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The 1995 McCaskey graduate loved politics and dreamed of working on Capitol Hill, so he sent an application to the office of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
"I really wanted to intern for him. Being a first-generation American kid — I have (an) English-Irish background — coming from a Democratic family, who else would there be to intern for?" recalled the 31-year-old Lancaster resident.
"I applied and kept calling and kept calling."
O'Malley got the job.
The internship launched his career in Washington politics and landed his brother, Sean, a 1998 McCaskey grad, the same job with Kennedy a few years later.
O'Malley went on to serve as deputy finance director for U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy II — the senator's son — in his 2002 re-election campaign in Rhode Island. He now works as the political director for U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida.
But the eight months O'Malley spent working for Kennedy were a dream come true.
"I loved every minute of it," he said. "In high school, I was asked, 'Who's your political idol?' Sen. Kennedy was my political idol. I didn't agree with his approach on everything his entire career.
"However, he believed in public service, and that's what he did."
The Massachusetts senator died late Tuesday night after a yearlong struggle with brain cancer. He was 77.
"It's a sad day for American politics," O'Malley said. "The senator dedicated his entire life to improving the lives of others. The country's going to be at a huge loss without him in the Senate anymore."
O'Malley remembered Kennedy as a powerful and compassionate politician.
"The health care debate would have been a lot different had he been there to see it through the process. I don't think we'd have the logjam we have now," he said. "I hope that when my time on Earth is gone I was able to have had a fraction of the impact he's had on Americans' lives. He was a selfless man who dedicated his entire life to helping others."
O'Malley worked as an intern in Kennedy's Washington office from July 1999 through March 2000.
"He treated me like an extra staff assistant," O'Malley said. "I interned at a really good time. It was during the school year, and there weren't a lot of interns. I had a lot of opportunities to work late. I staffed him in his hideaway office when he was in between votes on the floor. I'd patch calls through to him.
"I spent a lot of quality time with him," O'Malley said.
The most poignant recollection O'Malley has of working for Kennedy was the day the intern brought his father, who has since passed away, into the office to meet the legendary senator.
"I begged and pleaded. I said, 'My dad loves Senator Kennedy. Please let me have the senator take a picture with my dad,'" O'Malley remembered.
"My dad was like, 'What do I say to him?' I told him, 'Say whatever you want. He's just like you and I. He's just more famous.'
"My dad was completely mortified," O'Malley said.
Kennedy met them — and proceeded to talk about football with O'Malley.
"It was the day, the moment — with Senator Kennedy with my dad and me — when my father had realized I had grown up," O'Malley said.
O'Malley's father died only months after his son's internship ended.
"My dad immigrated to the country in 1961. His dream was for his kids to have a better life," his son remembered. "I was doing something he wanted to do. He was there for it and saw it. I was taking my first steps as a young adult, and he was part of that."
E-mail: tmurse@lnpnews.com
