Boland, 76, Says He Will Retire After 36 Years in the House
Rep. Edward P. Boland, author of the amendments that barred U.S. aid to the Contras in Nicaragua, announced today that he will retire after 36 years in Congress.
“I’ve decided to call it a day,” the 76-year-old Democrat said in a statement released at Our Lady of Hope School in the Irish neighborhood where he was born and raised.
“The parades are all over. The give-and-take of the campaign trail no longer beckons and the time has come when the bell tolls on a career that has been for me an exhilarating and fulfilling experience.”
The Reagan Administration’s frustration with the Boland Amendments inspired the diversion of profits from arms sales to support the Contras. That operation became a focus of the Iran-Contra scandal and the recent indictment of former Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North and others.
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