Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The "Save My Campaign Funds" Petition

Last week in this space, I ridiculed the suggestion that one of the nine at-large city council candidates should remove himself from the race, to save the city from a preliminary election required to trim the field to eight. Thankfully, the city council has come up with a more egalitarian solution. A home-rule petition being introduced by at-large councilor Steve Murphy, along with council president Maureen Feeney and outgoing district councilor Jerry McDermott, would allow the city to skip the prelim altogether this year, and place all nine candidates on the final November ballot.

Quite reasonable, and would save the city an estimated half-million bucks to boot if the council passes it and the state legislature OKs it.

But there is a slightly seamy side to this. Murph, after all, is directly affected by the change. It will mean that he does not have to spend campaign money on the preliminary election. It also theoretically deprives the most formidable challenger, John Connolly, from an opportunity to use a strong prelim showing to boost his campaign. (Not that it worked that way for him last time out.) I guess I would prefer to see the petition pass on the votes of the nine district councilors, and have the four at-large incumbents abstain.

That's a minor qualm, I'll confess. On the other hand, the change would also deny political journalists like myself the usual round of jawboning over the preliminary results, which come conveniently at a time when we usually have very little to talk about. Does nobody stop to consider the effect on us?

7/10/2007 1:41:11 PM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [6] |

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 6:13:45 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

district 1
1. salvatore lamattina
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc.asp?id_name=LaMattina
Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov
Salvatore.LaMattina at cityofboston.gov

district 2
2. bill linehan
http://www.billlinehanforcitycouncil.com/
Bill.Linehan@cityofboston.gov
Bill.Linehan at cityofboston.gov

district 3
3. maureen feeney
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc.asp?id_name=Feeney
Maureen.Feeney@cityofboston.gov
Maureen.Feeney at cityofboston.gov

4. michael cote web ?...
mike_j_cote@yahoo.com
mike_j_cote at yahoo.com

district 4
5. charles yancey
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc.asp?id_name=Yancey
Charles.Yancey@cityofboston.gov
Charles.Yancey at cityofboston.gov

6. j.r. rucker email ?... web ?...

district 5
7. rob consalvo
http://www.robconsalvo.com/
rob.consalvo@ci.boston.ma.us
rob.consalvo at ci.boston.ma.us

district 6
8. john tobin
http://www.votejohntobin.com
john@votejohntobin.com
john at votejohntobin.com

district 7
9. althea garrison
http://www.geocities.com/votealthea/
wilshak14@comcast.net
wilshak14 at comcast.net

10. chuck turner
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc.asp?id_name=Turner
Chuck.Turner@cityofboston.gov
Chuck.Turner at cityofboston.gov

11. carlos henriquez email ?...
http://www.myspace.com/voteforcarlos

district 8
12. michael ross
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc.asp?id_name=Ross
Michael.Ross@cityofboston.gov
Michael.Ross at cityofboston.gov

district 9
13. timothy scofield email ?... web ?...
14. gregory glennon email ?... web ?...
15. james joseph jenner email ?... web ?...
16. alesandro selvig
http://www.alexselvig.com/
Info@AlexSELVIG.com
Info at AlexSELVIG.com

17. rosie hanlon email ?... web ?...
18. mark ciommo email ?... web ?...

at large
19. michael flaherty
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc.asp?id_name=Flaherty
Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov
Michael.F.Flaherty at cityofboston.gov

20. john connolly
http://www.connollyforcouncil.com/
info@connollyforboston.com
info at connollyforboston.com

21. sam yoon
http://www.samyoon.com/
sam@samyoon.com
sam at samyoon.com

22. felix arroyo
http://felixarroyo.com/
Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov
Felix.Arroyo at cityofboston.gov

23. mathew geary email ?... web ?...
24. david wyatt email ?... web ?...
25. stephen murphey
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc.asp?id_name=Murphy
Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov
Stephen.Murphy at cityofboston.gov

26. william estrada email ?... web ?...
27. martin hogan
http://www.votemartyhogan.blogspot.com/
mhog516@comcast.net
mhog516 at comcast.net

Council candidates. web, email.

Friday, July 13, 2007 2:28:02 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

I believe it will hurt Connolly's chance of a strong showing. It will hurt voter turn-out across the city even in district races. I think it is a conflict of interest for an incumbent to propose this. I would be more comfortable with it being a ballot question.

This is definitely the opposite of progressive !

Carlos Henriquez

Friday, July 27, 2007 10:31:26 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Marty Hogan's correct web address is www.votemartyhogan.info.

John

Saturday, July 28, 2007 10:12:38 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

www.voteforcarlos.com

POPS

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 1:06:14 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

It looks like there will be a preliminary after all. After getting past my nomination signatures being challenged, I am pleased to announce that I will be on the ballot on September 25th. Please check out my website, www.votemartyhogan.info to see my platforms for better education, for more public safety and more efficent public services to strengthen our communities and better Boston. Please consider me for one of your 4 votes for City Council at Large. If you are interesting in volunteering, I can be reached best by email at marty@votemartyhogan.info or at 617-412-9822. Thank you.

Marty Hogan

Friday, August 31, 2007 2:04:33 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

VOTE NOVEMBER 6!

Shame on the City of Boston and on the State Election Department as well. Turns out as of July 26, only 10 Days after the City Council submitted the Home Rule petition to the House/Senate, Deval signed it. The funny thing is, no one had the courtesy to tell the public or even the candidates until late August. (Check out info in the Bulletin Newpapers for coverage.) Supposedly it's because everyone vacations in the summer and no one would notice anyways, but wouldn't you think they would want to drum up some support considering it's an off year, leading to already low voter turnout and districts 7 and 9 will each have primaries on September 25? It is the repsonsibility of the news media and the politicians to be up front with the people. Keep this in mind when you vote November 6. Thanks.

Marty Hogan

Comments are closed.