E. Neal, a former Springfield mayor, will become the dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation.
Neal's elevation comes in the wake of Tuesday's election of U.S. Rep. Edward Markey’s to the U.S. Senate.
“I think it’s a pretty strong tradition and a noteworthy custom,” Neal said of the dean’s role. “And, it’s pivotal. You serve as the organizing point, in addition to which you serve as the spokesperson when there’s a delegation question.”
The dean’s role automatically goes to the member of the delegation who has been in Congress for the longest period of time. Neal joins an illustrious list of former Massachusetts deans, including Democrats Thomas E. "Tip" O’Neill, John McCormack, Joseph Moakley and Republican Silvio Conte.
Neal, who was first elected to Congress in 1988, will also succeed Markey as the most senior member in the entire New England congressional delegation.
“He’ll be the go-to guy on a lot of major legislation facing all of New England,” said James Brett, president and CEO of the New England Council, which represents New England businesses.
The length of time Neal has had to wait points to the unusually long tenure of several Massachusetts politicians. Although both Massachusetts Senate seats have opened up in the last three years, those seats were previously held by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy, who spent nearly 47 years in the Senate before his death, and Democrat John F. Kerry, a senator for 28 years before he was appointed U.S. secretary of state.
The lack of Senate vacancies led Markey to hold on to his U.S. House seat for 36 years. Markey became the delegation’s dean when Moakley died in office in 2001, after 28 years in the U.S. House.
“When we have issues that affect the whole state, the dean convenes the meetings, helps to set the agenda, ensures that everyone is included and then gives the leadership that is necessary for our state,” Markey said. “Richie is just going to be a great dean for the entire state of Massachusetts.”
Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and long-time observer of Congress, said the role of dean depends on the nature of the state, the unity of the delegation and its political composition. “It can be an honorific title. It can be something where you’re much more a leader of a group,” Ornstein said.
Particularly when there are rivalries among members, Ornstein said, “The dean can play a role in trying to keep the members focused on the fact that they all represent a state, and they can use their intelligence network and leverage to do some things for Massachusetts.”
The dean hosts delegation meetings. When the governor or a senator wants to discuss a matter of importance to Massachusetts with all the state’s representatives, he or she approaches the dean’s office. The dean is the delegation’s spokesman.
Markey has played a largely behind the scenes role as dean, with his major legislative accomplishments coming through committee work on energy and telecommunications. But other Massachusetts deans have taken on more public roles in the U.S. House.
McCormack, who held a U.S. House seat from 1928 to 1971, served three separate times as House majority leader and was speaker of the House for his final nine years in office. Among other accomplishments, he presided over the Congress that implemented Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs, including the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.
O’Neill, who was a U.S. representative from 1953 to 1987, also served as House majority leader, and was speaker of the House for his last decade in office. He led the congressional opposition during Republican President Ronald Reagan’s administration and also earned a reputation for knowing when to compromise.
Neal, who has served with Moakley and Markey as deans, said in a telephone interview with The Republican and MassLive.com, that there is no one model to which he aspires in his service as the delegation's dean. The main idea, he said, is, “We need to convene regularly, to speak where we can with one voice.”
Neal said one area where he will look to Moakley as an example is in Moakley’s focus on transportation. “On rail transportation and on other transportation projects, Moakley was a very vocal advocate on those issues,” Neal said. “I think the country needs a big transportation bill and I’d like to be part of figuring out how to pay for it.”
Neal said there are multiple issues where the delegation can speak with one voice. “We have fairly consistent views on energy, on hospital reimbursement, manufacturing, education. And, in rural parts of the state, agriculture,” Neal said.
“What we really want to do is we want to highlight the issues that are really important to the state,” Neal said, pointing to Massachusetts’ top hospitals and universities and its financial services industry and recreational activities. “We really are a microcosm of America…and trying to find that point of agreement of how to speak to the issues is something we can do within the delegation,” Neal said.
Massachusetts’ nine-member delegation consists entirely of Democrats so members are more likely to share common ground, but they also have no voice in the Republican caucus, which controls the House.
Neal brushed off concerns about members’ lack of influence among Republicans, saying members earn their reputations on House committees. Neal is a senior member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
John Baick, professor of history at Western New England University said Neal has in a sense already been acting as dean since 2012, playing major roles in the campaigns of Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Markey. “He took two candidates without Western Massachusetts connections…sometimes literally by the hand and guided them through,” Baick said.
As a politician without aspirations to higher office and with strong ties to his district, Baick said Neal seems to have the personal and political skills that will make him a good dean of the state delegation.
On a larger level in Congress, Ornstein said Neal’s influence in Ways and Means could put him in an important position should the Republicans need Democratic support to pass tax reform – and his role as Massachusetts dean could give him a little more visibility.
However, Baick said he doubts any Democrat today could live up to the legacy of powerhouses like Kennedy and O’Neill. “In a Republican-controlled, bitterly divided, bitterly gridlocked Congress, I don’t think Tip O’Neill or Ted Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson could do very much,” Baick said.
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