Mumbles, Don't go breaking my heart
By: Howie Carr
Say it aint so, Mumbles.
Say youre not quitting, please. OK, we noticed how bad you looked on City Hall Plaza with the circus, we heard about the meeting with your doctors Tuesday.
But this decision not to run really fries my nose, as youd say. Its already an Alcatraz around my neck. Who will warn us about suspicious bombs, information you glean from the BPDs intelligent unit?
Lets look at who might be the next mayor. The new front-runner appears to be Suffolk district attorney Dan Conley. Hes from Hyde Park, hes half-Italian, hes run citywide three times, he has something like $850,000 in his campaign war chest. And I repeat, hes Suffolks chief prosecutor.
Were looking at a lame-duck feeding frenzy that will make the California gold rush look like a Girl Scout bake sale. Every developer with a postage-stamp-sized lot downtown will want a permit for a skyscraper. Mumbles will be handing out liquor licenses in Readville as mementos of his five terms, suitable for framing or more likely instant transfer to Brighton or Quincy Market. The last time City Hall went through one of these lame-duck land rushes, Mayor Kevin White was grabbing lots by eminent domain and handing them off to developers.
Then theres the candidate already in the fight, John Connolly. They call him Lumpy in West Roxbury. He has almost 400 large. He wont make waves. He also wont make the runoff.
Rep. Marty Walsh of Dorchester now fills the seat Jim Brett had when he ran against Menino in 1993. Bretts base wasnt big enough then, and now Walsh has had to annex a Chinese precinct in Quincy across Marina Bay. He already makes close to $250,000, including his second job with the Boston Building Trades. Hes the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, where scandals go to die. What exactly do you like in that CV?
City Councilor Ayana Pressley is black, she topped the ticket in 2011 and shes not from here. Thats the good news. The bad news, she has maybe $20,000 in her campaign account. Good luck with that. Then theres Tito Jackson. Hes got, what, $31,000.
City Council President Steve Murphy, with $100,000, has only ever won a council seat. Rob Consalvo, aka Mini-Me, has more dough but no chance. Felix Arroyo is running for lieutenant governor.
You can describe this field with Mumbles own words a few knuckleheads.
Mumbles, dont leave us!
(2009)>>Flahertys designation of onetime mayoral opponent City Councilor Sam Yoon (who received this papers endorsement in the primary) as his would-be deputy mayor was a creative move. It was certainly politically savvy to tap into Yoons troops of Obama-style grassroots voters.
>>Flaherty has adopted Yoons idea to place an eight-year term limit on the mayoralty, thus tapping into the sense of many that no one should be able to be considered mayor for life. Menino had said in the past that he would serve only two terms. Things have obviously changed. If there is a fifth, will there be a sixth? (Come on, Mr. Mayor, this is Boston, not the Vatican.)
(Menino won 57 to 42 per cent)