Globe's Farrell joins Moore at Denver Post. The Boston Globe's number-two person in Washington, John Aloysius Farrell, is leaving to become Washington-bureau chief of the Denver Post -- the paper he worked at before coming to the Globe in 1987. He was recruited by Post editor Greg Moore, who was, until last year, the managing editor of the Globe.

Farrell is best known for his book, Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century (see "Don't Quote Me," News and Features, February 9, 2001), a massive, authoritative biography of the late House Speaker. He worked as Washington editor -- second-in-command to the bureau chief -- under David Shribman, who left the Globe recently to become executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. More recently, Farrell has been the Globe's senior Washington correspondent.

Here is Moore's memo to the Post staff announcing Farrell's hiring:

John Aloysius Farrell is rejoining The Denver Post as our new bureau chief in Washington. He replaces Bill McAllister, who resigned effective April 1st.

I have said that for The Post to be considered an important regional newspaper, we must do a better job of covering the issues out of Washington that affect our region -- public land management, forestry issues, the environment, military affairs and politics.

Jack returns to The Post after a 16-year absence. He left The Post in 1987 to join The Boston Globe as a national political reporter. He also worked as an investigative reporter on the Globe's prize winning Spotlight Team, a Congressional reporter, and White House Correspondent. Most recently, Jack served as The Globe's Washington editor, supervising a 10-person staff and assigning and crafting coverage of the 2000 election recount, post-September 11th coverage and many other challenging news stories. He is the author of the celebrated biography of the late House speaker, "Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century."

While at The Post, Jack provided distinguished work as a magazine writer and investigative reporter. He wrote an eight-part series entitled "Utah: The Church State," and another eight-part series, The New Indian Wars, that took him and photographer Jim Richardson more than 35,000 miles to visit 21 tribes in 14 states. His work at The Post has won the Roy Howard Public Service Citation, the National Press Club Prize and the George Polk Award.

Before joining The Denver Post in 1982, Jack worked at The Baltimore News American, the Annapolis Evening Capital, and the Montgomery County Sentinel.

He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

Jack's knowledge, experience and leadership will boost our report out of Washington. It is a bonus that he is familiar with Denver, Colorado and the West, in general.

Please welcome Jack back to The Denver Post on May 12.

Greg Moore