On March 18, 2007, at the annual St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in South Boston, Massachusetts politicians joked about it. Tom Menino said it was a good way to obtain a local aid package for the city, referring to the $1 million in "good faith money for homeland security" that Cartoon Network paid the city of Boston to avoid a lawsuit. Congressman Stephen Lynch joked that the Mooninites were part of a sleeper cell including SpongeBob SquarePants and Scrappy-Doo. State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill held up a picture of a Mooninite with Mitt Romney's face on it, saying "We had to blur out his real feelings about Massachusetts."