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Election roundup: Janey gets the Wakanda vote
By adamg on Wed, 08/11/2021 - 11:00am
WGBH reports Dianne Wilkerson's Wakanda II project is backing Kim Janey in her bid to stay in the mayor's office come Jan. 1.
The group's goal is to coalesce around a single Black candidate; that they picked Janey shouldn't be all that much of a surprise given an effort earlier in the year to try to get Andrea Campbell to drop out of the race, even though she started running when it looked like one of her opponents would be Marty Walsh, not Kim Janey.
Also backing Janey: Former City Councilor, one-time mayoral candidate and current potrepreneur Tito Jackson.
But don't tell that to Chynah Tyler. The Roxbury state rep today endorsed Campbell (former state Rep. Marie St. Fleur and former Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral had earlier endorsed Campbell).
Meanwhile, Michelle Wu and a number of local restaurateurs say it's time for Boston to get New Yorkish and require proof of vaccination at certain public gathering spots, such as restaurants. Janey, of course, is resistant. Annissa Essaibi George is no fan, either.
John Barros wants to use some of that sweet federal infrastructure money to electrify the Fairmount Line and increase service to bring it on par with the T's subway lines.
Jamaica Plain News talks to the three candidates for the District 6 (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and Mission Hill) seat Matt O'Malley is giving up - Kendra Hicks, Mary Tamer and Winnie Eke - about development and the idea of an elected school committee. Then the site talks to them some more about police reform, exam schools and bicycles.
Several neighborhood associations are sponsoring an in-person forum for the gazillion, well, 17, candidates for the four at-large seats on the City Council, starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Hyde Park Muni, 1179 River St.
The Scope interviews James "Reggie" Colimon and Erin Murphy, who are each running for one of those four seats.
Angelina "Angie" Camacho, running for the District 7 (Roxbury) seat Janey is giving up, reports she's been endorsed by the Boston Teachers Union, the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, the Greater Boston Labor Council, IBEW Local 2222, the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus and the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women.
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Comments
Dianne Wilkerson's endorsement
is that a good thing???
Zero Shame
For all of you who call for the immediate vaporization of any public employee / public official on the take, a lot of people, especially at the Globe, look the other way on Ms. Stuffherbrawithbribe.
How she even is allowed a forum is beyond me.
If Tommy Finneran or Sal DiMasi started throwing around endorsements there would be seizures on this board.
Go away Dianne.
PS - I guess Kim really, really doesn't want the job based on her decision making / statements over the past week. Has she noticed her School Super is not qualified legally to run a school system and her lawyers in the Exam School case, the top item on the Super's agenda, are "forgetful"?
The reality is this....
Most black community leaders and insiders very much like her.
Also, this isn't a "Dianne Wilkerson endorsement" there are a few hundred people involved.
Black people, in general, have long since moved on from her past transgressions. White people have not. Take it for what it is.
A Thief Is A Thief
I don't care if her name was Margaret Colleen Siobhan O'Farrell and her granny and my granny grew up the next cottage over from each other in Skibbereen, a thief is a thief.
Stop trying to mask her transgression through the prism of race. She was elected from a district that was plenty diverse from a racial and economic standpoint and she decided to violate the public trust for her own selfish self interest.
She did
She made a mistake and has repented and most people who actually have any experience with her have forgiven her. She continues to do good things for the community. She's very connected and she constantly offers to use her connections to help people. Pretty much any time people talk on the listservs and group texts in Roxbury about bureaucratic issues, she'll quickly offer her assistance in explaining government/legal aspects and will offer to make calls to help people out.
What do you do for the Roxbury community exactly?
He reflexively hates
Everything you said is true and some people out there are very mad the black community won't banish her in perpetuity like they did. Oh well *big shrug*, we moved on. A long time ago.
She s in the community all the time, she doesn't hold public office. We do not care.
What Do I Do For Roxbury Exactly?
I try to warn the locals about Displacers from outside of Boston moving into the area and driving up rents despite what the Displacers think of their own "best" intentions for the area.
I also try to warn them about corrupt politicians who stuff hundreds of dollars into their undergarments.
It wasn’t a single mistake
The bribery sting was what got her convicted, but in the years running up to that she stiffed creditors and otherwise had financial improprieties. She was also pretty famous for responding “gimme money” to anyone who wanted to meet with her to discuss policy or governance or vision for the city’s future.
Being not corrupt is table stakes if you want to play in politics.
WIlkerson sucks
"In 2010, Wilkerson pleaded guilty to eight counts of attempted extortion. But today she insists that she was set up by the feds.
“There's absolutely no question that that's what happened. The feds never denied it.”
But does she regret her own actions?
“I would say yes,” said Wilkerson. “But I don't know what I could have done, like I did not expect [the informant] to bring cash and I couldn't walk down the street with it in my fist. It was out of caution as opposed to subterfuge. Like, I didn't even have an envelope.”
When your complaint about your bribery conviction is that the logistics of dealing with cash are hard, please stay retired from public life. Like, you don't HAVE to take the cash offered to 'entrap' you.
It's funny on a basic level that the concept in 'Black Panther' of who gets to lead Wakanda is an open trial by combat to any challengers but this organization has the stated goal of preventing any challenge to the pre-selected leader by a cabal of insiders.
Wrong
Wilkerson did a lot of good work for her constituents. She shouldn't have taken that money, but she definitely was set up by the feds. Some might say targeted.
I wonder, do the feds publicize a list of politicians who didn't take the money when they were set up? Would your favorite politician escape a fed trap? When a powerful organization like the FBI sets out to do something it probably isn't often that they fail. That Wilkerson took the money says a lot more about the power of the FBI than it does about her fitness to serve as a politician.
Ok buddy
So again, why not just say no to when offered the money? It's not hard to not commit this kind of crime. We're not talking about going 55mph in 50 and getting a ticket.
Tom Finneran and Sal DiMasi did a lot of good for their constituents too - that's not remotely relevant to the question.
Her reputation precedes her
OK, so let’s take the bribery sting off the table for a minute. Long before the bribery sting, I was hearing all sorts of people saying that she was a liar and a weasel. I have no direct knowledge, but this came from a lot of different quarters and wasn’t any kind of organized smear campaign.
When your complaint about
As much as both Wilkerson and Chuck Turner blatantly violated the letter of the law in accepting cash bribes, myself I think it's important to to appreciate that neither one seemed to hold a Trump-like motivation of scheming to use elected office to make themselves money. The tragic flaw in both of them was an inability to keep up with paperwork. One look at Wilkerson's desk or Chuck Turner's crappy car makes that clear. Chuck Turner's campaign was already in debt to him for around $100k at the time when he got pinched. He could easily have logged the campaign donation and used the funds to pay himself back, if he was inclined to fill out the paperwork.
Which is precisely why…
Which is precisely why gamblers, or people who “can’t keep up with their paperwork” or people with a history of defaulting on loans, generally don’t get security clearances. They are vulnerable
You have a point but…
You have a point, but I wince seeing them lumped together. Flaws and all, there is something fundamentally noble about Chuck Turner and his life of service. And Chuck Turner was not, by anybody’s estimation, an asshole.
Its not a 'Dianne Wilkerson endorsement'
They poll ~500 black voters in Boston and then announce the endorsement.
WAKANDA I got Rachael Rollin's support in the black community back in 2018.
Chynah Tyler is a mess
https://www.baystatebanner.com/2021/05/26/caucus-struggles-without-agenda/
Anyone but George
If someone was printing “Anyone but George” signs I’d proudly display one in my Roslindale yard.
She’s the righteous defender of the status quo that Boston doesn’t need.
- she pulls favors for her run-of-the-mill slumlord husband then gives bullshit excuses pretending she didn’t know what she was doing.
- she wants more useless cops and defends their wasteful and abused overtime guarantee
- she takes brave stances on tough subjects like education — you get a do-nothing taskforce, and you get a do-nothing taskforce!
- she winks and nods to anti-vaxers (“mandates are too tough!”) and Westie whites (the exam school discussion was rushed; don’t mess with the exam schools, fix all the other schools!)
Oh, she’s like you to know that she lives in Dorchester! How charming. Don’t check too closely though, you might see that she’s in a $1.5 million home.
Like segregation, no accountability for public servants, a racist system for allocating school spots and sweet deals for rich developers? George is your candidate, support her with pride.
My big fear
Is that we get Janey vs. EAG vs Janey vs Wu or Campbell. That would the same crap sandwich as Walsh vs. Jackson.
I mean, ideally we'd get Wu vs. Campbell but Janey is too powerful to not get out of the first round.
My favorite may be when her mortgage went into foreclosure.
And she was sitting on some committee that oversaw banks. She claimed that she hadn't paid the mortgage in months because the bill fell behind her dresser.
Wakanda Forever!