Speaker, Massachusetts House of Representatives
Robert DeLeo
In January, Robert DeLeo, LA’72, celebrated both his tenth term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and his election as that body’s Speaker, after serving four years as chair of the ways and means committee. A lawyer and former town official, DeLeo, fifty-nine, majored in political science at Northeastern. His son, Rob, is currently pursuing a PhD at the university (see sidebar, opposite page), and his daughter attends the University of New Hampshire.
By Jim Chiavelli
Q. How did you end up at Northeastern?
A. What particularly intrigued me about Northeastern was cooperative education. I liked the chance to both go to school and work—obviously because of the experience, but it really was a great help financially as well. I was looking for preparation for the so-called real world.
Q. What co-op jobs did you have?
A. My first co-op job was handling reservations at American Airlines.
Q. And that was related to political science . . . ?
A. Not at all. But, boy, it provided me with a great opportunity to travel the United States. I didn’t care for the job too much, but I loved the benefits. Once I got that out of my system, I took a job with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. It was there, working as a sort of assistant claims adjuster, that I really discovered my interest in the law, because I worked on many different cases with various lawyers.
Q. At Northeastern, you were part of a fraternity.
A. Tau Epsilon Phi. I think the main interest they had in me at the time was I was a pretty good athlete, and the fraternities were very competitive in sports. I was not only active in the fraternity, I was an officeholder as well. I guess it was my first taste of elective politics. First, I held the office of warden of the fraternity, which involved being in charge of new pledges. I won by a grand total of one vote. Then I became vice president, and my friend Steve Robinson [LA’72] became president. We’re still close today; he attended my election as Speaker. If it were not for the fraternity, I don’t know whether I would’ve gotten the full flavor of the university.
Q. That was a chaotic time—Vietnam War, student riots in the Fenway.
A. I was opposed to the war, but I think I was more pragmatic. I felt that violence or demonstrations for demonstrations’ sake weren’t really a way to get people’s attention. But you could go out there, you could talk about issues, you could try to get other people to talk about issues, get involved with political campaigns. That was the way to do it.
Q. You got into politics after working for Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign in 1976.
A. I got involved and really enjoyed it. From there, I ran for town-meeting member in Winthrop. I was the first town-meeting candidate ever to go door-to-door, with a pamphlet of who I was and what my background was. I had a homemade sign . . . People laugh to this day that a town-meeting member would go door-to-door, and they remember that homemade sign.
Q. Can you talk a bit about your agenda as Speaker?
A. As a general rule right now, elected officials aren’t being held in very high regard. The most important thing I can do is try to regain the confidence of the electorate, at least for the House and the State House. That’s why I’m working on an ethics-reform package and a pension-reform package. Hopefully, with the attitude and the reforms we’ve brought to the House already, we can turn things around.
Q. You’ve said you owe a great deal to Northeastern.
A. The school prepared me exceptionally well, as a person and in my profession, through the education it gave me and the work ethic it instilled in me. Massachusetts politics has become dominated by Boston College and Harvard, primarily. I’m out to try to change that. Northeastern is now a big player, and I bring that up whenever I can. Look at the professors who are being quoted in the news media on the issues of the day: [Michael] Dukakis, [Barry] Bluestone—experts from Northeastern.
Q. Do you ever get back to campus?
A. Yes. My son [Rob] is a doctoral student in political science. He’s done very well. I’ve been to speak to Barry Bluestone’s class, and Barry comes to the State House to testify on economic conditions. And I have a friendship with Mike Dukakis. My son was one of his students. I went to Dukakis’s seventy-fifth birthday party. When I was introduced to Kitty Dukakis, she said, “DeLeo? Rob’s father?”
Q. So you’re living in the shadow of your son.
A. [Laughs] Right now at Northeastern, I think I am. That’s okay. I’m very proud of him.
Chip off the old block
For the DeLeos, in many ways, it’s “like father, like son.”
Both are named Robert.
Both are political. The elder DeLeo (who answers to “Bob”) is Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The younger (who goes by “Rob”) is a doctoral student in political science at Northeastern.
And they’re both interested in politics for the same reason: They want to make the world a better place.
“My dad has always put his role as a civil servant first and foremost,” says Rob. “That is very rare in today’s political world. For me, he’s been a role model of what it means to be in this line of work, and what it means to be accountable in this line of work.”
The younger DeLeo recently finished his coursework toward a master of public administration degree and a doctorate in public and international affairs. In the fall, he’ll take comprehensive exams and start working on his dissertation.
Northeastern has been the perfect fit for him. “It matched my concept of what an academic institution should be,” DeLeo says, “because it really melded the theoretical and the practical. It was always difficult for me to envision myself working in a purely academic role, where I wouldn’t be directly involved in the policy process. But the PhD program here trains not just academics and scholars, but policy practitioners.”
His Northeastern experience has convinced him he wants to teach political science. This summer, he’s teaching a practicum on community-based research to upper-level undergraduates.
“The class really speaks to Northeastern’s push toward experiential education,” says DeLeo. “You’d be hard-pressed to find many other universities that allow students to get course credit for working on a policy report that’s going to help some community organization. It’s a great opportunity.”
Does he ever see himself getting into politics? DeLeo laughs. “That’s the million-dollar question for me, especially since my dad became Speaker. But, at this point in my life, no. I love the work I’m doing in academia.”
Yet—like any politician worth his salt—the younger DeLeo doesn’t rule anything out. “If the time comes someday when that’s where I feel I’m needed . . .” He lets his thought trail off, then says, “For now, one career at a time. Plus, academia is political enough!” — Karen Feldscher