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Wu still has to answer for making Bill Linehan council president again
By adamg on Thu, 09/17/2015 - 10:59am
The Globe surveys continued progressive disenchantment with the freshman at-large councilor, running for re-election in November.
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Comments
The campaign for city council
The campaign for city council president is a big horse trade in council chambers. Aides run from one councilor's office to another promising this committee or that committee in exchange for their vote for council president. Not much else to it, unless you have a sitting mayor who you think won't finish their term.
They'd do more, but then
They'd do more, but then again, they make so little money.
I keep asking myself a question
"Why do people keep voting for Linehan?"
It has to be because the people of the district aren't upset enough to get out and vote. Nor are people angry enough to run anyone against Linehan.
When Linehan friend Scott Brown enters the 2016 race
and secures the presidency through pickup truck politics Linehan will get the last laugh as ambassador to Nepal. He won't need Wu or you!
She said she would reply to
She said she would reply to everyone's questions and concerns about her vote but this missive was left unaddressed and that cost her my vote.
Hello Councilor-Elect Wu,
Your support of Councilor Linehan's bid to become the next Boston City Council President has disheartened and discouraged me. It seems unfathomable that someone who just finished running on progressive principles would so quickly lend their support to someone who has a consistent track record like Linehan. Furthermore your analysis of the role of the City Council President is incomprehensible. This vote is the most important one you will take in your first (and maybe only) term and it seems you are doing so based on a false premise.
But it isn't to late. I urge you to consider what you are hearing from myself and others. You can make this right and start fulfilling the promise that so many saw in you. I fear that if you do not reverse course, you will be a lame duck before you are even sworn in. And that is very sad.
Best wishes to you personally through this trying and difficult time. I hope you rediscover your principles and convictions through this process.
Regards,
My conditional support for Michelle Wu
At the time, I thought Michelle Wu's vote for Bill Linehan for Council President was an odd choice for a person who ran on a progressive platform. I think my first reaction was holy shit she pulled a bait-and-switch. No one likes to be punked.
But as I've followed her work as city counselor, I've been impressed by her judgment and values, and her ability to see principles involved in an issue and decide correctly by which I mean, as I would decide. She has a keen mind, excellent training in thinking through issues (Harvard Law School grad) and a life experience that I think makes her likely to be able to relate to the issues her constituents face.
At the same time, I have seen no signs of that in Bill Linehan. His politics are old school. His interests are not always about the best policy but who gets the benefits.
I watched the city council's work throughout the Boston 2024 debate. We learned the host city agreement would bind Boston taxpayers to cover cost overruns and we knew that winning Olympic bids typically increased in cost almost 279%, on average, between the time of the bid is won and when the games start.
We knew there would be a push to have all Mass. taxpayers be liable for those costs (turns out it was going to almost a billion dollars for starters, according to a Cambridge consulting firm) and we knew they'd try to get a bill through Beacon Hill that pushed that risk onto all Mass taxpayers but already the Senate President had said he opposed public money for the event except transportation infrastructure.
What was demanded from city councilors at that moment was to examine the finances of the deal and quantify the financial risk that Marty Walsh's signature, along with City Council's appropriation, would place at the feet of taxpayers.
This is a fundamental function of the city counsel-- fiduciary responsibility.
Wu did an excellent job studying the city charter and recognizing that the charter might not permit what the host city agreement required, an appropriation of a blank check.
At the same time city council president Linehan could not have been more committed to moving the deal forward with little or no regard for studying the deal through hearings and foundational documents obtained from the mayor, Boston 2024, USOC and IOC. He planned four meetings and scheduled two. And when city councilor Jackson moved to summons information from Boston2024 winning bid which they had declined to provide, President Linehan invoked a rule to delay the summons. He used his power as a city councilor to obstruct the work that the council should have been doing.
I asked Wu about her vote for Linehan for president and she made an excellent point-- in his job as president, he runs the council well procedurally, aside from how he operates as a councilor with a vote on the measure. I will take her word on that.
I can't vote for or against Bill Linehan. If I could I wouldn't vote for him based on his irresponsible performance on Boston 2024. But Wu can vote for or against Bill Linehan. And I'd love to hear her say, she's reevaluated her choice for city council president and this year she's going in a new direction.
If that, I could vote for Wu with a clear conscience because she's good at what she does and we're lucky to have her.
I don't get why people don't understand politics
And I don't mean you. This post proves you get the process.
First, Wu needed to support whoever let her work on HER agenda. I'm sure she heard from all sides and was convinced that Linehan would let her try and accomplish what she set out to do.
Second, how the heck is Wu "progressive"? Did people read her very well written literature? She basically is pro-small business and streamlining government for both business and people. It is a great platform, but I cannot see it as either progressive or reactionary (or whatever)
I didn't vote for Wu based on traditional politics. I voted for her because she wanted to get things done. Her platform was ambitious, so not all was done, but if supporting Linehan helped her platform, she did the right thing.
Perhaps next January people will offer her more, since she proved she will put pragmatism over ideology.
A Council President for improving Council Communications.
The so called At-Large Councilor is the best bet for a new Council President that would improve Council Communications. Boston City Council Records Management is mismanaged by an appointed Central Staff without good knowledge of technologies/software for making all Public Documents available online in Searchable format accessible for hard of hearing folks, for the Deaf Community, for visually impaired folks, for all folks.
If one of the At-Large Councilors is replaced, who do you folks think might be the most likely incumbent replaced?...