07/01/2016
Lowell Sun
By Grant Welker
LOWELL -- UMass President Marty Meehan is closing his old campaign finance account -- totaling $4.4 million -- nearly a decade after he left Congress to become chancellor of UMass Lowell.
Meehan's action, announced Thursday, brings an end to quiet speculation that the former seven-term congressman may have left a door open for a return to politics.
"I'm really happy with my job and committed to the UMass system and the board of trustees," Meehan told The Sun. "It's a commitment in which all my focus and energy is on one thing, UMass. ... My political ambitions are over."
Meehan said he will transfer the money to an educational foundation he set up in 2001 to benefit UMass scholarships, and make a $1 million donation to UMass Lowell, his alma mater. He will also close his congressional campaign committee.
"This is the right time to take this step because my priorities and passions so clearly are here at the University of Massachusetts and with its mission of excellence and transformation," said Meehan, who is completing his first year as the university system's president.
UMass Lowell holds extra importance to the Lowell native. Meehan earned his undergraduate degree there, his four sisters graduated from the school, and he served as chancellor for eight years, a period that included rapid expansion and a growing national and international reputation.
Meehan left UMass Lowell to become president of the five-campus UMass system last summer.
He represented the Lowell area in Congress from 1993 to 2007.
The educational foundation will become an endowment to contribute over time to educational programs that "provide high-quality, transformative opportunities," said Meehan, 57.
The foundation is being named for his late parents, Alice Meehan and Martin "Buster" Meehan. They didn't go to college but instilled the importance of education in their children, Meehan said. His four sisters all went into teaching.
Meehan announced the plans to dissolve his account through UMass. The announcement called the decision "the conclusion of a political career." It acknowledged that "analysts frequently speculated" whether Meehan could seek higher office.
The account has remained since Meehan left Congress, but it hadn't been completely inactive. In recent years, Meehan gave more than $1 million to various nonprofits, political committees and candidates.
Some of those entities, which The Sun reported last year, had ties to UMass or university trustees. Meehan, a long-serving Democrat, has donated exclusively to Democrats, and said recently he did so to honor the intentions of those who gave to his account in the first place.
To some political observers, keeping such a war chest allowed Meehan to maintain engaged in politics, even as he served in a nonpolitical office.
"In terms of political contributions, I admire people who run for office. It isn't easy," Meehan said. "But I'm anxious to have the remainder of my money go into scholarships for students."
In the university's announcement Thursday, praise for Meehan's decision was included from Gov. Charlie Baker, UMass trustees Chairman Victor Woolridge, UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney and others.
"This is a dramatic step," Woolridge said, "and it truly does reflect the Marty Meehan many of us have come to know, respect and deeply appreciate."
Baker touched on Meehan's long-term commitment to the UMass system.
"Marty Meehan has made it clear that serving as the president of the University of Massachusetts is his utmost priority and this action reinforces that point," Baker said. "I appreciate President Meehan's generosity for directing this million-dollar donation to a scholarship fund where it will change the lives of UMass students for generations to come."