PORTLAND, Maine — Democrat Joseph E. Brennan, whose troubled childhood shaped his views on the working class in a political career that included two terms as governor of Maine and two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, died Friday evening at his home in Portland. He was 89.
Brennan died with his wife by his side, a few blocks from the third-floor tenement on Munjoy Hill where his Irish immigrant parents raised a family of eight children, Frank O’Hara, a longtime friend, said Saturday.
Brennan’s experience in that neighborhood, a working-class melting pot, stayed with him when he entered politics at age 29 with a campaign for the Maine Legislature, O’Hara said.
An Army veteran, Brennan attended Boston College under the GI Bill and graduated from the University of Maine Law School. He served as district attorney and attorney general, in addition to being a state legislator, governor and congressman.
Former Democratic Gov. Joe Baldacci called Brennan “a friend, a mentor and a devoted servant.”
“He was a man of the highest integrity who led Maine through difficult times. He believed he had a duty to make things better, and he lived that ideal through his commitment to public education and improving the state’s economy,” Baldacci said.
As attorney general, Brennan participated in negotiations with Wabanaki tribes and the federal government for what would become the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act of 1980, which was signed by President Jimmy Carter when Brennan was governor.
Also as governor, Brennan launched education reforms, pushed for strict highway safety measures and helped create the Finance Authority of Maine.
Current Gov. Janet Mills, a fellow Democrat who was appointed by Brennan in 1980 as the first woman to serve as district attorney, said her selection, despite objections from some men at the time, put her on track to become the first female governor of Maine. .
“Government. Brennan showed me and others that politics is about building relationships, that public service is not about enriching yourself but about enriching the lives of others, and that the most important relationship is the one we have with the people we serve,” she said.
Another key appointment by Brennan was tapping George Mitchell, a federal judge, in 1980 to fill the seat vacated by Democratic U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie, who resigned to become secretary of state. Mitchell became Senate majority leader.
“His family and the people of Maine have lost a great man, and I have lost a dear friend,” said Mitchell, who called Brennan “an outstanding leader and attorney who understood the importance of a strong and fair justice system in our democracy. .”