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City-council insta-reaction
By adamg on Tue, 09/27/2005 - 10:04pm
Whites may now make up a minority of the city's population, but you wouldn't know it from the finalists in Tuesday's vote: Of the eight people advancing to the final election in November, six are white Irish Catholics (citywide results). Granted, one of them, Matt O'Malley, ran Andrea Cabral's successful campaign for sheriff last year, but still, diversity won't be a hallmark of the next crop of at-large councilors - if the current lineup holds, we'll wind up with three Irish Catholics and one Hispanic (in other words, status quo).
But incumbent Stephen Murphy, whose platform seems to consist of pleading with voters to return him to office because it's all he knows how to do, could be vulnerable to newcomer Sam Yoon, especially if the latter manages to convince disappointed Kevin McCrea voters that he really will be a change agent.
Although incumbent Michael Flaherty topped the ticket, he didn't really do so incredibly convincingly, so it'll be interesting to see if any issues awaken the vast majority of Bostonians who didn't vote today.
Edward Flynn, son of the former mayor and likely the only public anti-abortion candidate in the race, got more votes than I would have expected. If he can get the far-right supporters of Althea Garrison and rabid anti-gay, anti-abortion perennial also-ran Roy Owens (8,000+ votes between them), could we see a new Dapper O'Neil on the city council? And isn't it a shame he and Patricia White (daughter of Boston's other living former mayor) aren't competing head to head?
OK, so what issues can we expect? Property taxes? Neighborhood schools? What issues will you be considering when deciding whom to vote for?
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Comments
Different Look at it...
Two of the top 5 finishers were minorities, and Arroyo finished a huge second and clearly will challenge Flaherty to top the ticket in November. So I don't think your view on lack of minority influence or candidates is necessarily that accurate. Consider that the other minority candidates (Garrison and Owens) were really fringe. So the two serious minority candidates finished top 5 and both have an excellent shot to get on the Council. If anything, the bigger concern is lack of a female in the top 5, or in the race for that matter other than Patricia White. That's much more alarming since women make up over half our population regardless of their race. At least, that's my take on it.
But either way, the results in this preliminary do not necessarily mean very much. The turnout in November will at least double this. That will likely spell major trouble for Steve Murphy and will also likely help Arroyo and Yoon. The two wild cards are White and O'Malley. With White, you could see a serious push by the Globe and/or womens' groups to get her on there to represent the female point of view. With O'Malley, he still has the rare ability to be a candidate who can appeal both to West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain for example, two different constituencies on the whole. O'Malley needs to attack Yoon and make the case as himself being the next in line liberal, but be careful to not alienate his neighborhood base in West Roxbury and Roslindale. In any case, spots 3 through 7 are tight and you could easily see two different #3 and 4 finishers come November.
The more things change....
The more they stay the same. How disappointing. The eight finalists: Flaherty, Connolly, Murphy, White, O'Malley, Flynn, and two others. Where are we? Dublin?
The more things change
Ever think if we went back to old time Boston politics things might actually be an improvement? Maybe there would be jobs. Major construction could be getting done my us locals, not locals from New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Look at company names and addresses on the sides of trucks at major work sites around Boston sometime. Yeah, neputism is illegal, but it kept the jobs local.
Irish politics isn't all bad. City services may not have been perfect but they were a lot better than they have been under some of our current leaders.
Just because someone is White and Irish doesn't mean they are bad. It seems like if you are White and Irish in Boston now a days, you have to constantly appologize for it, or you have to talk and act black, if you don't want to be hated. I for one am not going to appologize for being White and Irish and liking my politicians to be the same. A lot of my friends are minority, But I'll take old time Irish politics any day.
The city has a non-white
The city has a non-white majority population, but hardly a non-white majority electorate.
vote with your head, not your heart!
I think its sad that in order for leadership and better management of the city that the city needs to have the same racial makeup as the city's population - to me that says quota and that you don't care who the person is as long as the color of their skin is right or they have a ethnic last name.
The thing is many of the so called "Unity Team" are against the mainstream and put forth ultra liberal postions that could not be economically financed. But of course this is Boston where its not whether you are a democrat, its how liberal are you. Of course the team unity has like George Bush gone to one side of the radical spectrum to court voters who naturally gravitate to their feel good policies that would destroy the economic engine of the city. They have no idea about what things costs or about bringing people together. They just think that by blaming everything on George Bush that they should be elected.....let's get real.
It may be hard, but look for the mainstream politicians who are trying to balance the views of all the citizens in Boston while also doing what is achieveable and practical. One such politico, is Michael Flaherty who is progressive as the day is long (pro-gay marriage, pro-labor, pro-choice, etc.) who also believes in development and progress to keep the residents of Boston employed. However he is consistently branded a racist because he is from South Boston by "Team Unity."
Just my thoughts....vote with your head, not your heart!