I choked it down for you.
"Many politicians skipping St. Patrick’s breakfast in Southie" by Stephanie Ebbert | Globe Staff, March 16, 2013
Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray was the hit of last year’s South Boston St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, spoofing his death-defying high-speed car crash by showing up in a racing helmet and jacket.
This year, Murray is staying safe at home.
Because his political career is over due to his connections to McLaughlin over at housing.
“It’s the LG’s anniversary on St. Patrick’s Day,” said spokesman Scott Ferson. “He hasn’t always had the opportunity to avoid public appearances, but he’s taking advantage of that opportunity this year to spend time with his wife.”
Likewise, Governor Deval Patrick will miss the annual roast, appearing only on video for the second year in a row. “I’m going to be out of town; that’s all I’ve got to say,” the governor said on WGBH-radio Thursday when asked why he would stay away.
Not going to the dinner named after you?
Senate President Therese Murray will not be in South Boston Sunday either. Though she has attended regularly since becoming president, Murray has to be in the district this year, said her spokesman, David Falcone.
The South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast, once a mandatory stop on a Beacon Hill politician’s schedule, may be losing some fizz among politicians this year, a nonelection year with a fourth-generation host.
The two Democrats vying for the nomination for US Senate will be in attendance. But the three Republican hopefuls were not initially invited, and at least two of them will head to a rival breakfast in Scituate.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino will appear. So, too, will mayoral candidate and Councilor John Connolly, though Connolly does not get to speak.
US Senator Elizabeth Warren will be there, an aide said, but her even newer counterpart, interim Senator William “Mo” Cowan, is not attending due to a personal commitment, said his spokesman Alec Gerlach. The aide declined to elaborate.
Though a staple of the political season for local politicians, the breakfast is less of a high point for US senators. The late Edward M. Kennedy seldom showed up, and former senator John F. Kerry stopped coming after his presidential run.
In the midst of a campaign year, the event can be a boost to a politician facing reelection who can claim some television air time with a quip, Ferson said. That said, it is earned air time, he said.
“Politicians go to events all the time where it’s work,” said Ferson. “And I think this is work, as opposed to the social occasion it was back in the day.”
Ferson also represents US Representative Stephen F. Lynch, a South Boston native who is running for US Senate and who will appear Sunday along with fellow candidate, US Representative Edward J. Markey.
Many politicians and their aides acknowledged mixed feelings about their adherence to the storied tradition. The governor told the breakfast crowd with relief in 2011 that he only had three more appearances left in his term. But this year will mark the second in a row he is appearing only remotely, on video.
The breakfast, a somewhat hackneyed political ritual, can seem fixed in time, but has faced fairly regular identity crises. The good old days saw Senate President William M. Bulger, an orator, as host....
Yeah, the good old days when corruption was rampant (still is), and his brother Whitey was safely hiding out under the FBI's noses(?).
The breakfast will be broadcast live on New England Cable News, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday.
Sorry, I will be shooting hoops.
--more--"
Also see: Boston councilor prepares to host St. Patrick’s Day breakfast
Of course, we all know what goes with an Irish breakfast:
"LePage signs St. Patrick’s Day drinking bill
Governor Paul LePage has signed a bill to allow bars to serve alcohol a few hours earlier on St. Patrick’s Day, which is Sunday. The governor had vowed to veto any bill that reached his desk before his proposal to pay a state debt to hospitals passed. But he signed the St. Patrick’s Day bill Friday as a goodwill gesture to Democrats, who moved closer this week toward agreement with the Republican governor on how to address the state’s $484 million Medicaid debt to hospitals. Current state law prohibits the sale of liquor on Sundays between 6 and 9 a.m."
When Irish eyes are smilin'
