NEWS ANALYSIS: Flaherty finds his niche
By Gintautas Dumcius
News Editor
May 11, 2011
Michael Flaherty walked into the Boston Elections Department
alone. Without fanfare, television cameras or an entourage, he
put pen to paper and joined the list of candidates vying for the
City Council’s four at-large seats.
His Monday morning trip into City Hall sets up a ballot royale
in an off-year election, with low turnout expected in most of
the city’s neighborhoods. All four incumbents -- Stephen
Murphy, John Connolly, Felix Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley --
are running for re-election and a number of potential
candidates, like Flaherty, have pulled nomination papers.
“We’ll take all 15 candidates in the same fashion,” was all
Murphy would say Tuesday on his way out of the building.
The total number of people who have applied for nomination
papers, at last count, is actually fourteen, and the list includes
plenty of familiar faces, incumbents aside. But Flaherty’s is the
most prominent, and the one that has been the focus of the
chatter inside the building Flaherty spent nearly a decade in as
a councillor at-large. Five of those years were spent as City
Council president.
Many of his former (and possibly future) colleagues remain
reluctant to talk about Flaherty’s candidacy publicly and some
in City Hall still thought as late as last week that Flaherty
wouldn’t pull the trigger on another at-large run.
But there he was on WGBH’s Greater Boston on Monday
night, telling host Emily Rooney that the City Council spends
too much time on “small ball” issues; and on FOX25 on
Tuesday morning, telling Gene Lavanchy he didn’t have any
regrets about unsuccessfully running for mayor in 2009. And,
on BNN-TV’s Neighborhood Network News, telling anchor
Chris Lovett that there’s a need for “an alternative point of
view on the council” to check the power and policies of the
Menino administration.
In interviews and in the four-page release he emailed out to
reporters on Sunday announcing his attempt to reclaim an at-
large seat, Flaherty, a former prosecutor, has reprised some of
the talking points and criticisms he leveled during his mayoral
run: parts of the city have become “shooting galleries,” the
school assignment policy needs to be revamped, and
development is stalled in Downtown Crossing, with the “huge
crater” where Filene’s basement once sat a symbol of that.
“We live in a democracy and he has every right to run again,”
said City Councillor Charles Yancey, who represents parts of
Dorchester and Mattapan and frequently clashed with Flaherty
during their time together on the council.
“If all the incumbents work very hard, they should be okay.
But Flaherty is a threat,” said Yancey.
Some political observers may be tempted to look at 2007 for
comparison purposes. That year, nine candidates ran and the
city cancelled the preliminary election. Many thought John
Connolly, who at the time was challenging four incumbents
and four other challengers, would take out Murphy. (That
thinking — that Murphy is a soft target among the
incumbents— is in currency among some Flaherty supporters
this year.) But it was Felix Arroyo the elder who lost, with just
13.6 percent of registered voters turning out. Connolly, who
topped the ticket in the 2009 at-large race, came in fourth in
2007, receiving 21,997 votes to the elder Arroyo’s 18,579
votes. In 2007, Flaherty was the ticket-topper.
There are, of course, several flaws with that analogy. The
dynamic of the City Council is different these days, with a
younger feel to it. The incumbents are growing into their jobs
and building stronger city-wide bases, observers say.
“None of the four incumbents are going to mail it in,” said one
City Hall insider.
Arroyo’s son, Felix G., who was elected in 2009, has more
money in his bank account now than his father did at roughly
the same point in time and recently wrapped up a tour of civic
associations in Dorchester that touted his various
accomplishments. The younger Arroyo, who once worked as
a union organizer for the powerhouse SEIU local based in
Dorchester, has built a particularly strong pitch to organized
labor groups.
Pressley, also elected in 2009, wasted little time gearing up her
campaign operation, holding fundraisers, volunteer meetings,
and hitting civic associations with a stump speech about her
own accomplishments.
Both Arroyo and Pressley were among the councillors who
bucked the mayor last year and pushed back against a plan to
close four libraries, while Connolly has hammered away on
issues like expired frozen food found in school cafeterias.
“Anybody can win, anybody can lose,” said state Rep. Marty
Walsh, a Dorchester Democrat and top union leader who is
backing Pressley and has backed Arroyo. “It’s hard to say
what the voting electorate will do.”
The swirl of the broader at-large field — and what impact each
candidate could have on the race— remains an open question.
Previously unsuccessful candidates for City Council At-Large,
like Kevin McCrea and Sean Ryan, have applied for nomination
papers. Potential newcomers include Will Dorcena of Hyde
Park and Kenneth Jervis of South Boston. If enough of them
(at least nine) make the ballot, it will necessitate a preliminary
election in September and longtime observers say that will aid
the incumbents, acting as a sort of early-warning system for
anyone “on the bubble.” That’s exactly what happened in
2003, after the elder Felix Arroyo finished fifth in the
preliminary and then surged into the top four on the wave of a
progressive rally to his cause. And of course, while their boss
may not be on the ballot this year, Mayor Thomas Menino’s
campaign team is unlikely to sit on the sidelines as their chief
rival — Flaherty— aims his fire at Menino as much as he does
the present City Council.
Whatever tack Flaherty takes strategically will also be a factor.
He could look to former City Councillor At-Large Mickey
Roache as an example. For Roache, a former police
commissioner who ran for mayor in 1993 and frequently had
high vote totals for at-large, it was all about name recognition,
a small organization and the loyalty of an ironclad South
Boston-Dorchester base.
The difference is, according to the City Hall insider, Roache
was an amiable councillor who wasn’t aggressive in his
criticisms of the council and the mayor. “He’s been tossing
bombs from left and right,” the insider said of Flaherty.
Seeking to head off questions about whether he is running to
get back on the council in order to slingshot into another
mayoral run in the future, Flaherty maintains he is focused on
his council run while not ruling out future runs for higher
office.
At the front desk of the Election Department’s basement
offices on Monday, Flaherty stood next to Jessica Taubner,
the campaign manager for Pressley who also has Flaherty’s
name on her resume. (She hopped on board his mayoral
campaign in 2009 after her original boss, Sam Yoon, lost the
mayoral preliminary and joined Flaherty on a ticket as “deputy
mayor.”)
Taubner was there to deliver over 1,100 signatures – potential
candidates need 1,500 certified signatures in order to make the
ballot – gathered on behalf of the Pressley campaign as
Flaherty was applying for nomination papers and start his
signature-gathering process.
Flaherty reached out and shook her hand. “Good luck,” he said.
More articles are available at the Reporter's website.
By Gintautas Dumcius
News Editor
May 11, 2011
Michael Flaherty walked into the Boston Elections Department
alone. Without fanfare, television cameras or an entourage, he
put pen to paper and joined the list of candidates vying for the
City Council’s four at-large seats.
His Monday morning trip into City Hall sets up a ballot royale
in an off-year election, with low turnout expected in most of
the city’s neighborhoods. All four incumbents -- Stephen
Murphy, John Connolly, Felix Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley --
are running for re-election and a number of potential
candidates, like Flaherty, have pulled nomination papers.
“We’ll take all 15 candidates in the same fashion,” was all
Murphy would say Tuesday on his way out of the building.
The total number of people who have applied for nomination
papers, at last count, is actually fourteen, and the list includes
plenty of familiar faces, incumbents aside. But Flaherty’s is the
most prominent, and the one that has been the focus of the
chatter inside the building Flaherty spent nearly a decade in as
a councillor at-large. Five of those years were spent as City
Council president.
Many of his former (and possibly future) colleagues remain
reluctant to talk about Flaherty’s candidacy publicly and some
in City Hall still thought as late as last week that Flaherty
wouldn’t pull the trigger on another at-large run.
But there he was on WGBH’s Greater Boston on Monday
night, telling host Emily Rooney that the City Council spends
too much time on “small ball” issues; and on FOX25 on
Tuesday morning, telling Gene Lavanchy he didn’t have any
regrets about unsuccessfully running for mayor in 2009. And,
on BNN-TV’s Neighborhood Network News, telling anchor
Chris Lovett that there’s a need for “an alternative point of
view on the council” to check the power and policies of the
Menino administration.
In interviews and in the four-page release he emailed out to
reporters on Sunday announcing his attempt to reclaim an at-
large seat, Flaherty, a former prosecutor, has reprised some of
the talking points and criticisms he leveled during his mayoral
run: parts of the city have become “shooting galleries,” the
school assignment policy needs to be revamped, and
development is stalled in Downtown Crossing, with the “huge
crater” where Filene’s basement once sat a symbol of that.
“We live in a democracy and he has every right to run again,”
said City Councillor Charles Yancey, who represents parts of
Dorchester and Mattapan and frequently clashed with Flaherty
during their time together on the council.
“If all the incumbents work very hard, they should be okay.
But Flaherty is a threat,” said Yancey.
Some political observers may be tempted to look at 2007 for
comparison purposes. That year, nine candidates ran and the
city cancelled the preliminary election. Many thought John
Connolly, who at the time was challenging four incumbents
and four other challengers, would take out Murphy. (That
thinking — that Murphy is a soft target among the
incumbents— is in currency among some Flaherty supporters
this year.) But it was Felix Arroyo the elder who lost, with just
13.6 percent of registered voters turning out. Connolly, who
topped the ticket in the 2009 at-large race, came in fourth in
2007, receiving 21,997 votes to the elder Arroyo’s 18,579
votes. In 2007, Flaherty was the ticket-topper.
There are, of course, several flaws with that analogy. The
dynamic of the City Council is different these days, with a
younger feel to it. The incumbents are growing into their jobs
and building stronger city-wide bases, observers say.
“None of the four incumbents are going to mail it in,” said one
City Hall insider.
Arroyo’s son, Felix G., who was elected in 2009, has more
money in his bank account now than his father did at roughly
the same point in time and recently wrapped up a tour of civic
associations in Dorchester that touted his various
accomplishments. The younger Arroyo, who once worked as
a union organizer for the powerhouse SEIU local based in
Dorchester, has built a particularly strong pitch to organized
labor groups.
Pressley, also elected in 2009, wasted little time gearing up her
campaign operation, holding fundraisers, volunteer meetings,
and hitting civic associations with a stump speech about her
own accomplishments.
Both Arroyo and Pressley were among the councillors who
bucked the mayor last year and pushed back against a plan to
close four libraries, while Connolly has hammered away on
issues like expired frozen food found in school cafeterias.
“Anybody can win, anybody can lose,” said state Rep. Marty
Walsh, a Dorchester Democrat and top union leader who is
backing Pressley and has backed Arroyo. “It’s hard to say
what the voting electorate will do.”
The swirl of the broader at-large field — and what impact each
candidate could have on the race— remains an open question.
Previously unsuccessful candidates for City Council At-Large,
like Kevin McCrea and Sean Ryan, have applied for nomination
papers. Potential newcomers include Will Dorcena of Hyde
Park and Kenneth Jervis of South Boston. If enough of them
(at least nine) make the ballot, it will necessitate a preliminary
election in September and longtime observers say that will aid
the incumbents, acting as a sort of early-warning system for
anyone “on the bubble.” That’s exactly what happened in
2003, after the elder Felix Arroyo finished fifth in the
preliminary and then surged into the top four on the wave of a
progressive rally to his cause. And of course, while their boss
may not be on the ballot this year, Mayor Thomas Menino’s
campaign team is unlikely to sit on the sidelines as their chief
rival — Flaherty— aims his fire at Menino as much as he does
the present City Council.
Whatever tack Flaherty takes strategically will also be a factor.
He could look to former City Councillor At-Large Mickey
Roache as an example. For Roache, a former police
commissioner who ran for mayor in 1993 and frequently had
high vote totals for at-large, it was all about name recognition,
a small organization and the loyalty of an ironclad South
Boston-Dorchester base.
The difference is, according to the City Hall insider, Roache
was an amiable councillor who wasn’t aggressive in his
criticisms of the council and the mayor. “He’s been tossing
bombs from left and right,” the insider said of Flaherty.
Seeking to head off questions about whether he is running to
get back on the council in order to slingshot into another
mayoral run in the future, Flaherty maintains he is focused on
his council run while not ruling out future runs for higher
office.
At the front desk of the Election Department’s basement
offices on Monday, Flaherty stood next to Jessica Taubner,
the campaign manager for Pressley who also has Flaherty’s
name on her resume. (She hopped on board his mayoral
campaign in 2009 after her original boss, Sam Yoon, lost the
mayoral preliminary and joined Flaherty on a ticket as “deputy
mayor.”)
Taubner was there to deliver over 1,100 signatures – potential
candidates need 1,500 certified signatures in order to make the
ballot – gathered on behalf of the Pressley campaign as
Flaherty was applying for nomination papers and start his
signature-gathering process.
Flaherty reached out and shook her hand. “Good luck,” he said.
More articles are available at the Reporter's website.
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