Amidst all the dreary news about Marty Zanotti & Co’s ongoing silent coup, perhaps you missed the bit of good news in local politics that occurred on the East Side last week: Bill O’Neill announced his candidacy for Congress, setting up a Fall rematch with blowhole/philanderer/Al Borland look-alike Steven LaTourette.

            O’Neill is a Vietnam vet, former assistant Attorney General and Court of Appeals judge—and currently works as a pediatric nurse. Oh, and he started the whole, “Money and Judges Don’t Mix” campaign, only accepting $10 contributions in his battle for the appeals bench in 1996.

            I got to know this man and his family while hanging out with his campaign in 2008, and the best way I can explain the excitement you get when you’re close to his team is to reference that West Wing episode where Josh recruits Sam to work for President Bartlet’s campaign with the promise that this guy is “the real thing.”

-James Renner