Michael Flaherty vs. the Gang of Four

Flaherty's a little off-target on lumping all the at-large folks together as lemmings.

BUT he's right that there's a Tommy Team — its mainly comprised of district councilors like Feeney (good riddance), Consalvo, LaMattina and Ciommo mainly— who vote as a block and can be counted on the do whatever they're told by the 5th floor.

Arroyo showed real backbone in standing up (along with Charles Yancey and Pressley too) to stop the libraries from being closed last year. They were successful because the state reps from the city also stood together first and forced the issue by threatening a loss in state funds for the BPL. Don't let Steve Murphy fool you— he did nothing to fight Menino on that one.

IF we had a council that was MORE independent and willing to stand up to the mayor as a unit with more frequency, we'd have better success. Because Menino (or whoever is mayor) would stop trying to bypass them all the time and start coming to them to get their input and eventually their support. Then, we'd have fewer policy fiascos, whether they be the libraries, community center or— most recently— the BPS and their awful succession of false starts and poor decisions from Latin Academy, school assignments and buses. These are all policies that Menino has engineered and because the council is weak he gets away with it.

Flaherty's right about that and that's why he's getting my vote. But I'll also be voting for Arroyo and Pressley because they DID show a willingness to stand up against the mayor when he was wrong. And he's been wrong a lot lately— the worst term, by far, of his time here. Time to send a message.

Avoid this faux conflict, cooked up by the media and incumbents present and past, by voting for challengers Sean Ryan and Will Dorcena. Let's hear from some new voices!

Mayor John Connolly? Mayor Rob Consalvo? Mayor Michael Flaherty?

You can vote for up to 4 At-Large Councilors on Novemeber 8th. People have the right to choose to vote the way they want. I wish these Councilor's would stand up against Mayor Menino.

In 2002, Steve Murphy was pressured by Menino to vote for Michael Flaherty for Council President but now that Flaherty has decided not to bow down to the Mayor everyone is going against him.

John Connolly is running for Mayor in 2 years but Michael Flaherty is the only person that could unseat the Mayor.

I have supported Flaherty for City Council but I voted for Menino in 2009. I do think it is time for change in 2013 in the corner office, no matter who it may be.

Menino is helping out Ayanna behind the scenes as his people were ordered to work on her campaign. Menino has also ordered Pressley, Connolly, Murphy and Arroyo to run as a slate to keep Flaherty out of the city council because he will be a thorn in Mayor Menino's side.

Think about what has occurred in the past year. John Connolly wanted to be Council President and Menino wanted Rob Consalvo to be President and by default Steve Murphy was elected President of the City Council. Mayor Menino has a plan to pass the torch onto his Godson Rob Consalvo after Mayor Menino is elected once again in 2013. This is going to happen because he will bribe the other councilors with favors, etc. All these new city councilors have nothing to lose and will obey the Mayor because of fear of any backlash. They also know keeping Mayor Menino happy is in their best interest.

"IF YOU ARE NOT WITH THE MAYOR, YOU'RE AGAINST THE MAYOR"

Don't you think the voters of Boston should able to choose the next Mayor of Boston instead of it being handed to someone???