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Does Maureen Feeney have another job lined up?
By adamg on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 10:09am
The Dorchester Reporter reports that Maureen Feeney has decided against seeking re-election to her District 3 City Council seat (Dorchester), which she's held for 17 years.
Her decision comes just as the city releases nomination papers for this fall's city-council elections. The Reporter provides a handy list of possible candidates for her seat.
David Bernstein surveys the changes on the council over the past few years.
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Comments
possible candidates
There are several people mentioned in the article, here's my take:
Since it appears that John O'Toole is both Feeney's and Menino's preferred candidate, Mike Mackan and Eileen Fenton will not be running. Michael Christopher is too young and just got a nice paying job. Phil Carver also has financial security and would not run against O'Toole. Catherine O'Neil is too prickly and has been out of the scene for too long. Ed Geary does not have much of a following.
I say it is O'Toole VS Galvin.
Bennett's gonna win.
Bennett's been out canvasing District 3 since November. He has been attending every civic association meeting for months, and all the senior homes. His face is plastered all over storefronts throughout the district, plus he starts out with a huge advantage in the race.
Bennett has organization from 2009 when he ran At-Large in addition to a startout base of over 2000 voters from District 3 who voted for him in 2009. Additionally, he lives smack right in the center of Adams Village.
Say what you want about Bennett and his flaws, but he's real, he's likable, and he's a campaign machine.
Yes, he's a very nice guy
But I thought one thing we learned from 2009 was that knocking on every door in the city doesn't guarantee you'll win.
Bennett?
Sorry I did not address him and Hogan in my prior post, but they have no chance.
Just because he tapes his push cards to everyone's door does not a viable candidate make.
He has no street cred in Dot. We like our pols to have done something for the community rather than deface it with bumper stickers on light poles, etc.
He has no organization, unless you count the few family members who abandoned his dispensing table at the Dot Chili Cook-Off 2 weeks ago.
And besides, he is a republican.
Who cares. The point is that people like Bennett
It's really easy to underestimate people. Every candidate is flawed. O'Toole's real estate business "Old Time Realty" is failing and Galvin gets Pedicures. But who cares.
The election is non-partisan and it won't be decided by who Menino or Flaherty supports because people are sick of both of them. They each drip antiquity and the past.
This election will be decided by which candidate has better issues and which candidate shakes more hands and looks more people in the eyes.
Bennett should've run
Bennett should've run at-large and if he's smart, he will shift gears and do just that. (Nomination papers come out today.) If Flaherty doesn't run, he'll probably come in fifth. That'll give him a real shot at moving up if Murph or someone else exits stage left. As it is now, Bennett is going to be an also-ran in D3. He's done leg-work in Dorchester so now he can move onto the rest of the city where he can actually make a splash in what is a very thin, unimpressive at-large field (beyond the four incumbents.)
Bennett's running for the right seat @ the right time
I disagree. Why run for an At-Large seat with the goal to finish 5th and lose. This is an open seat and Bennett enters the race with advantages over all other candidates. And Bennett can win.
Already, Bennett has a base of over 2000 votes in District 3 who came out to vote for him in 2009. If anyone thinks these same people aren't going to vote for him again is foolish. Think about how many more people support him.
Additionally, Bennett's been campaining for the last three years
so he comes into the election with the most name recognition.
Also on the question that Bennett won't win because he's a Pennsylvania farmboy is gibberish. It didn't hold back Ayanna Pressley from Chicago and Michael Ross from Gloucester. Maureen Feeney didn't grow up in the district she grew up near Franklin Park. Does it mean these three councilors are carpetbaggers b/c they represent constituencies and areas where they each weren't born in?
Keep dreaming
Maureen Feeney lived in District 3 for 20 years —and was deeply involved in the district and her parish —before running in 1993. She raised a family here and was the council aide for the guy who served before her.
Now take Doug Bennett, who moved onto Adams Street last fall and has absolutely no roots in the neighborhood. You used the word carpetbagger and it fits him to a tee.
Ayanna Pressley couldn't have won this district seat either because the field that would emerge — and is emerging for District 3- is homegrown talent with deep connections with the voters going back to grade school. People who've been involved in civic groups, building community centers, etc.
I wont speak to Ross because its a very different district with a lot of transplants. Maybe he should've made camp there. But of course there's no open seat there.
He's an opportunistic carpetbagger who heard the buzz the Feeney was setting sail.
As in any race, though, it's all about the field and this one now has several well-connected political veterans who'll each get more votes in one precinct then Bennett will get district wide. Plus, they didn't make the foolish mistake of insulting a 17 year-incumbent and her allies by publicly declaring against her four months ago! He and his Vespa will be bringing up the rear and out of the race come September.
Bennett read the tea leafs correctly & that's why he'll win
You are correct, Bennett read the tea leafs months and saw Feeney wasn't going to run. This speaks highly of Bennett's political instincts and skill.
Bennett unlike any other candidates in the field, chose to begin running when he first smelt blood and now he's positioned to win if he keeps running hard.
Your prediction about him getting blown away in all the precincts, I can't wait til your sh_ting yourself that next morning on September 28th.
Bennett
STEVE ALLEN....WALK AWAY FROM YOUR KEYBOARD!!! Bennett is a nutjob
Nice try, Bennett
.
Bennett -- same tired act
Dougie used to do this same crap over on Nantucket too. Talked himself up on boards by putting up his own supposedly "anonymous" posts of support. Problem was (and is) that his spellings and typos are so bad, that you always tell it was him. Here's the bottom line: he's a nutjob who was a 1-and-down selectman on Nantucket. He didn't run for re-election because he knew he'd get crushed. Now he's moved to Dot thinking he can pull the wool over voters eyes as he did on Nantucket. Won't happen. It didn't work on the Cape. It didn't work in the Boston City Council race in 2009 and it won't work now. He's a nice guy, but is totally full of SH*T (and himself). He has no real support
What about Marty Hogan?
I say this as somebody who lives in Roslindale and doesn't really have a clue about Dorchester politics.
Hogan is in same boat as
Hogan is in same boat as Bennett. Should be running at-large where in a short field he might actually get some play. The Dot natives will roll over him and Doug Bennett in District 3. No contest.
This just in: Deval Patrick
This just in: Deval Patrick has offered her the job of Commissioner of Horseshoes and Hay Scales, at $180,000 per.
Anti-Menino Vote
This will be a great opportunity to replace a Menino puppet. We are losing libraries, community centers, schools and families. My vote is against any candidate endorsed by the machine.
Will it matter who runs?
All of them seem to end up tools of the machine. It's like a little club over there - not a serious legislative body.
A new Staff Director for Boston City Council.
Boston City Council needs a new Staff Director that doesn't block access to public documents of the City Council and has up to date knowledge of technologies that make Council communications ever more accessible to all. The current City Council Staff Director is behind the times when is comes to assisting the public enquiring about Boston City Council's public documents and using the latest technologies and software to enhance access to City Council public records. By reassigning the current City Council Staff Director and appointing an up to date person with more advanced capabilities Boston City Council would be much improved as representative of the people http://anopenbostoncitycouncil.blogspot.com
Potential Candidates. Boston City Council.
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
[ updates, email John.Donovan at cityofboston.gov ]
PRELIMINARY MUNICIPAL ELECTION
SEPTEMBER 27, 2011
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES for COUNCILLOR-at-LARGE
Deshon Porter 39 Boylston Street Boston, Ma 02116
William B Feegbeh 251 Cambridge Street Allston, Ma 02134 857-237-6649
John R Connolly 12 Shaw Street West Roxbury, Ma 02132 617-635-3115 617-447-1302
Felix G Arroyo 93 Wachusett Street Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130 617-635-4205
Robert R. Frasca 440 Hanover Street Boston, Ma 02113 617-227-1533
Kenneth P Jervis 14 Burrill Place South Boston, Ma 02127 617-480-1123
Ayanna S. Pressley 1910 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester Ma 02124 617-635-4217
Will Dorcena 63 Gordon Avenue Hyde Park, Ma 02136 617-899-4076
PRELIMINARY MUNICIPAL ELECTION
SEPTEMBER 27, 2011
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES for DISTRICT CITY COUNCILLOR
DISTRICT ONE
Robert R. Frasca 440 Hanover Street Boston, Ma 02113 617-227-1533
Salvatore LaMattina 76 Montmorenci Avenue East Boston, Ma 02128 617-635-3200
DISTRICT TWO
Suzanne Lee 1 Nassau Street Boston, Ma 02111 617-566-9992 517-935-1211
Bill Linehan 128 G Street South Boston, Ma 02127 617-635-3203 617-224-6911
DISTRICT THREE
Doug Bennett 714 Adams Street Dorchester, Ma 02122 617-963-4213 `
Martin J Hogan 491 Ashmont Street Dorchester, Ma 02122 617-297-5771 `617-203-1791
Marydith E Tuitt 127 Fairmont Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-719-6813
John K O’Toole 114 Minot Street Dorchester, Ma 02122 617-201-7866 `617-287-9398
Robert P McDonagh 35 Auriga Street Dorchester, Ma 02122 617-839-9817
Henry C Paquin 26 Taft Street Dorchester, Ma 02125 617-792-3823
DISTRICT FOUR
Joseph A Jones Jr. 76 Bernard Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 857-221-1367
Charles Calvin Yancey 3 Hooper Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-635-3131
J R Rucker 103 Tonawanda Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-436-0815
DISTRICT FIVE
Rob Consalvo 18A Chittick Road Hyde Park, Ma 02136 617-361-5733 617-828-0129
DISTRICT SIX
Matt O’Malley 226 Jamaicaway Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130 617-935-9752 617-635-4220
PRELIMINARY MUNICIPAL ELECTION
SEPTEMBER 27, 2011
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES for DISTRICT CITY COUNCILLOR
DISTRICT SEVEN
Althea Garrison 98 Howard Avenue Dorchester, Ma 02125 617-407-7661
Tito Jackson 37 Schuyler Street Dorchester, Ma 02121 617-442-2837 617-635-3510
David James Wyatt 62 Weaver Court Roxbury, Ma 02119 617-442-4191 617-492-3076
Roy Owens 6 Woodville Street Roxbury, Ma 02119 617-541-4335
DISTRICT EIGHT
DISTRICT NINE
Mark S Ciommo 10 Oliva Road Brighton, Ma 02135 617-789-4693 617-635-3113
Mike Christopher
Word on the street is that Mike Christopher from Savin Hill, currently serving in the Executive Office of Public Safety is running for the District 3 seat...he used to work for Marty Walsh..I wouldn't be surprised if he catches fire.
The Puppet Master - Mayor For Life
The election is going to be interesting. The field of candidate is diverse which is great for democracy. The more people in the race the better off the voters will be. Voters need to be cognoscente of the Menino machine. He has half of the Council in his pocket. He is able to manipulate the council when he has enough people in it. I would shy away from anyone he or Maureen endorses. For a healthy government the council should be independent of the executive office . Don't get me wrong the mayor has done some great things in the city but sometimes the council needs to be able to put the breaks on. Their job is to be independent thinkers not just puppets.
Doug Bennett is an extremely motivated individual and has a fire in his belly. That is something I have the utmost respect for. He wants to get out and meet the voters. He has had experience before as an elected official as well. What concerns me though is that he lacks the time in the district to truly know what the issues are. The other issue I am very worried about is that he was removed from his position as a chair in Nantucket by the other selectmen because Doug did not know the laws well enough after being there for some time. Hmm... that in my eyes does not bode well.
Marty Hogan albeit not a Dorchester native is from the city of Boston which I like. He may have grown up in Southie but he is familiar with the way we Bostonians think. I do like that he has been here for a number of years and has been involved in the community working with the Dot Day parade for a number of years. I heard him speak the other night at our civic association. I must admit that I agreed with a lot of what he was saying. Hogan may not be a smooth talker like Flaherty but he represents the common man. I liked that he spoke to us not over us. Ironically he even asked us to give Maureen who was there a round of applause recognizing her years of service. Even though he did not agree with her politics he was a class act in my eyes.
What I do admire about Hogan and Bennett is that they had the guts to run against Maureen. The other candidates who just announced, O’Toole and Galvin, would not take on the big dog. They were afraid to make any waves. Is that how they will be in the council when the mayor barks at them? Will they do what is right for the voters or will they cower to the whims of the mayor for life? Doug and Marty both were not afraid to stand up and say that they were not happy with the status qou in city hall. Even if they do not win I have great respect for them for taking a risk and standing up for what they both believed in. I'll be casting my vote for one of these two hoping something might change!