He was the press assistant to Representative James Michael Shannon from 1979 to 1981 and the head research analyst for the Massachusetts Senate's joint committee on election laws from 1981 to 1984.

From 1991 to 1992, Meehan was the First Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County, where he established an innovative "priority prosecution" policy that targeted hardened criminals.

Atkins had a record of weak performances in Meehan's hometown of Lowell, only winning the city by 2 votes in his close-run 1990 re-election campaign.

[16] In January 2005, nearly three years after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime and as U.S. troops faced an "increasingly sophisticated insurgency in Iraq," Meehan published a Congressional white paper [17] advocating that Iraqi security responsibilities be transferred to a new democratically elected government and that the U.S. develop an exit strategy to remove troops within 12 months to 18 months.

He told the panel that "it's time for Congress to reassert its role in foreign policy and to take the lead in providing an exit strategy in Iraq."

[citation needed] An unidentified individual operating through the U.S. House of Representatives' internet connection made several favorable edits as well as removing statements declaring Meehan's original campaign platform that included a promise not to run for more than four terms.

[23] On May 9, 2007, Meehan delivered an official resignation statement to the Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), indicating that he would leave his post on 1 July 2007.

Deval Patrick (D-MA) announced a September 4 primary and an October 16 special election to determine Meehan's successor.

[19] During his years at UMass Lowell, the institution achieved record growth in enrollment, student retention and funding for research and scholarships.

[33] Under Meehan's leadership, UMass Lowell opened 10 new buildings over a five-year period, was named to the President's Higher Education Honor Roll for community service and campus engagement [34] for six years in a row and made a successful transition to NCAA Division I athletics.

[35] Meehan was presented with the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) 2014 President of the Year Award at the organization's 100th anniversary celebration and conference.

He was honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) at the annual District I program in 2012 with the Chief Executive Leadership Award.

[36][37] On April 5, 2017, University of Massachusetts Boston officials announced that Chancellor J. Keith Motley would resign at the end of the academic calendar year on June 30, take a one-year sabbatical, and return as a tenured faculty member.

[41][42][43] On April 8, 2017, at a UMass System Board of Trustees meeting, UMass Boston faculty and students protested decisions by university administration to cut offerings of courses (many required for graduation) in the upcoming summer semester,[44] as well as other programs and to make expense adjustments which reduced the deficit to approximately $6 million or $7 million.

[51] In May 2018, following the approval of the sale by the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey,[53] the UMass Boston Faculty Council passed a motion of no confidence in Meehan and the System Board of Trustees.

[57] In May 2019, the Pioneer Institute released a white paper co-authored by former Massachusetts State Representative Gregory W. Sullivan (who also served as the Massachusetts Inspector General) that reviewed records obtained from the UMass System Controller's Office (as well as other publicly available documents) that concluded that Chancellor Keith Motley and other UMass Boston administrators were scapegoated for the 2017 fiscal year $30 million budget deficit and that instead the approval by the System Board of Trustees of an accelerated 5-year capital spending plan in December 2014 without assuring that capital reserves would be made available to pay for the plan, as well as an error to a 5-year campus reserve ratio estimate prepared by the UMass Central Budget Office and presented to the System Board of Trustees in April 2016, was the cause of the $26 million in budget reductions implemented by interim Chancellor Barry Mills and that the reductions made at the direction of the UMass Central Office.

[58][59] Additionally, the white paper states that KPMG's 2017 audit was not conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards or reported in accordance with auditing standards prescribed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and that the purchase of Mount Ida College in April 2018 was conducted by a wire transfer from the UMass System for $75 million without being included on the previously approved university capital plan at the time the UMass Central Office ordered the budget reductions rather than UMass Amherst purchasing the Mount Ida campus with loanable funds to be repaid with interest (and in contrast to how the transaction was described in a press statement issued by Meehan's office).

[58][60] The following month, interim Chancellor Katherine Newman issued a press statement disputing the findings of the white paper.