He’s now made it official: former Boston city councilor Michael Flaherty wants his old job back. Actually, he doesn’t really want his old job at all. He wants the job that he had to give up his old job in order to pursue. But he figures he needs his old job in order to again take a shot at the new job he really wants.
It feels a little like a Boston politics version of Groundhog Day, but this one will not be repeating the same scenes exactly as they’ve played before. More than a decade ago, the now 42-year-old Flaherty was a young up-and-comer, a new breed of South Boston politician with crossover appeal in an increasingly racially diverse city. Vying for one of the four at-large council seats, Flaherty snuck in with a fourth-place finish. Fittingly, it was the city’s vestigial bigot, Dapper O’Neil, who was broomed out of office by Flaherty, underlining the generational shift in attitudes that Flaherty sought to link himself to.
Fast forward to 2009 and Flaherty, with a decade on the council, including several terms as its president, gives up his seat to mount an underdog challenge to the city’s Mayor-for-Life (once a tongue-in-cheek appellation but increasingly a title that Tom Menino seems to be taking literally). Two years after his thumping in the mayor’s race – and without a public perch from which to build support for another mayoral run – Flaherty says he’s eager to jump back into the job of city councilor.
Everyone knows this is about setting up another campaign for mayor, but the intrigue is focused for now on what his entry means for the dynamics of the at-large council race. With all four incumbents seeking reelection, someone will have to get bumped off the council in order for Flaherty to get back on it. This time, however, instead of a timeworn figure from the past looking like the most easily toppled incumbent, it is the council’s two, young minority at-large councilors, Felix Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley, both elected to first terms in 2009, who seem most vulnerable. That has put Flaherty on the defense, as some have said his candidacy threatens to undermine the new, more racially inclusive make-up of the council.
Flaherty has tried to turn the criticism on its head, saying he thought Boston was trying to leave behind an era when people focused on a candidate’s color and not their commitment to various issues. There is something off-putting about people taking umbrage at someone who wants to throw their hat in the ring for what has too often been a sleep-inducing council race with a dearth of quality candidates. The at-large council race is a strange animal. Candidates don’t officially run against each other – they vie for one of four citywide seats, with voters able to cast ballots for up to four candidates. But the reality is that a challenger must take out the council’s weakest vote-getter in order to secure a seat. So no matter what Flaherty says, the biggest threat his candidacy poses is probably to the council’s two minority at-large members.
–MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL
A Patriot Ledger editorial, citing a CommonWealth story on clerk-magistrates in the current issue, calls on legislators to include the 82 appointed clerks and their assistants in the reform measure on probation and court officers.
Some senators are ducking on where they stand on municipal health care reform, the Salem News reports.
The Salem News, in an editorial, says Suzanne Bump is making clear that she was the right person for the state auditor’s job.
The Globe reported on Sunday that Attorney General Martha Coakley is investigating possible ethics law violations involving former treasurer Tim Cahill and ex-probation commissioner John O’Brien related to Cahill’s hiring of O’Brien family members and O’Brien’s fundraising efforts on behalf of Cahill’s gubernatorial campaign. The MetroWest Daily News supports Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposed reforms of the Probation Department over House Speaker DeLeo’s.
Evacuation Day: Still a thing, thanks to a House amendment.
Steven Topazio, former law partner of Sal DiMasi/non-loser of checkbook registers, is set to testify against the ex-House speaker today.
The Globe’s Adrian Walker steps in the ring for his shots at the punching bag that the Governor’s Council has become.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Voters in Hanover and Scituate narrowly approved Proposition 2-1/2 overrides on Saturday but Scituate residents sent a mixed message by also voting overwhelmingly in favor of a nonbinding question asking town government “to live within its means” and banning overrides for the next three years.
A Gloucester couple that cared for very troubled foster children is retiring and moving to Florida, leaving a hard-to-fill void in the city, the Gloucester Times reports.
An investigation by the Eagle-Tribune uncovers a cozy relationship between Lawrence politicians, particularly Mayor William Lantigua, and the owners of dangerous bars and clubs. Here’s a story on ties between other top officials and clubs, and a story on how the newspaper put together the stories.
Lowell City Manager Bernie Lynch is planning to cut school aid by $1 million in fiscal 2012, the Sun reports.
Former Lawrence City Councilor Jorge Gonzalez is arrested for allegedly shooting his handgun outside his home, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Mayor Tom Menino is taking on Comcast over its steady rate increases for Boston cable TV subscribers.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Sen. Scott Brown talks to Jon Keller about the death of Osama bin Laden and other issues but the interview was clearly taped much earlier in the week because Brown says “I’ve seen the pictures” of the dead body, an assertion that has since been proved false. Doug Rubin calls out Brown’s restrictive media policy as one of the main culprits sustaining the fake-photo story. Peter Gelzinis piles on.
Democrats learn gamesmanship from their ideological counterparts, propose slashing the deficit by eliminating tax breaks for big oil.
The feds have restarted their on-again, off-again crackdown on medical marijuana.
ELECTION 2012
Everybody loves The Hermanator, even more so after last week’s GOP debate. The Wall Street Journal sizes up the blunt-talking pizza kingpin.
Jon Huntsman makes his post-ambassadorship political debut.
Rich Republicans are not so enthralled by the current crop of presidential contenders, so they’re mostly sitting on the sidelines. The exception, the New York Times writes, is Mitt Romney’s deep finance team.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Personal bankruptcies, especially among the elderly, have risen to their highest level in Massachusetts since 2005.
EDUCATION
A new study of Harvard Business School finds an academic achievement gap between men and women, including men receiving proportionally more academic honors than women. The study also found similar results at eight other unnamed business schools. Via US News & World Report.
The Cape Cod Times urges continued support for a combined Dennis-Yarmouth school district despite grumblings from Yarmouth and a Proposition 2-1/2 override in the town next week.
A Springfield Republican report explores how the tragedies of Phoebe Prince and Carl Walker-Hoover fueled new laws and changed public attitudes toward bullying in schools.
A related editorial also urges adults to step up “to fight a culture of bullying.” But The Berkshire Eagle argues that the South Hadley students who tormented Prince got off too lightly, thus squandering the opportunity to send a strong message against harassment.
The Globe editorial page laments the dearth of Innovation Schools being sought under the new state education reform law, an issue CommonWealth spotlighted several months ago.
HEALTH CARE
A survey by the Massachusetts Medical Society finds no improvement in the shortage of primary care doctors and doctors in some specialities, WBUR reports. Bristol County lags in access to pediatricians and family physicians, according to the report.
HOUSING
The latest Fenway squeeze play is threatening affordable housing units in the neighborhood, the Globe reports.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Northeast Utilities will provide electric car charging stations in Springfield, Hadley, and eventually in Pittsfield, in addition to several locations in Connecticut.
Bourne residents will decide the fate of wind turbines in the town at a special town meeting.