Meehan: No Bad Blood With Patrick
BOSTON (CBS) - UMass-Lowell chancellor Marty Meehan says there's no bad blood between him and Gov. Deval Patrick.
Earlier this month, Meehan pulled himself out of contention in the UMass presidency search when Patrick said it was unseemly to have a former politician as a finalist.
"I don't think there's bad blood. I like the governor. I think we have a good relationship. He has been helpful to a number of projects that I've had up at UMass-Lowell," Meehan told WBZ-TV's Jon Keller Thursday in a taped interview for Sunday's "Keller At Large."
"I don't think it's a question of bad blood. It's a question of the process itself didn't go that well and I felt that I needed to remove myself."
Meehan said after thinking about the two jobs, he wanted to stay at UMass-Lowell.
"I like the hands-on experience of running a university. So I withdrew from the process. Let's just say for me, I didn't think it was a very pleasant process to go through, but I like what I'm doing, enjoy what I'm doing and I want to support whoever the board of trustees ultimately picks."
Before taking the job in Lowell in July 2007, Meehan spent 14 years representing Massachusetts' fifth district.
He said the redistricting of the state should be interesting, now that Massachusetts is losing a seat in Congress based on the new census results.
WBZ Radio's Karen Twomey talks to Meehan
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"I think they're going to look at a number of things. Seniority - which member of Congress would be more effective, for example. They'll look at geography and certainly there's a political process too."
He thinks his replacement, Rep. Niki Tsongas, will be safe.
As for the possibility of taking another job - the presidency of Suffolk University is open – Meehan told Keller he's not interested.
Is he in or out of the 2012 U.S. Senate race?
"Out," Meehan said.
What about future political office?
"Not in the near distant future," he said.
"You never know 5, 10 years down the road. I won't be running any time soon."
You can watch the entire interview on Keller @ Large Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on WBZ-TV.
