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A big Delahunt footprint in Keating’s new district

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January 26, 2012|By Frank Phillips

Those familiar with US Representative William R. Keating (left) and William… (JONATHAN WIGGS/GLOBE STAFF/FILE )

US Representative William R. Keating took a political risk when he moved from Quincy to Cape Cod to run in a newly configured congressional district. That decision put the first-term congressman in the middle of a potentially tough Democratic primary fight.

But that is only part of his problem.

Keating finds himself shadow boxing with another powerful Democratic political figure: former congressman and one-time Norfolk district attorney, William D. Delahunt.

Neither will publicly acknowledge their feud, but political observers familiar with the bad blood between the two say it is as acute as it is long-running.

In recent months, Delahunt has privately met with Keating’s potential Democratic rivals in the new district. He dined with Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter in Quincy just before Sutter entered the race. He has also had conversations with former state senator Robert A. O’Leary of Barnstable, who is considering a run.

It is unclear what was said in those meetings, but what is evident is that Delahunt is churning up the political waters, apparently to undercut Keating’s election bid.

“He can’t resist being involved,’’ said O’Leary, a Delahunt ally who fell just short of beating Keating in a spirited primary fight in 2010.

O’Leary said that his meeting with Delahunt had been to talk about a potential second run in the district that will now include the Cape, much of Plymouth County, and the South Coast, including New Bedford. Asked if Delahunt has urged him to run or offered him support, O’Leary demurred. “He is expressing his insight and wisdom,’’ he said.

Sutter, who dined with Delahunt at Alba restaurant several weeks ago, also declined to describe the conversation or say whether he got any encouragement from Delahunt.

“I really enjoyed it,’’ Sutter, of Fall River, said later. “I thank him for his wisdom.’’

Keating boosters see Delahunt’s involvement as the latest chapter in what is said to be a long-standing quarrel that grew out of the jungle that is Norfolk County politics.

“He obviously sees himself as the king maker,’’ Walter Brooks, editor and publisher of the news site CapeCodToday.com, said of Delahunt. Brooks has been a sharp critic of the former congressman.

Keating and Delahunt have been bitter, but largely silent, rivals since Keating took over the Norfolk district attorney’s office in 1999, several years after Delahunt left that office and was elected to Congress. He kept most of Delahunt’s staff, but fired one of his top deputies, which insiders said Delahunt took as a personal slight.