Politics & Power Quote by Stephen F. Lynch

Lynch isn’t offering biography here so much as a credentialed warning label: I’m not your enemy, and I’m not naive about how this works. The opening “Hey” lowers the temperature, a conversational feint that signals approachability before he pivots to authority. In a political arena where unions are both a power base and a punching bag, he’s pre-loading trust with two identity stamps that matter to labor audiences: insider leadership (“former union president”) and professional enforcement (“an attorney that represented a lot of unions”).

The subtext is transactional and defensive at once. By foregrounding his union bona fides, Lynch inoculates himself against accusations of betrayal when he takes a complicated vote, questions a strategy, or pushes back on a labor ask. It’s a classic move in coalition politics: claim membership in the group to earn the right to disagree with the group. The “myself” tightens that claim, insisting it’s personal, lived, not merely aligned-by-donation or photo-op.

There’s also a subtle hierarchy embedded in the pairing. Union president suggests solidarity; attorney suggests fluency in institutions that often constrain solidarity. He’s signaling he can speak both languages: the shop-floor ethos and the courtroom/policy mechanics. That duality is useful in hearings, negotiations, and media hits, where credibility depends on seeming both loyal and competent.

Contextually, this kind of line usually surfaces when labor is skeptical, splintered, or being courted by multiple factions. Lynch is staking out a position as a “trusted translator” - someone who can sell trade-offs without sounding like management, and who can frame union priorities as legally and politically actionable rather than purely moral demands.