Tom Menino blew off MassVOTE pretty good recently, by agreeing to exactly none of the three candidate forums the organization and its coalition partners were planning. Perhaps the mayor thought the partnering groups would slink away, making the forums seem insignificant, and his absence unnewsworthy.
Not so fast. MassVOTE has announced that Univision and the Metro Newspaper are on board, along with some 50 community organizations -- many representing minority groups (see below for the full list).
I'm not sure that in a "majority minority" city, Menino wants to have people talking about how he'll only do forums hosted by Jon Keller and Jim Braude (no offense to either), but not one airing on Univision and hosted by the Black Ministerial Alliance, City Life Vida Urbama, MIRA, NAACP, Oiste, Project R.I.G.H.T., and the Urban League.
Flaherty, McCrea, and Yoon have all agreed to participate in the MassVOTE forums. And all 15 candidates have agreed to participate in the at-large council forum. That leaves one mighty glaring exception.
The first of the coalition's mayoral forums is scheduled for September 3. We'll see whether hizzoner agrees to appear. Until then -- can anyone tell me how to say "Mayor McChicken" in espanol?
Forum Coalition Partners: Alpha
Kappa Alpha, Black Ministerial Alliance, Boston Preservation Alliance, Boston
Tenants Coalition, Boston Workers Alliance, Boston Parent Organization Network
(BPON), Chinese Progressive Association, City Life Vida Urbana, Codman NDC,
Commonwealth Seminar, Delta Sigma Theta Boston Alumne Chapter, Dudley Street
Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), East Boston Ecumenical Community Council
(EBECC), EmergeMA, Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association, Hyde Square Task
Force, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Massachusetts Affordable Housing
Alliance (MAHA), MassVOTE, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA),
NAACP, Neighbor to Neighbor, Oiste, One Massachusetts, Project R.I.G.H.T.,
RoxVote (Madison Park DC), Think Politics, Union of Minority Neighborhoods,
Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts
Forum Coalition Supporters: Access Strategies
Fund, Alternative for Community and Environment (ACE), Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), American Civil Liberties Union of
Massachusetts (ACLU), Asian Pacific American Agenda, Coalition (APAAC), Asian
Political Alliance, Association of Haitian Women, Boston Teachers Union,
Caribbean American Carnival Association of Boston (CACAB), Coalition For Social
Justice, Coalition of Color, Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO),
Greater Boston Parents & Families of Lesbians & Gays, Haitian-American
Public Health Initiative (HAPHI), Homes for Families, Jewish Alliance for Law
and Social Action (JALSA), Jamaica Plain CDC, La Alianza Hispana, League of
Women Voters, Massachusetts National Organization for Women (Mass NOW), Mass
Senior Action Council, Massachusetts Alliance for Adult Literacy, Massachusetts
Coalition for the Homeless, Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Pol. Caucus, Mighty
Mission Educational Program, NARAL Pro-Choice - Massachusetts, Northeastern's
Progressive Student Alliance, Providers' Council/CareVote, Public Policy
Institute, Sociedad Latina, Ten Point Coalition, The New Majority, Viet-Aid,
Viet-Vote, Ward 12 Democratic Committee, Ward 19 Democratic Committee
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