City Council honors Speaker DeLeo with Certificate of Merit

Ward 3 Councilor Arthur Guinasso presented a Certificate of Merit on behalf of the City Council, Mayor Brian Arrigo and the City of Revere to former Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo at the Feb. 22 meeting.

Guinasso said the Certificate was “an acknowledgement of extraordinary, distinguished and meritorious achievement and accomplishment.”

Guinasso commended DeLeo for his 30 years of service in the House of Representatives, the last 12 years as Speaker of the House. Guinasso wished DeLeo “the very best in the next step of your illustrious career as a mentor and teacher at your alma mater, Northeastern University.”

Mr. DeLeo gave “a sincere thank you” to the City Council in his comments following the presentation and the words of laudation from councilors and Mayor Brian Arrigo in recognition of his outstanding public service.

Following is a summation of the remarks made by each member of the City Council and Mayor Brian Arrigo at the presentation ceremony:

Ward 3 Councilor

Arthur Guinasso

It’s a great honor and a privilege to offer this motion on behalf of the Revere City Council to our good, good friend and neighbor, Bob DeLeo.

And all of us can experience the past, the many laughs we shared with Mr. DeLeo and his group. But a wonderful guy he’s been to the City of Revere. He has never forgotten where’s he come from.

He chose Revere because first of all, he chose his business (law practice) to be placed in Revere, so that showed automatically what he thought about our community.

I’ve had so many occasions to have enjoyed his company over the past several years – and I’ll tell you, [those occasions] have very, very enjoyable ones.

I can speak for hours and hours…of the stories we’ve had when we worked together somewhat at 385 Squire Road in the little office that he shared with Peter Aloisi and I shared with Carmen Mastrogiovanni. That’s when it all started when this young guy came up to me and said, ‘Someday I’m going to run for representative.’’’

I believed in him and I’ve been by his side and ever since he’s been a truthful and loyal friend of mine. He spoke at every one of my fundraisers and he introduced me. He just means a lot to me and my family as he does for all of us.

I just want to offer this [Certificate of Merit]    on behalf of the community and our City of Council.

Ward 1 Councilor

Joanne McKenna

Thank you, Bobby. A heartfelt thank you for the many years that you’ve helped me. You were a wonderful friend to me and you were a wonderful friend to the residents of Revere.

I want to thank you for helping me address the problems that faced my ward while you were in office.

Thank you so much and I hope you keep in touch with everybody on this Council because we’ll miss you. Thank you.

Ward 2 Councilor

Ira Novoselsky

Bob DeLeo, you’ll never be a former state rep, you’ll always be the Speaker to me. And we’ll call you, Speaker, or we’ll call you Bob.

We’ve been together for the last 34 years and we’ve been through great times, good times and bad times – and you’ve always come through for all of us.

You’re a great guy and you’re a great rep. and Speaker of the House. You served us proudly. We were glad to have you with us and be a colleague in government together.

I want to thank you for all the things that you’ve done for everybody. I want to congratulate you again, wish you lots of luck – Mazel Tov – and we’ll miss you up at the State House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Councilor-at-Large

Gerry Visconti

As a newly elected official, if I am able to accomplish one-hundredth of the accomplishments that you have during your tenure, my career in the political scene will be a huge success.

You are a warm, kind-hearted person that always put his constituents first. And for that, Revere will miss you.

I want to thank you for always putting your constituents first and thank you for your friendship.

Councilor-at-Large

Steven Morabito

Mr. DeLeo, I want to thank you for all your years of service.

You were a class act. You were a statesman. People could relate with you, and that’s one thing that really stood out. You really connected and you were really relatable.

There is so much admiration and respect for you from so many people – you are so loved and adored. And your legacy will live on forever.

Ward 6 Councilor

Richard Serino

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you from the time when I was an intern for welcoming me into the State House. And over the time working with you, I really got to see your leadership style and how a leader needs to be and should be.

I always say you led the ship – you’re the captain that we deserved and we needed because you led the ship on a very steady course. You always kept steady, kept focused. You’ve been a tremendous mentor to me and I’m certainly going to miss you up there [at the State House]. It already doesn’t feel the same without you up there. I know the district especially is going to feel your loss as well.

You have been an incredible leader for Revere and Winthrop and you really have put your heart into it.

Not a lot of people realize that every year, from the time you were a freshman rep. all the way through your Speakership, you never forgot  the people in your district. You would always have a birthday party every year for Richie Scanelli, who is one of our area’s favorite residents.

Thank you for everything, Mr. Speaker, and I hope this isn’t goodbye. I hope we all will continue to see you in Winthrop.

State Rep. and

Councilor-at-Large Jessica Giannino

Mr. Speaker, you are a complete inspiration to me and someone that I look up to so much.

As the representative of Revere, I have huge shoes to fill following in your footsteps and your leadership in the State House.

I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for the City of Revere and for the Nineteenth Suffolk in your years serving us.

I really want to thank your family for sharing you with us because I don’t think people understand that when you get into this business, our families do pay a price. We really take a lot of time away from them. So thank you to them for sharing you with us for all the years that they did. I hope you have a wonderful retirement from this position and I wish you all the best.

Ward 4 Councilor

Patrick Keefe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think as some of us younger politicians in the area look up to some of our senior leaders and their style and your style is one that a lot of us like to emulate.

When you think about the way you interact with a lot of the youth in the neighborhood of Winthrop and Revere and you have an approachability and that’s your humble roots from Revere and Winthrop. You never made yourself look or feel to be more important than anyone else in the room.

And little does everyone know – well, not everyone knows that for most of the time you were the one of the most powerful men in the state, but you never put that out there. You just walked about your job as you were Robert DeLeo – although we all did call you Mr. Speaker because we enjoyed using that term and we were very proud of it especially in Revere and Winthrop.

I just really appreciated your style and what you’ve done for the communities around you.

You are someone that we all somewhat aspire to be. Thank you for being such a great person and congratulations.

Ward 5 Councilor

 John Powers

Bob. Mr. Speaker. Friend.

You certainly have earned the title of statesman. Your service, your dedication, your humility toward others – it’s unbelievable.

You’re a remarkable person and I want to thank you for all your help in going in to get information on different topics in the [Speaker’s] Office.

So again from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Councilor-at-Large George Rotondo

Bob, I can’t say enough about you, whether it was backing the nurses or supporting staffing, or helping CAPIC when they needed [your support] for fuel assistance – you’ve been there for us from the very beginning.

I hope whoever takes your seat is able to meet the goals and aspirations that you set for yourself and make them theirs.

I wish you well in your retirement and maybe we’ll see you down the Beach and we’ll play some bocce.

Mayor Brian Arrigo

Thank you for all that you’ve done for the Commonwealth, but especially for the residents of the Revere.

I know we can go through all of the accomplishments that you’ve had in your tenure, but I want to personally thank you for the great advice that you gave me on one of my first days or nights in the Mayor’s office before I got sworn in [as Mayor] – and those are words that I’ll never forget. I’m incredibly grateful for the fact that you’re a friend, a mentor and somebody that would take the time to be thoughtful and give some great advice.

I know we’re going to continue to connect and I look forward to that, but I just had to say thank you.

We’re so grateful for all that you’ve done for this city. The place that we are right now in the city had so much to do with the great work that you’ve done for our Commonwealth. Thank you.

Council President

Anthony Zambuto

I’m going to try to be brief and try not to get emotional. But we go back an awful long way.

You’re responsible for me sitting in this seat [as Council President].

I remember knocking on doors and [telling people] that my dear friend, Bob DeLeo, will make a great state representative. What an understatement that was. I mean, you’ve done more than anybody in the history of the State House. You are a shining example of what a Speaker of the House should be. And you’ve never forgotten where you came from. We were so proud to have you as our leader.

My colleague brought up CAPIC, where I sit on the board. We always went to you for help and you were always there and that was help for many, many people who get help from that organization.

I am most proud to consider you my friend. I wish all the best in all you do and nobody deserves it more than you.

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