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Earlier this evening, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern Chief of Staff Chris Philbin took me, PolitickerMA.com columnist Wally Edge, to task for an opinion piece I did about his boss and the Progressive Democrats of America, an organization that has endorsed John Kerry's primary challenger Ed O'Reilly.

Here is Wally's response:

Earlier today, PolitickerMA.com's Wally Edge connected the dots between U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester), the Progressive Democrats of America and U.S. Senate candidate Ed O'Reilly (D-Gloucester) in his ongoing commentary on the "Inside Edge."

McGovern's office has since responded, stating that McGovern fully supports U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Boston) in his re-election run and highlighted the congressman's work with the Bay State's junior senator.

Below is the entirety of the McGovern's response.

In spite of giving large sums of money to other campaigns U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester) reported $303,872.98 cash on hand for the second quarter, according to the Federal Election Commission.Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester)

McGovern, who represents the Bay State's 3rd Congressional District, raked in $139,203.28 in total contributions for the quarter and has collected $863,391.82 in total contributions for this election cycle.

Midway through 2006, McGovern had just $100,438.58 cash on hand.

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester) and Greater Boston Food Bank President Catherine D'Amato: Politicker Photo

BOSTON -- U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester) joined leaders of local food and retail industries Wednesday to launch a new coalition dedicated to highlighting the effects of using large amounts of the United States' corn resources for biofuels instead of for the country's food supply.

The coalition, named "Food before Fuel," hopes to fight recent congressional mandates that require nine billion gallons of biofuel to be blended into the fuel supply in 2008. That nine billion gallons, the coalition says, is composed of one third the United States' corn supply and is causing food prices around the world to rise.

"Food prices are soaring," McGovern said before a crowd of about 25 on the steps in front of the statehouse. "Here in Massachusetts and around the world, families are being hit hard by these rising costs. Rising food prices disproportionately affect the poor, particularly the poor in the developing worlds ... Hunger is increasing here in this country and hunger is increasing around the world. People are slipping through the cracks."

Rep. Jim McGovern (D- Worcester) was named co-chair of Congressional Human Rights Caucus Thursday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

McGovern replaces Rep. Tom Lantos (R-Calif.), who passed away in February, as co-chair and will join Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) in leading the caucus.