Who Is Martin O'Malley's Mother? Barbara O'Malley Is Not Like A Regular Mom, She's A Cool Mom

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Barbara O'Malley Is Not Like A Regular Mom, She's A Cool Mom

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is a really interesting person. He's been mayor of Baltimore, governor of Maryland, he plays guitar in a band, and is also a practicing Catholic. But one of the coolest things about him is his mother. Martin O'Malley's mother Barbara O'Malley is known as Mrs. O on Capitol Hill, and is basically an institution in the place.

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Mrs. O's political career began in the 1940s when she worked for Harry Truman's 1948 campaign. Her father, Joseph Suelzer, was their county's Democratic chairman in Fort Wayne, Indiana — a family tie that Mrs. O says helped her get the gig with the Truman campaign.

Later, Mrs. O earned her private pilot's license while still a teenager, and even served during World War II in the Civil Air Patrol, according to CBS. In addition to working on Capitol Hill for Mikulski, she volunteers at the National Air and Space Museum. She also likes to bake brownies and various other goodies for the office.

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MORE: http://www.bustle.com/articles/123470-who-is-martin-omalleys-mother-barbara-omalley-is-not-like-a-regular-mom-shes-a-cool

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1. k&r

photo by David Colwell


"The two things in our household that we'd never dream of skipping were an election and Mass," says Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who attended a rally for former Democratic Presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey with his mother when he was just two. "My mother taught us that the only thing wrong with politics is that not enough good people get involved."

The rich political environment of the O'Malley household—late father Tom was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; mom Barbara was a National Committee Woman for the Young Democrats from Indiana—made a lasting impression on Baltimore's former mayor. "My parents raised us all to believe we could make a difference in this world and that we could help other people," he says.

Whatever his endeavors, Barbara, who now works as an aide to Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, has always offered her oldest son support, from encouraging him to run for student council in his middle school days to dragging the family to watch his early performances with his Celtic rock band. ("We would sit at separate tables to make it look like there was a crowd," she says with a laugh.) Her maternal support even extended to helping him get in some much-needed shut-eye on the bus during the last day of the 2006 election. "By that time in the campaign, you are utterly and totally depleted, and you want nothing but to sleep," says O'Malley. Knowing that his mother would never let him sleep through a stop, he felt comfortable enough to nap. And she knew just how to wake him: "The bus driver would click on Springsteen's 'Land of Hope and Dreams,' and mom would say, 'It's time to wake up!'" O'Malley recalls. Chuckles Barbara, "If I had just had a Bruce Springsteen record when he was little, it would have been a lot easier to wake him up."

read: http://www.baltimoremagazine.net/2009/5/thanks-mom



Barbara O’Malley looks down as Gov. O'Malley acknowledges his mother during his final State of the State address. Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post


The Maryland Democrat’s mother, Barbara O’Malley, has been working as a receptionist for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and has become a staple of the Capitol Building, known for her acerbic wit and Spritz cookies, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The 87-year-old receptionist has worked for Mikulski for 27 years, starting just after her son worked on the veteran senator’s first successful Senate campaign in 1986.

In that time, Barbara O’Malley has become quite popular among Mikulski’s colleagues. “She’s so funny — and she’s tough,” former Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia told the Journal. “When she thinks the conversation has gone on too long, she goes, ‘Go to your office and do some work.’”

Barbara O’Malley said she was inspired to work for Mikulski in 1987 after she became the first Democratic woman elected in her own right. “It didn’t take too much urging,” the elder O’Malley told the Journal, “I thought, ‘Yay — a woman senator!’”

read: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/martin-omalley-mother-barbara-omalley-115018.html



(WSJ)

Mrs. O’Malley has greeted, trained, baked for and even scolded some of the hundreds of lawmakers and constituents who pass by her desk.

“I will sometimes run into U.S. senators who I’ve never met before, but they already know who my mom is,” said former Gov. O’Malley.

Statistically speaking, Mrs. O is an anomaly on Capitol Hill by virtue of both her age and longevity in a role that usually serves as a steppingstone for the 20-somethings who populate the place...

“She probably has the record for the longest tenure of any receptionist on Capitol Hill,” said Ivan Adler, a principal at the McCormick Group who specializes in recruiting congressional staffers to downtown lobbying shops. “It’s incredibly unusual because that is a starter position. Most people stay in there until they find the next step up and she’s never worried about that.”

Instead of moving up, Mrs. O’Malley has instead extended her influence out. She has trained generations of staffers, estimated at somewhere between 50 and 75 aides who are now dispersed among the hallways of Capitol Hill and offices of downtown Washington.

read: http://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/print.php?ARTICLE_ID=57186

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5. Love that first photo! nt

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More positive threads!

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