"I have always found him to be a real pain in the neck," Capuano quipped. "We'll give you whatever you want, just to shut you up," he added.
And at the party, Duehay laughingly told partygoers of an experience he had on the 1997 campaign trail that made him think seriously about retirement. As he visited with an elderly woman, she said she remembered meeting his "father" when he was running for office more than 30 years ago.
"How is he?" she asked.
The politician she remembered, of course, was a younger Duehay.
As for Duehay's future, he says he'll be doing work in education and public service, just not from the vantage point of an elected official.
"It's very likely that I'll be doing the same kinds of things I've always been doing," he says.