At the St. Patrick's Day breakfast, Mass. pols try to lighten a somber political mood with humor

Elected officials from Boston and across the state bantered and exchanged jokes Sunday morning at the annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast in South Boston. The politicians did their best to lighten the mood in what feels like a politically dark moment for many Democrats in Massachusetts.

The long tradition of the St. Patrick's Day breakfast gives local officials a chance to celebrate Boston's Irish roots and tease each other with cringe-worthy jokes that often prompt more awkward silences than laughs. Sunday was no exception, though a few moments stood out.

The host of the breakfast, State Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston, ribbed Mayor Michelle Wu about the reported $650,000 of city funds she spent getting ready for her congressional testimony earlier this month.

"I heard the mayor was so nervous about this breakfast she spent another 650 grand preparing," Collins said.

Collins, one of Wu's political antagonists, who blocked her tax-cut proposal, also sang a song to the Mayor, to the tune of 'Take Me Home, Country Roads':

"Fix the roads, Mayor Wu.

It ain't the state, it's on you.

Ditch the bike lanes and the blame games.

Fix the roads, Mayor Wu," crooned Collins.

For her part, Wu took it in stride, telling the audience, "I wish I could say I was glad to be here."

When the mayor took the podium, she appeared to be holding her newborn daughter, and asked Collins if he remembered how to hold a baby, before flinging the swaddled child at him. It was a startling moment.

"I brought the prop baby," Wu said to laughter. "It's bad enough that grown-ups have to sit through two and a half hours of bad jokes. I'm not going to make a baby do that."

But the banter couldn't obscure what are challenging times for political leaders in this deep blue state. So, Wu pivoted from the jokes to challenging President Trump's hard-line against pro-immigrant policies in cities like Boston.

"We will fight anyone who tries to threaten, to intimidate our neighbors, because Boston is the city that for 400 years has been a safe harbor for waves of immigrants," Wu said.

Gov. Maura Healey followed a similar script as Wu. First, she poked fun at herself, making light of what many see as her obvious and growing national ambitions, reciting a list of her recent high-profile media appearances.

"I mean, one little appearance on Seth Meyers, a New York Times interview, a photo-shoot, a couple of more podcasts like Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast — now available on Apple, Spotify and iHeart," said Healey, adding with mock indignation, "Why are you laughing?"

But like Wu, Healey ended her remarks on a serious note with the story of Michael Slater, a veteran from western Mass., fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Slater was a casualty of the Trump administration's government efficiency initiative led by Elon Musk.

"We cannot have our veterans treated that way in this country," Healey said.

Because of the fate of Slater and many others, Healey said she hasn't been in a very "jokey mood lately." But like others at Sunday's breakfast, she tried her best.