Politics & Public Service 
Detective June Boyle
Determined Detective
Not many people are sent into a room with a suspected serial killer. Even fewer can come out of that room with a secure confession and details of murders that outraged a nation. But that is exactly what Detective June Boyle, a lead homicide investigator for Fairfax County, Virginia, managed to achieve when she was brought in to interrogate Lee Boyd Malvo on November 7, 2002.
Boyle’s involvement in the case started when the FBI analyst Linda Franklin was shot dead outside of a Home Depot store on October 14, 2002 as part of the Washington D.C. area sniper killing spree. Boyle was called to the murder scene immediately and she began investigating the crime. But not even she could have imagined what a crucial role she would play in bringing Malvo to justice.
Malvo, who was 17 at the time, and his father-figure accomplice, John Muhammad, 43 years old, were arrested on October 24, 2002 as they slept in their car. Attorney General John Ashcroft decided that Fairfax County would be the first to prosecute Malvo. Boyle told Irish America, “Malvo had refused to talk for weeks, he was pretty smart.” It took Boyle almost seven hours to extract a confession from him. Prior to the confession, the evidence linking Malvo to the crimes was largely circumstantial.
Boyle’s strategy was to be nice to Malvo so that he would tell her specific details about the shootings. In order to prosecute the murders in other states and counties, Boyle had to keep Malvo talking and have him discuss the other shootings with thorough descriptions. She said, “I got as much detailed information from him as possible.” Her tactics worked and an extensive confession was recorded.
Boyle’s success is due in large part to her experience in law enforcement, a career she began 28 years ago. “You learn that to get people to talk it doesn’t work to be too aggressive. You need to be relaxed and upfront. And you can’t be disgusted [by what you hear],” she explains. The interpersonal skills of a detective are vital in working with suspects and even Boyle can’t put her finger on why she was successful with Malvo. She says, “He liked me. I don’t know why.”
But Boyle’s work was far from over. Malvo’s murder trial began in Virginia on November 10, 2003 and the defense tried to have the confession thrown out of court. “I don’t know how many hours I’ve been on the stand with people trying to discredit the confession,” she says. But the confession always stood. At the conclusion of the Fairfax County trial, Malvo was sentenced to life in prison. He still faces the death penalty at his future trials in other states. Today, Boyle is still working full time on the sniper case investigating other shootings that Malvo and Muhammad may be responsible for. She will probably be called to support the confession at Malvo’s other trials.
Born and raised in Boston, Boyle is Irish on both sides of her family. Her mother’s grandparents, the Flynns and Coughlins, came over from County Cork and County Killarney. The O’Boyles, her father’s side of the family, are also Irish. Many of her family members in Boston have worked in law enforcement, which was one of the reasons she began her chosen career. Long before the sniper case, she was recognized as a maverick in her field. In 1995, she was named Policewoman of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic States for her exemplary work, when she was the first policewoman working for robbery and homicide in Fairfax County. In 1999 she was named Homicide Investigator of the Year in Virginia and in 2000 she was named Police Officer of the Year in Fairfax County. She received the latter awards in part for cracking a tough homicide case that took almost three years to solve.
The homicide squad tackles the toughest and most tragic work in the police force, but Boyle finds it rewarding. “The homicide detective speaks for the person who has been murdered. That’s our job, we have to do the best we can no matter what it takes,” she says. She tries to bring closure to the friends and family members left behind. Many of the grief-stricken found it hard to come to terms with the fact that Malvo has still not shown remorse for these acts, and Boyle tries to bring them peace. She says, “It’s sad, many of the family members of the victims heard me testify in court. They want answers, they want the truth. I’ll tell them the truth. You do the best you can.”
– By Louise Carroll
Senator Susan Collins
Bipartisan Leader
Susan Collins is very busy these days. As one half of the female Republican Senatorial team from Maine (the first in our Senate’s history), she currently holds the coveted post of Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee (GAC). As the Senate’s chief oversight committee, GAC has jurisdiction over virtually all areas of government – from waste to technology. Collins is also on the Joint Economic Committee, the Senate Special Committee on Aging and the Armed Services Committee. The magna cum laude St. Lawrence University alumnus is also a trustee for the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie Institute for Public Policy.
Despite her hands-on approach to government, Senator Collins is anything but a stereotypical politician. She is often referred to in the media as a “champion of good government” for her work in everything from juvenile diabetes – for which she received a Congressional Leadership Award – to education reform and protecting consumers from fraud. She is heralded on both sides of the political spectrum for her ability to coalesce differing viewpoints in the current politically-charged environment. Most of her work has been in bipartisan partnerships with other senators, but she often angers conservatives for deviating from the party line on such issues as abortion, hate crimes and campaign finance reform. She was also one of 10 Republicans to vote against impeaching President Clinton in 1999. In the 108th Congress, her voting record reflects a centrist stance consistent with her declared priorities: education, defense and healthcare. Though the American Conservative Union gave her a low rating of 55 for 2002, Collins defends her approach saying, “I think what I'm most proud of is my ability to work with members on both sides.”
Collins began her political career working for GOP Sen. William S. Cohen as Principal Adviser on Business Issues before joining Maine Gov. John R. McKernan Jr. as Commissioner of the state's Department of Professional and Financial Regulation in 1987. She came back from her defeat in the 1994 gubernatorial race to replace her old boss as senator in 1996 becoming the 15th woman in history to be elected to the Senate. Now in her second term, she shows no sign of slowing down, saying, “I want government to have the confidence of the people we're serving, and that means making sure the government programs are free from waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement.”
Collins was born in 1952 in a small city in Northern Maine called Caribou. Perhaps foreshadowing her future in public service, both of Collins’ parents served as mayor at one time or another. Her family is well known in the town for its lumber business founded by her Irish ancestors in 1844 that has been in her family for five generations. When not working in Washington, Collins returns to her home in Bangor, Maine.
Pfc. Joseph Dwyer
Protecting Civilians
One moment brought instant fame to Irish-American soldier Joseph Dwyer this year. He was photographed carrying a young Iraqi boy to safety during a heavy battle between U.S. and Iraqi forces near the village of Al Faysaliyah, Iraq. The picture ran on the cover of USA Today and became ubiquitous in the media. Dwyer is currently serving as a full-time medic in the Army and stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. Both his parents are Irish-American and the family has a long tradition of public service. His father Patrick was drafted and served in the U.S. forces for two years in the 1970s before becoming a New York City transit cop. His brother Patrick Jr. works for the NYPD, and his other brother Matthew is serving in the U.S. Air Force.
Joseph Dwyer joined the Army two days after September 11, 2001 when he feared for the safety of his brother Patrick. He explained that he felt he needed to do something, and enlisted as a medic. He treated the boy in the photograph for a broken left leg after bringing him to safety. Joseph’s mother Maureen told Irish America, “When I saw the picture, I felt proud.”
Patrick Fitzgerald
Proficient Prosecutor
Among the traits that make Patrick Fitzgerald, 43, a federal prosecutor on the rise are a quick mind, a thick skin, an eye for a good case, and an ear for Irish phrases.
You may not know the name, but you’ll recognize his work: Fitzgerald convicted Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 accomplices for their roles in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. He helped convict Al Qaeda-linked terrorists for bombing the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. He won convictions for Mafia bosses John and Joe Gambino. And when Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the investigation of White House sources leaking a CIA agent’s name to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, Deputy Attorney General James Comey named Fitzgerald special counsel to investigate.
It was Fitzgerald’s reputation at the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York that convinced Senator Peter Fitzgerald (no relation) R-Illinois, to choose him for U.S. Attorney in Chicago – it was not Patrick Fitzgerald’s origins as a son of Irish immigrants, growing up in Flatbush, New York. But his upbringing inspires his work.
Knowing Fitzgerald’s first-generation status, two federal prosecutors approached him when he first took office in Chicago and asked him if he was familiar with an Irish expression that sounded like “Doin’ the veil.”
Prosecutors Diane MacArthur and Bill Hogan were trying to convict Robert Burke, a Connemara-born con-man, of passing a handcuff key to fellow inmate Jeffrey Erickson in 1992. Erickson used the key to free himself and shoot dead two police officers. Listening to a tape of Burke phoning his mother in Ireland, they heard them using the phrase when dicey subjects came up.
Fitzgerald recognized the phrase “Du’n do bheal!” (Shut your mouth!) that his Clare-born parents – on rare occasions – used on him! With Fitzgerald’s help Burke was convicted on five counts of perjury for denying he slipped the key to Erickson. He was sentenced to 20 years.
When Fitzgerald agreed to become top prosecutor in Chicago, he took some time off to “clear his head” at the family farm in Kilmaley, County Clare, that his father left at age 31. Fitzgerald’s mother, though born in Ireland, was already a U.S. citizen. Her father had emigrated to Cleveland years before, fought in the U.S. Army’s 69th Regiment, the “Fighting Irish,” in WWI.
Growing up in Flatbush, Fitzgerald and his brothers played the accordion while his sisters performed Irish dance. He was the star of his class at Our Lady Help of Christians and was invited to take the test for Regis, the Jesuit high school in Manhattan that offers working-class Catholic children a first-class education for free.
Actually, Fitzgerald got a letter from Regis saying his test did not qualify him for an interview. His mother said there must be some mistake because he did well on all his other tests. She told him to call the school admission director.
“She made me get on the phone and call the admission director, which completely mortified me,” Fitzgerald recalls. “I found out there were two people with my name and they sent me the wrong letter. She always likes to remind me of that.”
Just after he arrived in Chicago in 2001 came the terrible events of September 11 2001, changing the focus of the Justice Department. With his experience prosecuting Rahman and traveling to Kenya and Tanzania to prosecute the Al Qaeda operatives who bombed the U.S. embassies, Fitzgerald had become an expert on Osama bin Laden and there was some question whether to bring him back to New York or to Washington. He stayed in Chicago but senior Justice Department officials consult with him often.
Fitzgerald personally prosecuted Enaam Arnaout, a Muslim cleric photographed with bin Laden, accused of being one of his operatives and funneling him money. On the eve of trial, Fitzgerald announced a plea bargain under which Arnaout admitted to collecting money that was supposed to be going to Muslim charities but instead went to fund Muslim rebel fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya.
At a news conference after Arnaout was sentenced to 11 years, Fitzgerald bristled at the charge that Arnaout was prosecuted for giving money to groups that had also received support from Catholic and Protestant charities. “If you find in the Vatican an Al Qaeda archive showing the church following Al Qaeda where it went and find Al Qaeda bishops on the payroll, we will look at the Vatican,” Fitzgerald quipped.
Fitzgerald has become a champion of homeland security and the controversial Patriot Act that critics say has gone too far to curtail civil liberties in the post 9/11 era. “The U.S.A. Patriot Act is a way for the government to get information,” Fitzgerald said in a debate with former Clinton White House Counsel Abner Mikva. “I investigated Osama bin Laden in 1996. We were walled off. The guys in the criminal investigation couldn’t talk to the intelligence team. I talked to foreign intelligence agencies, the CIA. I even got to talk to Al Qaeda . Who could I not talk to? I could not talk to the FBI agent in charge of the bin Laden case across the street. That is warped. That is dysfunctional. The Patriot Act fixed that.”
And despite his Irish roots, Fitzgerald strongly backs the increased control of U.S. borders and the Justice Department’s aggressive moves to deport immigrants who fail to mention convictions on their immigration applications – even immigrants from Northern Ireland who don’t mention what they consider political convictions in “illegitimate” British courts.
“You can have whatever views you want, but when you show up at our borders, we want to know who you are,” he said. “We’ll exempt the Irish, but not people from the Middle East? That would be racist. It’s amazing how many people in this country are here illegally. We can’t just throw up our hands and let everyone in who might participate in violence.”
– By Abdon M. Pallasch
Colonel James Hickey
Saddam’s Captor
Sligo native Ann Marie Hickey’s phone rang just before 5 a.m. Sunday morning. Her son, Col. James Hickey, had been stationed in Iraq since the summer. Naturally, Ann Marie and her Clare-born husband James Sr. expected the worst.
But as the world discovered just hours later, it was good news coming from the war-torn Iraqi town of Tikrit. Saddam Hussein had been captured, and Col. Hickey, a Chicago native and commander of the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, had led the mission.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Ann Marie Hickey later said, from the Irish gift shop she owns and operates in Naperville, an hour west of Chicago. “This couldn’t have happened in a better way.”
Col. Hickey led what has been called the “shock and stealth” raid which nabbed the deposed Iraqi dictator. Officially, the mission was known as Operation Red Dawn.
“We were prepared to use overwhelming combat power, if needed,” Col. Hickey told reporters after the raid. “The most important part of the plan was based around stealth, speed and shock. It was carried out with zero illumination to try to ensure shock and speed. We were able to do it without anyone getting killed, or shot or injured. It was very, very fast.”
At around 6 p.m. on a Saturday in late December, as darkness fell, Col. Hickey and his troops approached two farmhouses in Ad Dwar, a village nine miles southeast of Tikrit, Hussein’s ancestral homeland.
Two hours later, the farmhouses were raided but Hussein was nowhere to be found. Col. Hickey then ordered nearly two square miles blocked off, so that an intensive search could be conducted.
At around 8:30 p.m., 600 American soldiers and Special Operations forces supported by tanks, artillery and Apache helicopter gunships surrounded the farmhouses. Near one of them, Hussein was found hiding alone at the bottom of an eight-foot hole.
As word of Hussein’s capture was spreading around the world, Col. Hickey did manage to place a call to his nervous parents. Ann Marie was simply glad to hear her son was safe.
Then came the calls from newspapers. And radio stations. And TV stations.
“I haven’t bothered to keep count,” said Ann Marie, whose maiden name is O’Hare, and who was born in the Sligo village of Aclare.
The Hickeys’ Irish Way Gift Shop has since been transformed into a makeshift press briefing hall, with Col. Hickey’s photo hung prominently in the window.
Ann Marie came to the U.S. when she was 16. She initially stayed with relatives in the Bronx before heading to Chicago, where her mother had relatives. It was at an Irish dance that she met her future husband James Hickey, a Cooraclare native who came to the U.S. when he was 19 and worked in construction.
Eventually, the Hickeys raised six children in Hickory Hills, southwest of Chicago.
The second oldest of the Hickeys’ children, James Jr., always seemed to be interested in the military.
“Since he was two years old,” said Ann Marie, who recalled buying all sorts of military-themed gifts at Christmas time for her son. Even in high school, James sported a fatigue jacket when all the other boys proudly wore school or athletic gear.
“As a boy growing up in the 1970s, in the south Chicago suburbs, you had dreams to play for Notre Dame football. But Jim always wanted to be a general in the U.S. military,” brother Ken Hickey was quoted as saying. “This was his calling and he knew that.”
Hickey graduated high school in 1978 and went on to attend the prestigious Virginia Military Institute. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1982.
Hickey also married an Irish-American girl from Arlington, Texas named Maureen Kelly.
“I guess it takes one to know one,” Ann Marie said with a laugh.
The news of Col. Hickey’s role in Hussein’s capture was big news in Ireland as well.
“It took the son of a Clare man to get him,” Mary Queally was quoted as saying from her home in Dromelihy in West Clare. Queally is the aunt of Col. Hickey, and sister of James Sr.
Queally told the Irish Independent she was “very proud of Jim and relieved that he is all right. Jim was home with me here for 10 days with his wife about 10 years ago. My brother Jim comes home every year and is due home again after Christmas.”
Queally went on: “James’s mother and father have been very worried about him being in Iraq. My brother rang me today and told me about the capture of Saddam Hussein and told me James was fine. We are very relieved and very proud.”
Hickey has said he and his troops received good intelligence on Hussein’s location roughly three hours before he led the raid. He added that troops were prepared to use massive firepower to kill or capture Saddam.
Famously, however, the onetime strongman surrendered without a fight from his hideaway near a shepherd’s hut in an orange grove on the banks of the Tigris River.
“I’m Saddam Hussein,” the man with the scruffy beard said in English when troops spotted him. “I’m the president of Iraq and I’m willing to negotiate.”
“President Bush sends his regards,” one soldier famously replied.
Afterwards, Col. Hickey said: “What we found surprised us. We didn’t think it would be so simple.” – By Tom Deignan
Nuala O’Connor Kelly
Protecting Liberty
In November 2003, Nuala O’Connor Kelly was sworn in as the United States’ first ever privacy officer, a position in the newly created Department of Homeland Security, headed by fellow Top 100 honoree Tom Ridge. As Chief Privacy Officer, she is in charge of ensuring that the government’s domestic anti-terrorism campaign does not destroy individual freedoms.
O’Connor Kelly was born in Belfast and emigrated to the U.S. with her parents and sister when she was a young child. She grew up in the New York City area.
Prior to her Homeland Security position, O’Connor Kelly held other posts in the Bush Administration, including the post of Chief Privacy Officer at the U.S. Department of Commerce and Chief Counsel for Technology and Deputy Director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning. She also served as Vice President-Data Protection and Chief Privacy Officer for Emerging Technologies of the online media services company, DoubleClick. During this tenure, she helped found the company’s first data protection department.
O’Connor Kelly has also practiced law with the firms of Sidley & Austin, Hudson Cook, and Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti in Washington, D.C. She received her AB from Princeton University, a master’s of education from Harvard University and a JD from Georgetown Law. She is married to Glenn Kelly and they are expecting their first child in June.
Ray Kelly
America’s Finest
Ray Kelly, the street cop from New York, is now seen as the premier law enforcement official in the world. Kelly, who was sworn in as the New York City Police department’s 41st Police Commissioner on January 4, 2002, had previously served as the NYPD’s 37th Commissioner from 1992-94. The first person to be appointed to the position for a second, separate term, Kelly leads a department of more than 37,000 police officers on a mission to keep New York City safe. Crime rates are at their lowest in decades, however, Kelly’s job is no longer that of simply catching murderers, thieves and rapists. “Our cops are simply front line soldiers in the war on terrorism,” Kelly recently told Irish America.
If New York is top of the terrorist target list, Kelly’s commitment to the fight against terrorism is topmost on his agenda. And he’s not depending on the CIA or the FBI. Kelly, who previously served with Interpol, has set up the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Unit. He’s increased the number of Counterterrorism Joint Task Force detectives from 17 to 120 and placed a number of NYPD detectives in foreign posts, including Tel Aviv, London, Singapore, and Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France.
The first in his family to join the police department, Kelly grew up on Columbus Avenue, Manhattan, when Irish-American gangsters like Poochie Walsh ruled the neighborhood. He enrolled in Manhattan College and joined the first police cadet class, a program aimed at grooming college graduates for careers with the NYPD. However, Kelly’s career was interrupted by the Vietnam War and he joined the Marines. A combat veteran, Kelly retired as a Colonel from the Marine Corps Reserves after 30 years of service. He has spent 31 years with the NYPD, and has also served as commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, and as Director of the International Police Monitors in Haiti.
Kelly, who received the American Irish Historical Society’s gold medal in 2003, has two sons with his
wife,Victoria.
Senator Edward Kennedy
Liberal Leader
Ted Kennedy has been called “the Senate’s fighting liberal” and it is a reputation he accepts with pride. Since beginning his career as a Massachusetts Senator in 1962, Kennedy has been a leader in the Democratic Party and in Congress, but his often-controversial decisions make it clear that he is beholden to no one.
Senator Kennedy’s major battles in 2003 included some of the most hotly contested issues in politics. Kennedy was adamantly opposed to the war in Iraq, and was one of the few Congressmen to speak out against President Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Kennedy was also the major force behind Congressional opposition to Bush’s judicial nominations, and was a leading critic of the Republican Medicare Bill. He also supported two bills that were of great importance to him – one bill strengthened hate crimes legislation, and the other supported a reform of current minimum wage standards.
During his 42 years in Congress, Senator Kennedy has chaired the Senate health, education, judiciary,
pensions, labor, and human resources committees. An experienced law scholar, Kennedy earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and two law degrees from the International Law School of the Hague, the Netherlands, and the University of Virginia Law School.
As a member of one of the most prominent Irish-American families in history and as a Senator, Ted Kennedy has played a major role in American politics since the 1960s. Not simply content to rest on his already established legacy, however, the political world can count on him to fight many more battles yet to come.
Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin
Assisting Immigrants
“Immigrant workers want what we all want: a fair shot at the American Dream,” says New York Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, and he is well aware of the plight of immigrants in America. McLaughlin has dedicated himself to improving the lives of working families through grassroots political action, no doubt influenced by his own grandparents’ emigration from County Cavan.
McLaughlin, Assemblyman for the 25th District in Queens, has an impressive list of achievements in the political world of New York City, his hometown. Born in Manhattan, McLaughlin earned a bachelor of science from Empire State College and worked as an electrician before earning his master’s degree in Industrial Labor Relations from the New York Institute of Technology. His educational background and his experience as an industrial laborer served him well when in June 1995 he was unanimously elected president of the New York Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, becoming only the third president in the four decades of the Council’s existence.
McLaughlin’s most recent undertaking, however, is serving as chairman of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, a cross-country bus trip to bring attention to the plight of undocumented workers, including the many illegal Irish immigrants currently working in the U.S. McLaughlin has defined the goals of the Freedom Ride as legalization for all immigrant workers, the implementation of workplace standards and job security, and the right to reunite with families from whom illegal workers are often separated for long stretches as they seek legal status in the U.S.
From his immigrant background to his political experience, it is clear that Brian McLaughlin is a champion for the disenfranchised. With his support, many more people will get a chance to have their “fair shot at the American Dream.”
Mayor Gavin Newsom
Magnanimous Mayor
On January 8, 2004, the new Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom walked into his first day on the job with the credo ‘lead by example.’ Faced with a city budget deficit that could exceed $300 million, Newsom is cutting 15 percent from his salary. It’s not the first time that the San Francisco businessman has turned down money. As a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors, which he served on from 1997-2004, he donated his salary to charity.
Newsom is a Democrat who was endorsed by both the previous Mayor Willie Brown Jr. and former President Bill Clinton, who came to an election-eve rally for the young politician. At just 36 years old, there is no doubt that Newsom is being groomed by the Democratic Party for even bigger political positions in the future.
Although Newsom has only been in office since January, he is making huge changes in the city. One of his top priorities is tackling the problem of homelessness. He picked former Supervisor Angela Alioto to chair a task force to write a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness in San Francisco. Alioto is not the only woman he has entrusted with an important job. Newsom has appointed Heather Fong as police chief and Joanne Hayes-White to head the Fire Department, proving that his administration is bringing in new blood to the city’s leadership.
Another policy he hopes to introduce is a local tax credit for the working poor, a move he hopes not only will put more cash in their pockets but also boost enrollment in an underutilized federal program for low-income workers. He is also taking a controversial and hands-on approach to crime, having shown up twice to murder scenes in a neglected part of the city to speak to people in the community and put pressure on local law enforcement.
Newsom comes from an Irish-American family that has been dedicated to public service. His father, the Honorable William Newsom, is a retired State Apellate Court Justice who traces his Irish roots to Counties Sligo and Cork. Gavin is married to Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, who served as Assistant District Attorney for San Francisco and is a noted legal analyst.
Pfc. Jessica Lynch
Brave Survivor
After being the most famous American soldier in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, in November Private First Class Jessica Lynch was finally able to put words and explanations to the photos and footage that we watched of her dramatic rescue from an Iraqi hospital in April. Her book, I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story allowed her to set the record straight that she did not fire her weapon, as had been reported, when her convoy was ambushed in southern Iraq. She insists that she is as much a survivor as she is a soldier, but refuses to consider herself a hero.
“I don’t look at myself as a hero,” Lynch said. “My heroes are Lori [Pfc. Lori Piestewa], the soldiers that are over there, the soldiers that were in that car beside me, the ones that came and rescued me.” Piestewa was one of the 11 members of Lynch’s unit, the 507th Maintenance, who were killed in the ambush near the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah.
Hero or not, Lynch still is a very brave young Irish-American. These days she is undergoing physical therapy five days a week for her injuries and recovering from the trauma she experienced. She is happy to be reunited with her close-knit family. Lynch traces her Irish roots back to County Derry, where her ancestors left in the 1600s during one of the early waves of Presbyterian emigration. The family settled in Virginia soon after.
Kathleen O’Toole
Top Cop
Kathleen O’Toole is used to breaking new ground. As one of two Americans to be appointed to the Independent Commission on Policing (the Patten Commission) in Northern Ireland in 1988, she helped set the international standard for police reform. She was also the highest ranking woman in the Massachusetts police force and headed her own international consulting firm, O'Toole Associates, LLC. Now O’Toole can add Boston Police Commissioner to her list of achievements; the first woman to ever hold the post. Indeed, O’Toole’s vast experience as worldwide expert on policing issues has made her one of the most respected names in the field.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004 that Kathleen O’Toole would be given the job of 37th Police Commissioner saying, "I know Kathy has the ability to really deal with the issues in our city. I have great enthusiasm for this appointment."
O’Toole’s career began at the New England School of Law by chance. "While I was in my second year of law school, I took a job as a police officer as a dare and ended up doing it for 20 years," says O’Toole. What began as a dare has evolved into an enviable career in public service. About her new post, O’Toole said, "I am overwhelmed with pride. This is my dream job. I'll work my very hardest to be the best possible police commissioner."
Born in western Massachusetts, O’Toole moved to Boston in the 1970s. A Boston College graduate, she worked her way through the ranks of law enforcement, eventually becoming Lieutenant Colonel of the State Police and Secretary of Public Safety under Governor William Weld. It was for her work in Northern Ireland that garnered O’Toole worldwide acclaim, however. As part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Patten Commission sent eight experts to Belfast to restructure the police and security systems there. Members of both Irish parties were suspicious of her at first, but her expertise prevailed, and she became known for her balanced approach and mediation skills. The experience helped create a model for other police departments in conflict environments involving a diverse population.
O’Toole credits her achievements to the love from those around her, saying “I had a lot of support coming up. I had great mentors." She was very close to her grandmother, who was from Althone and whose courage and perseverance made O’Toole proud to be Irish. O’Toole has spent a lot of time in Ireland with her husband, Dan, and their daughter Meghan.
Tom Ridge
Homeland Defender
In October 2001 Tom Ridge was sworn in as the first Office of Homeland Security Advisor in the history of the United States. President Bush established the Office of Homeland Security in response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Homeland Security’s mission is to develop and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to strengthen protections against terrorist threats or attacks in the United States.
Born in Pittsburgh’s Steel Valley, Ridge grew up in a working class family in Erie, Pennsylvania. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University, graduating cum laude in 1967. After graduation he enrolled in Dickinson School of Law but had to leave after he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor. Upon returning to Pennsylvania, he finished his law degree at Dickinson and went into private practice.
Ridge is no stranger to politics. He started out as an assistant district attorney in Erie County. He was then elected to U.S. Congress in 1982 and became the first enlisted Vietnam combat veteran elected to the House of Representatives. After six congressional terms, he left the House to become governor of Pennsylvania, where he served from 1995 to 2001. During his two terms as governor, his aggressive technology strategy helped the state advance in the areas of economic development, health and education. He signed into law the Education Empowerment Act, to help more than a quarter-million children in Pennsylvania’s lowest-performing schools. Ridge and his wife, Michele, have two children, Lesley and Tommy.
Lt. Jeffrey Quinn
Courage Under Fire
Many men and women in the armed services are declared heroes for one or two particular brave acts in the line of duty. But Lt. Jeffrey Quinn is an exception. Having joined the Army when he was 21, his entire career has been one heroic feat after another. This year he was belatedly recognized for his bravery and dedication when New York Governor George Pataki awarded Quinn the Bronze Star for valor. The award was presented nearly a decade after he risked his life working as a medic in the 1993 battle of Mogadishu, Somalia, a conflict that was depicted in the 2001 film Blackhawk Down.
During the battle, Quinn abandoned the shelter of the Mogadishu airport medical station and ran out into the line of fire to locate, treat and carry wounded soldiers back to the station. Says Quinn, “I was on the crash site after the first helicopter came down.” He put himself in harm’s way to save his comrades. At the time of the battle, Mogadishu was the biggest single firefight involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. Quinn said it took three days to clean up the wounded and evacuate those they could move.
Quinn was stationed in Somalia at the time because he volunteered for the humanitarian aid effort working as an air medic for the United Nations. But he was loaned out in July of 1993 as a medic to the U.S. combat search and rescue, which is where he was working during the October battle.
Although shortly after the battle he was recommended for military honors, the paperwork was not filed until 2003, when his current unit, the 109th Airlift Wing, became aware of the risks he took to save others. They could not believe that he had never been honored for his bravery in Somalia and immediately started the proposal for him to receive the Bronze Star. He may have waited nearly ten years to receive the recognition he deserved, but he was very moved by the honor.
Throughout his career, Quinn has worked in the services in many capacities. He was a medic in the original Operation Desert Storm, he served in the special forces, joined the air force, trained search and rescue teams, and more.
In 1998, long before they became such controversial conversation topics, Quinn became a specialist on weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He explains, “We needed to respond to WMD with a rapid assessment medical detection. This was a new concept.” He worked on a medical team that trained civilian responders with how to handle a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.
Because of his expertise in WMD, Quinn and his team were called to the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 attack. They spent the next few months at Ground Zero performing checks and tests to ensure that no WMD had been in the attack, and reported their findings to federal and state authorities to confirm the safety of Ground Zero for rescue workers.
In July 1003, Quinn left the WMD raid team and took his current post as logistical readiness officer at Stratton Air National Guard base in Scotia, New York. He acknowledges that he may serve a rotation in Iraq in the future.
Quinn’s Irish ancestors immigrated from Leinster and County Longford to Tennessee in the 1840s. He and his wife Ellen have two daughters; Cydney, who is nine years old and performs Irish dancing, and MacKenzie, who is four. –By Louise Carroll
Congressman Tim Ryan
Inspiring Democrat
A lawyer, state senator, and now a Congressman – all at only 29 years of age. Not content to simply court the youth vote, Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio wants to inspire young people to create the America they imagine.
Congressman Tim Ryan continued the Irish-American tradition of political involvement on January 7, 2003, when he was sworn in as the youngest member of the 108th Congress. Despite his short tenure in the House of Representatives, Tim Ryan wasted no time in founding and becoming co-chair of the House Manufacturing Caucus, an issue of great importance to his constituents in the 17th District of Northeast Ohio. In addition, he was appointed to the Committee on Education and Workforce, the Armed Services Committee, and the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Formerly an Ohio State Senator, Ryan is no stranger to the political process. After graduating from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Ryan served as both a congressional aide in the House and as an intern for the Trumbull County Prosecutors Office before earning his law degree from the Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire. During his term of office in the Ohio Senate, Ryan was the ranking minority member on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Ryan also has the distinction of having created the first collegiate political action committee in order to inspire young voters to get involved in politics as a hands-on way of shaping government policy that will affect their lives. “We must remember,” says Ryan, “that we have the unique ability as humans to create our own destiny.”
Michael A. Sheehan
Counterterrorism Expert
September 11, 2001 was a crucial turning point for the New York Police Department. Commissioner Ray Kelly faced the daunting task of transforming the department to become better equipped to address the issue of terrorism. His first task was to assemble a first-rate counter-terrorism team, and in 2003, Michael Sheehan was brought on board as the Deputy Commissioner of Counter Terrorism. According to the NYPD, Sheehan is responsible for "counter terrorism operations… training and exercises for NYPD personnel and risk assessment and critical infrastructure protection of key sites within New York City."
New Jersey-born Sheehan began his military career in the 1970’s. A West Point graduate, Sheehan was trained as an Airborne Ranger and in the Special Forces and went on to earn two master’s degrees. Before his 1997 retirement from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel, Sheehan performed missions in conflicted countries around the world, including Central America, Korea and Somalia. Along the way, Sheehan picked up Spanish from his time spent on duty in Latin America.
His service with the military in counter-intelligence led to a prolific career with the U.S. government. In the late 1980s, he worked in counter narcotics and peacekeeping for the first Bush Administration. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Organizations, he worked directly with international policing in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Following the 1998 attacks against the American embassies in East Africa, Sheehan was appointed Department of State Ambassador at Large for Counter Terrorism by a unanimous vote in the Senate. It was these horrific world events that repositioned terrorism at the top of the list of national security priorities. Sheehan’s diplomacy expertise was unsurpassable. According to a State Department spokesperson at the time of Sheehan’s appointment, the consensus was that Sheehan had "a unique combination of field experience and Washington policy experience.''
Before joining the NYPD, Sheehan worked at the UN as Assistant Secretary General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, where he was responsible for managing 35,000 military and police in fifteen peacekeeping operations around the world.
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