End of an era: Dapper O'Neil dies

Anyway the guy is perfectly representative of the old Boston that no one needs and made it difficult to get anything done for the rest of us. Miss him I shall not.

Yeah, I think TuPacky O'Neil

By parker posey
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 11:36am

Yeah, I think TuPacky O'Neil has a much better ring to it. A Boston politician being from Boston! Blasphemy!

I remember a promo he did

By Flip
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 10:39am

I remember a promo he did for WBCN years ago: "Hi, this is Dapper O'Neil and your station sucks!"

I heard an old story once that Dapper did standouts at the Bourne rotary back in the day since so many of his constituents went down there on the summer weekends. No idea if that is true and I'm inclined to think it isn't but still a pretty good story either way,

RIP Dapper

By bostnkid
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 1:30pm

THis guy was old school boston at its best and worst.He would go to a hundred wakes a week in his heyday.He wasnt politically correct and he didnt care if you were. He was real. Crusty, but real.Rest in peace Mr.O'Neil.

Dap reminisces

By bob
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 3:20pm

on howie carr's show today, 3-4 and 6-7.
pretty good stuff.

Just a "middle-school bully"

By Bos-tonio
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 4:43pm

O'Neil was a frightened little man who covered up his terror of all things different with false bravado. Yes, he was politically skilled, but he never learned how to act like a grown-up. Instead of employing the pragmatism and inclusiveness of effective public servants, he acted like the quintessential middle-school bully--and any brick knows that bullies are scared little boys inside. Undeniably, Mr. O'Neil was an outstanding representative of his kind--but sadly this was to the exclusion and detriment of most everyone else. In the end, the social fabric of Boston changed dramatically, and for the better, and O'Neil, though he tried his hardest to, was powerless to stop it.

He was what?

By bob
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 7:28pm

An "outstanding representative of his kind" ? ? ?

Meaning exactly what? And if I said the same
thing about Mel King, or Chuck Turner, that would
make me what....let me guess...uhm, hmm. Yeah,
a racist.

Thanks buddy. It's crap like your post that
O'Neil dined off of for years. He turned it
into reliable re-election for 14 terms. You
helped him win more elections than you can guess.

Had my differences with him. But as the last
link to a Boston that featured characters like
Curley, Honey Fitz, and Freddy Langone, I'll raise
a respectul pint to him on his way out. Guess that
makes me one of his kind.

Umm, yeah Bob, he was...

By Bos-tonio
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 10:05pm

...a racist. A politician of any stripe, be they a Turner, a King, or an O'Neil, who is only capable of representing their own, is a waste. At the end of the day, we all have to learn how to get along. Many of O'Neil's fellow social conservatives had far greater gifts for collaborative politics, and thus made far greater contributions to the healing of racial strife in the mid to late seventies. This while O'Neil spent all his time grandstanding. As I said in my first post, Boston finally did start to change for the better. Eventually it became clear that O'Neil was a weed that needed to be plucked.

Boston has a very colorful political history, but the days of Curley and Honey Fitz, for which you get misty-eyed, were dark days for a substantial segment of the Greater Boston population.

Talk about representing your own.......

By bostnkid
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 8:36am

Dianne Wilkerson's death should incite some intersting posts.Oh and by the way, this is not a threat Dianne.No need to spend your tax money on extra security from me and my kind.

Wilkerson may be a convicted felon

By adamg
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 9:11am

But where is the evidence she's a racist?

????

By bostnkid
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 9:50am

Where did I imply she was a racist? My point is that she is a controversial black politician that seems to be loved within the black community but not so much to the rest of the city.

Seems that way to you, but...

By Bos-tonio
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 10:55am

This white guy loves her!

Why We Have Elections

By Suldog
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 4:26pm

When you're elected, you're elected to represent the people who voted for you. You are NOT required to represent those who didn't vote for you and who think that you suck. That's why we have elections. If every elected person was supposed to represent everybody, with no exceptions, then there would be no need for elections whatsoever.

Dapper represented the people who voted for him. Whatever the reasons they voted for him - good, bad, or viciously racist - he repped for them, and they kept re-electing him, so he must have been doing what they considered to be a good job.

You can denounce his brand of politics, or his views on whatever subject you care, but he did exactly what he was elected to do. Would that there were more politicians, with whom I agree, who would stand up for MY principles the way Dapper stood up for those of his constituents.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

Same Goes For Wilkerson Or Any Non-White Politician

By Suldog
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 4:27pm

That should go without saying, but I'd rather say it now than have to explain that part of it later when someone totally misreads me.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

I gotta say it's awful that

By jaycee
Fri, 12/21/2007 - 11:41am

I gotta say it's awful that Wilkerson ended up being just as crooked as everyone else. As a black woman she's automatically held to higher standards than everyone else, yet proved she also thought herself above the law. *sigh*

Wicked well said!

By bob
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 4:39pm

Amen.

Raises hand

By BStu
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 9:35am

Um, Chuck Turner DOES represent a lot of white folks in Boston. Though I've never lived in his district, I'd certainly vote for him if I did. I think he shovel his damn sidewalk, but I think he is an extremely valuable voice on the city council and I'm very much glad he's there.

I also fail to see what qualifies Mel King as a racist. I'd have voted for him over Ray Flynn in a second. He's been a powerful and positive influence on this city.

Its a grave mistake to confuse activism for the black community with a reactionary defense of a white majority. They aren't comparable activities.

Chuck Turner, an "extremely valuable voice"

By bob
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 9:55am

Yeah. He's great. When he's not
shoveling his sidewalk he has plenty
of time to hold press conferences
accusing American soldiers of
sexually assaulting Iraqi's. And
offering images from a porn site as
proof:

http://www.camerairaq.com/2004/05/the_boston_glob....

And what I was attempting to say was that
splitting by "kind" as the original
poster did played right into the worst kind
of politics that Dapper was a master of.
Throw him a "those old white irish pols"
insult and it was good enough material to carry
all of Ward 20.

Yes, he is.

By BStu
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 10:35am

I don't agree with everything he's ever said or done. But I'm glad we have an agitator and a radical on the city council. All the city council really does is grandstand. That's fine. Any council member worth being there will have said something stupid at some point. The notion that he only works for "his own" though is patently absurd. He clearly considers himself a voice for the oppressed, but he also defines oppressed more broadly than simply "black people from my district". The notion that his actions are comparable to racial isolationism is simply unfounded.

Yep--a voice for the oppressed

By bob
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 11:05am

You got me there. Those imaginary Iraqi woman
being sexually assaulted by imaginary American
soldiers were certainly oppressed and
outside his district. And he was all over that.

Of course, the real-live neighbors risking their
lives on his uncleared sidewalk are inconveniently
in his district.

One trick pony

By BStu
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 11:55am

You might have a point if that is the only thing Chuck Turner ever did. Alas, it isn't, and as such you don't have anything to say. He made a mistake. So has most politicians. A politician who doesn't make mistakes is a politician who isn't working.

Its quite a pony whose one trick is beating a dead horse.

Taxes are just so much for other people, like snow shovelling!

By bob
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 1:35pm

You want more? How about getting into deep doodoo with the feds, the state, and the CITY OF BOSTON for non-payment of taxes--including property taxes on the house in Roxbury?

boston.com/news/local/...fell_behind_on_bills/

Chuck was right

By Focus
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 3:17pm

the photos may have been wrong but the fact is soldiers where/are raping women in Iraq not just Iraqi citizens but other women in the US armed forces lets not turn a blind eye to that...

cnn.com/...soldiers.charged/index.html

guardian.co.uk/Iraq/...00.html

you my friend where obviously missing the point...

By the way hope its not to hot in hell for Dapper. And you can count me as a non African-American who know that both Chuck and Mel King are far from racist..

The truth

By adamg
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 4:55pm

If a reporter had done what Chuck and his pal Kambon did, he'd have been banned from every newsroom in the country (what you're arguing is like saying what Janet Cooke had done was morally acceptable because, hey, there really are poor kids in this country even if she made one of them up). I'd hope our elected officials would be held to at least the same standards of veracity as reporters (Why, hello there, Mr. Romney). And never mind the question of why a Boston city councilor is using city resources (in this case, a City Hall conference room) to fight the war in Iraq.

adamg

By Focus
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 9:25pm

not sure if you actually remember what happened. I was at the press conference, Councilor Turner never said that these photos where real, he said he had no way to make sure of that and what he was doing was bringing the photos to the media so that they could do their job and find out, I love how after a couple of years these stories just straight up change... so yes Turner thought they where real, BUT yes he was asking the media to verify if they where real or not.

"The following day, May 11, Boston City Councilor Charles Turner and race activist Sadiki Kambon held a press conference to exhibit several graphic photos and >>>>>urge the media to determine whether or not they depicted actual crimes<<<<< committed by American troops. Among organizations represented were the Globe, the Boston Herald and the Associated Press. Neither the Herald nor AP ran stories about the press conference, either to promote the photos or shoot them down as a hoax as would have been possible given the May 4 WND story. The Globe?s Donovan Slack, apparently under pressure from her editors, wrote up a brief story about the press conference that ran in print the following day, May 12, along with a photo from the briefing. That uncensored photo depicted scenes of hard core pornography that Turner and Kambon had shown to the press. Though the story explained that the Turner images were unverified, the photo that accompanied the story lent credence to them."

Yes, I remember that

By adamg
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 10:00pm

And I remember the Globe falling for it completely. I also remember thinking how completely disingenous it was of Turner to show these photos at a press conference and ask the media to do his work for him: If he's not sure, why is he showing them at a press conference?

Right...I have some photos of Turner shovelling his sidewalk

By bob
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 10:02pm

Not sure if they are real...am planning to call
a press conference tomorrow to show them
to the local media. Will make inflammatory
accusations and then ask the media to verify
that it's Turner working the shovel and not
Jenna Jameson.

The turnip truck must be making the rounds
locally this week.

Turner and Sadiki are low-rent grifters

By bob
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 9:52pm

No surprise there.

But the scary thing was how fast the Boston
Globe rose to the bait, and ran it as NEWS on page
two, porn photos and all! The AP and UPI
walked away from it while our friends on Morrissey
Blvd said: "Yeah--fits our opinion. Run it as as news."

Paging Marty Baron....

That's about the time hat I began to think
that buying the Herald daily was not a bad idea.

Bob said...

By Bos-tonio
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 10:53am

Throw him a "those old white irish pols"
insult and it was good enough material to carry
all of Ward 20.

Yes, it was good enough--until it wasn't. O'Neil, for a time, was the dust that slipped under the broom, and then he was gone. New decade, new century, new millennium...better Boston.

Remembering O'Neil

By adamg
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 4:49pm

Peter Kadzis at the Phoenix profiles the city councilor:

Former Boston City Councilor Albert "Dapper" O'Neil began his career as a political joke, and he ended it as a municipal embarrassment. But along the way, he won the affections of legions of blue-collar Bostonians by tirelessly defending their interests. ...

Well, if by "blue collar," he means "blue collar white people born in the city" ...

I'm Not Surprised

By Bostonmaggie
Wed, 12/19/2007 - 7:34pm

by the attitude displayed here in the comments. Dapper was not a middle-of-the-road guy. No one was ever lukewarm on him. You were in or you were out. You loved him and viewed him as an old rascal or you hated him and viewed him as an enemy.

The thing of it is.....most politicians have agendas that are very similar to Dapper's. They run for office and promise constituents loyalty and services. Then they get elected and try to *slip* things through. They try not to be obvious. Dapper didn't *slip* or *hide*. If he promised you something, you got it. He made no bones about it. He was in your face. I'd like to think that even if Dapper were on the other side of issues I favored, that I would still respect that strength of character.

But, I'll never know. I agreed with him on busing, and funding cops and firefighters and most of his conservative stands.

On the other hand, however,

By independentminded
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 9:38am

" Dapper didn't *slip* or *hide*. If he promised you something, you got it. He made no bones about it. He was in your face. I'd like to think that even if Dapper were on the other side of issues I favored, that I would still respect that strength of character."

The above-mentioned quote from your post says it all, bostonmaggie. Dapper O'Neil was very much in one's face about his stands on things--the old-fashioned way to be. As much as I disagreed with his stands on most things (one doesn't have to be a Boston resident to form an opinion on this), Albert "Dapper" O'Neil was far less dangerous than many of today's politicians are, precisely because he was blunt-spoken and one knew exactly where he stood on issues.

Many of today's politicians, including our President and (former) Bay State Governor Mitt Romney are "wolves in sheep's clothing", precisely because they were so sleek, smooth and suave and tried not to be obvious, and, therefore, many people didn't see the real thing until it was too late, and ended up getting shafted.

Now wait just a bleepin' minute here...

By Bos-tonio
Thu, 12/20/2007 - 11:06am

George Bush is not sleek, smooth or suave! ;-)

No.

By independentminded
Fri, 12/21/2007 - 12:26pm

"George Bush is not sleek, smooth or suave! ;-)"

Unlike Dubya, the son, George H. W. Bush Sr., however, was definitely sleek, smooth and suave.

I still remember the 2004 Presidential debate(s) when John Kerry, who was then running as the Democratic Presidential Candidate, poked holes in everything that Dubya had to say, and, though Baby Bush was clearly on the verge of cracking up over it, couldn't/wouldn't see that. Plus, at the time of 9/11, when he was reading a story to a bunch of first-grade kids down in Florida, when somebody came and told him that the country, including the Pentagon, was under attack, G. W. (Dubya) was like a deer that had been caught in a car's headlights: he seemed not to have a clue as to what was happening. Whatever sleek, smooth and suave veneer that "Baby" Bush had has since crumbled.

End of an era: Dapper O'Neil dies

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