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Martin Lomasney Quotes

Martin Michael Lomasney was a Massachusetts politician, who served as state senator, state representative, and alderman. However, he is best known as the political boss of Boston's West End. Nicknamed "the Mahatma" for his uncanny ability to deliver votes for his preferred candidates, Lomasney controlled Ward Eight and wielded considerable influence in city and state politics for over 40 years.

In the course of Lomasney's colorful career, he was shot once, feuded with James Michael Curley and John F. Fitzgerald, told Cardinal O'Connell to mind his own business, gave Al Smith campaign advice, and helped thousands of constituents obtain jobs, housing, and other necessities at a time when government relief programs were lacking.

Initially, Lomasney's ward was predominantly Irish. Over the years, as the Irish began moving to Roxbury and Dorchester, and the city zoning board expanded the ward to include the North and South Ends, Lomasney managed to bring together a large, ethnically diverse coalition of mostly poor and working-class voters. Wikipedia  

✵ 3. December 1859 – 12. August 1933
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Famous Martin Lomasney Quotes

“Never let anyone get anything on you.”

Martin Lomasney

[Galvin, John T., The West Ender, The Mahatma Called the Shots, and Everyone Knew It: Part 2, 6, 5, December 1990, 9, http://thewestendmuseum.org/documents/1990_west_ender_vol6_no4.pdf]

“We don't tell 'em how to vote—we simply suggest.”

Martin Lomasney

Van Nostrand, Albert D. (December 1948). "The Lomasney Legend". The New England Quarterly. 21 (4): 437. JSTOR 361565 https://www.jstor.org/stable/361565

“The great mass of people are interested in only three things—food, clothing, and shelter. A politician in a district like mine sees to it that his people get these things.”

Martin Lomasney

[O'Connor, Thomas H., The Boston Irish: A Political History, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1995, 9781555532208, 122, https://books.google.com/?id=ld8YAQAAMAAJ]

“Don't write when you can talk; don't talk when you can nod your head.”

Martin Lomasney

Van Nostrand, Albert D. (December 1948). "The Lomasney Legend". The New England Quarterly. 21 (4): 437. JSTOR 361565 https://www.jstor.org/stable/361565

“There's got to be in every ward somebody that any bloke can come to—no matter what he's done—and get help. Help, you understand; none of your law and your justice, but help.”

Martin Lomasney

Van Nostrand, Albert D. (December 1948). "The Lomasney Legend". The New England Quarterly. 21 (4): 457. JSTOR 361565 https://www.jstor.org/stable/361565

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