 Tuomey assumed a central role in the ensuing investigations, and, with fellow Aldermen E. Harrison Reed and William Tucker, shielded the dairies and turned the hearings into one-sided exercises designed to make dairy critics and established health authorities look ridiculous, even going to the extent of arguing that swill milk was actually as good or better for children than regular milk.With Reed and others, Tuomey successfully blocked any serious inquiry into the dairies and stymied calls for reform.For the rest of his career, he was caricatured as "Swill Milk" Tuomey.