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The Patriot Ledger U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch easily held on to his seat and is now posed to assume control of an influential oversight committee in the House. The South Boston Democrat garnered 80 percent of the vote in the 9th Congressional District, swamping Republican challenger Jack E. Robinson on Brockton. Lynch won every town in the District. “It’s better than you can reasonably expect,” Lynch said at his celebration party at Florian Hall in Dorchester. In the background, supporters and aides closely monitored a pair of TVs as the Democratic Party regained control of the House of Representatives. For Lynch specifically, the Democratic takeover means the former ironworker is in line to become chairman of the Regulatory Affairs subcommittee, of which he is the ranking Democrat. The subcommittee has oversight over a number of federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. Lynch said that as chairman, he would consider investigations into Iraq reconstruction contracts and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. However, he said, Democrats need to refrain from retaliatory actions – such as trying to impeach President Bush – and must proceed in a “gentlemanly way.” “We have to do it in a way that we’re viewed as advocated of good government and not advocates of getting even,” he said. Robinson, who suffered his third defeat for political office, said he was the unfortunate victim of anti-Republican sentiment on the statewide and national level. “We got caught up in a whirlwind,” he said from his downtown Brockton campaign office. “We could have spent a million and it wouldn’t have made any difference.” Lynch said his priorities in the new Congress will be to restore funding for the three Veterans Administration hospitals in his district, to increase funding for the No Child Left Behind education law, and to reform immigration laws. |