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97 6 Running for the Legislature from Ward 5, Where Everybody Knows Your Name Several weeks later, in april 1972, Steve cohen, whom Barney had hired several years earlier to work at city hall, telephoned to inform Barney that he and his wife, Shelley, had gotten wind that mo Frye was planning to retire as state representative from ward 5. The cohens and other friends urged Barney to run. Barney visited Frye at his office on charles Street, where the fifty-oneyear -old Frye confirmed that he planned to retire from the legislature and turn his attention to his real estate business in Beacon hill. he asked Barney not to tell anyone, since his plans were not yet public. Barney decided to enter the race. But he had made a commitment to michael harrington to stay on as his administrative assistant through the 1972 election and felt badly about leaving him in the lurch. he admired what harrington stood for and what he had done. harrington’s initial reaction when Barney told him he planned to run for the state legislature from ward 5 was, “i had not thought about you in that context.” harrington, however, encouraged Barney to run for the open seat. “if you have that itch, you’ve got to scratch it,” he said. “you don’t want to go through a lifetime and have to say at the end that i wish i had done something like that.” he graciously released Barney from his commitment , and Barney appreciated the gesture, especially, he said, because politicians often are not generous about other people’s careers. “if michael had said he didn’t want me to do it,” Barney said, “i would not have run.” one person who knew them both said, “it’s good that they split up before the marriage went bad.” Some harrington staffers believed that their boss was relieved that Barney was moving on. But harrington said recently, “i have no memory of any misgivings. [Barney’s decision to move on] was not something i chapter Six 98 viewed with ill-suppressed relief. it was foreseeable and entirely consistent with knowing Barney over a period of years.” according to harrington, his aim was to attract talent, use the talent, and, if possible, benefit from it. he was more uncomfortable with someone who wanted to create a permanent niche on his staff and turn it into something like a civil service position than someone who was ambitious and wanted to move on. in June, when Barney announced to the harrington staff that he had decided to run for the open seat from ward 5 in the massachusetts state legislature, Jo weber, his secretary, and ann morcones, the cute and bubbly office receptionist , began to give him grief about the way he dressed. They told him that his pants were horrible. “what’s wrong with these pants?” Barney asked. “They’re clean and don’t have any holes.” Then weber pointed to the scuffed pair of shoes on his feet with the outer layer of leather no longer there and said, “how can you run for office in those shoes? They look like crap.” Barney replied that he didn’t have time to get shoes. “we’ll get the new shoes for you,” weber said. Barney agreed but insisted that the shoes be black. he gave the women forty dollars, and at lunchtime they went to hahn’s Shoes in downtown washington and bought Barney, in weber’s words, “a decent and presentable pair of shoes.” when Barney told people that he was planning to run for the state legislature, he encountered skepticism from everyone except Bo holland, who at the time was working in the Personnel department at Boston city hall. “i jumped out of my chair and told him, ‘That’s fantastic! it’s a great thing to do. you’ll love it. you will be a great legislator,’” holland recalled. “you are the first person in city hall who thinks it is a good idea,” Barney responded. Barney found that people clearly undervalued the job of state representative, and he had a hard time explaining to them why he was so eager to do it. one of the main reasons for his enthusiasm was that he had seen michael dukakis as a state representative in the 1960s play a major leadership role in issues of concern to Barney. Barney viewed dukakis as a model in showing that “government can be an essential element...

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