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Connolly, Pressley pull a Floon
By adamg on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 9:50am
The Globe reports ticket topper John Connolly and cash-poor Ayanna Pressley have merged their campaign finances and begun campaigning together as they run for re-election for at-large City Council seats. For Pressley, the move means immediate resources; for Connolly, it means access to new constituencies should he ever run for another office.
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Comments
Politics aside, this
Politics aside, this cooperation has further implications. If you look at their campaign websites and their agendas, they mesh extremely well. Pressley focuses on women, children, and family issues; whereas Connolly focuses on the BPS. You cannot approach BPS in a vacuum: any "solutions" pertaining to BPS will not be successful without consideration of the families and children involved. This is a dyadic relationship with some great potential in a myriad of other realms too: youth violence, poverty, budgetary expenditures etc.
question
What is a Floon?? I'm assuming it's Flaherty/Yoon, but would appreciate any insight. Thanks!
Correct
The Flaherty/Yoon "ticket".
I think David Bernstein at the Phoenix first used the term.
However, while "Floon" only
However, while "Floon" only crossed the racial barrier, Press-Con crosses the racial and gender barriers.
Except this is people
Except this is people competing with each other for votes.
Don't we get more than one vote in the at-large contest?
I think they are suggesting we should vote for each of them.
4 from column A
7 on ballot. Pick up to 4.
Politicians don't do this to "cross barriers"
they do it to get re-elected.
Admittedly, cooperation by politicians is a popular notion but to be honest this is less about cooperation than cooption, specifically cooption of voters from each others bases.
"Joined campaigns" is a public sense, makes sense in cases where their politics are compatible. Anyone pitching this as a 1+1=perfect candidate is probably an advocate.
The question posed by this news is whether two incumbents can ride each others coat tails back into office.
Incumbents:
Challengers:
What power would they have,
What power would they have, if any, over the BPS?
Amazing
Color me cynical. What is it about this, exactly, that I am supposed to admire? The appalling lack of self-confidence by Pressley, who styles herself as a strong, modern woman of color, yet does not believe she can stand on her record, or her own two feet, in her very first re-election effort? What message does it send to young girls--and especially young non-white girls--when the paradigm of a "strong, modern woman of color" feels it necessary to engage in such blatant political parasitism? She can't get herself re-elected in a minority-majority city like Boston without the self-serving boosterism of a white, male, Irish-Catholic legacy candidate? And am I really supposed to believe that Connolly's agenda is anything BUT self-serving? Will his future re-election efforts all be so carefully considered as to produce racial and gender diversity among the at-large councilors? Will he be recruiting an Asian-American or Muslim candidate to run on his diversity ticket in 2011? Or is this simply the most transparent kind of old-school political opportunism dressed up in spiffy progressive finery? While I have heard rumors of this sort of thing for the past several months, to see it finally implemented--and so proudly announced as it was today--strikes me as a watershed moment in the cynical cesspool that is Boston and Massachusetts politics. A banner day for racially manipulative politics.
Here, here!
Par for the course, unfortunately. This deal is all style, no substance, and was designed solely to accomplish the one thing that it did accomplish: both of their mugs above the fold on the front page of the Sunday Globe. More free publicity for Ayanna, whom the Globe has been boosting for 3 years now.
I don't see it as
I don't see it as manipulative. She is very self-confident, but an elementary math education will clearly outlay the numbers and probability given voter turnout. Connolly topped the ballot citywide the last election, which is what Flaherty did for at least 6-8 of his 10 years in office. With only one term, she is still less of a household name and thus, linking with Connolly broadens that reach. Pretty straightforward strategy. No different than the Flaherty/Yoon attempt. What is manipulative is Flaherty running for city council when the whole city knows he's just going to begin running for mayor again on day one. just my thoughts.
hey now...
...keep yer floon-pulling constrained to the T ferchrissakes!!
Ayanna has no business on the
Ayanna has no business on the council. Murphy, Connolly, Flaherty and Arroyo are invested in the city. They were all raised in the city, worked in the city, and have family in the city. Murphy, Connolly, Flaherty and Arroyo deserve to be elected in 2011 to the Boston City Council because they truly care about the city and they all want what is best for the city even though they may disagree. Ayanna is from Chicago and to see her beat out Arroyo or Flaherty would be a disgrace.
She hasn't done anything substantial for the City of Boston. She has been known to attend events and no donate or try to sneak in without paying.
A lot of people are voting for her because she is a woman and a woman of color. This is not a valid reason to vote for someone. Connolly is using her to top the ticket. This is a tactic designed to keep Flaherty from "Topping the Ticket" because Flaherty is the biggest threat against Menino. I have supported Flaherty for City Council but I voted for Menino in 2009. I do think it is time for change in 2013 in the corner office.
Menino is helping out Ayanna behind the scenes as his people were ordered to work on her campaign. Menino has also ordered Pressley, Connolly, Murphy and Arroyo to run as a slate to keep Flaherty out of the city council because he will be a thorn in Mayor Menino's side.
Think about what has occurred in the past year. John Connolly wanted to be Council President and Menino wanted Rob Consalvo to be President and by default Steve Murphy was elected President of the City Council. Menino has a plan to pass the torch onto Consalvo after Mayor Menino is elected once again in 2013. This is going to happen because all these new city councilors have nothing to lose and will obey the Mayor because of fear of any backlash. They also know keeping Mayor Menino happy is in their best interest.
"IF YOU ARE NOT WITH THE MAYOR, YOU'RE AGAINST THE MAYOR"
Don't you think the voters of Boston should able to choose the next Mayor of Boston instead of it being handed to someone???
This will be the results of this year's election in 3 weeks!!!
Connolly
Pressley
Murphy
Arroyo
Flaherty
September 9. Suffolk Superior Court. Judge John Cratsley.
http://govinthelab.com/sunlight-weekly-roundup-bud...
> In 2005, the Boston City Council faced a lawsuit that revealed 11 deliberately secret council meetings with Boston Redevelopment Authority and Boston University officials in 2003-05. The meetings violated the state Open Meeting Law and the court fined the council $11,000. This week, Judge John Cratsley ruled that the Boston City Council no longer needed court monitored meetings to ensure they met the state’s Open Meeting Law. Crastley maintains, “There has been a positive change in the Council’s attitude toward and attention to the requirements of the Open Meeting Law.” Transparency advocate Shirley Kressel, the plaintiff in the case, is not convinced. She claims, “The loss is not ours. The loss is to the citizens as a whole.” For John Ruch’s take, read his post on The Mission Hill Gazette Blog.
http://missionhillgazette.com/2011/10/14/court-cou...
http://www.shirleykressel.com/MyWebsite/Transparen...
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/
Unrelated
Unrelated.