For Boston City Council, New Members Haven't Led To More Independence, Influence (David S Bernstein, WGBH News: July 19, 2017)

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello Everyone,

Interesting article.

I have often said that if members were interested in restoring the stature of the Boston City Council, that they start acting like an elected body rather than an appointed one.

Tony D'Isidoro

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When the new Boston City Council is sworn in next January, it will have entirely flipped membership in the span of a decade—and a remarkable nine of 13 seats will have changed hands just since 2013.

Or, to put it another way, most of the councilors will have never served on the council under any mayor other than Marty Walsh.

There’s definitely a new-look Council — more racially diverse, more gender-equal, more progressive.

But, back in 2013, there was a lot of hope that the end of Tom Menino’s reign, and an influx of new councilors, would usher in a bold, independent Council with greater influence and presence. So far, it would be hard to declare that mission accomplished.

The new-look aspect is undeniable, and it’s taken hold with almost shocking speed since 2009, when Ayanna Pressley became the first minority female ever elected to the Council. Today she is joined by Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell, while black women are running strong campaigns in two of the three open district seats.

Meanwhile, Josh Zakim, Annissa George, and Matt O’Malley are certainly not typical old-school Boston pols, either ideologically or stylistically.

Those changes surely make a difference. There is less sense of back-room wheeling and dealing, and more open debate over issues — it seems unlikely that shenanigans such as the noxious redistricting process of 2011 could happen today. Fewer councilors seem firmly ensconced under the mayor’s thumb, which might be a reflection of the difference between Walsh and Tom Menino, as much as the councilors themselves.

And, as one city hall staffer, who did not want to be named discussing council business, says, the new mix of councilors has meant regular airing of issues that rarely got raised in the past, including mental health, trauma, sex trafficking, and income disparities.

But, individual councilors rarely buck the mayor. Tito Jackson, who is leaving the council to run against Walsh, cast the only dissenting vote on the mayor’s budget this year.

And councilors remain almost totally unknown, and ignored, by most of the city. They rarely get their names in the papers. They spend much of their time processing picayune resident complaints more appropriate for city department staffers. And it’s been a while since city council served as a step up to a coveted higher office or appointment.

All of that continues a trend ongoing since the creation of district council seats in the early 1980s. Since then, the significance of the role has dwindled in stature.

That was brought home by Walsh’s victory in the 2013 mayoral race, over a handful of councilors — all of whom have landed in the “where are they now” file just four years later. John Connolly has withdrawn from the political scene. Mike Ross practices law and contributes occasional op-eds to the Boston Globe. Charles Yancey was defeated for re-election to the Council, and Felix Arroyo and Rob Consalvo both work for Walsh.

Sitting councilors have also failed in recent years reaching for other elected office: Sal LaMattina for register of probate, Stephen Murphy for state treasurer, and Ross for Congress. (Murphy won a register of deeds race in 2016 after losing re-election to the Council.)

So far, Jackson’s attempt at mayor looks headed for a similar fate.

Jackson’s mayoral campaign opens up a third district council seat on the ballot this November. Two distinctly old guard councilors — Bill Linehan of South Boston, and LaMattina of East Boston — are also not running for re-election.

Linehan’s District 2 looks, on the surface, like an old guard/new guard battle: Ed Flynn, son of the former mayor, has the backing of the Southie establishment, while Mike Kelley, an openly gay South End resident, has the backing of many progressives.

Likewise, the District 1 race to succeed LaMattina has a tempting old guard/new guard storyline. The North End’s Stephen Passacantilli is a jack-of-all-trades adviser to Marty Walsh, and scion of the legendary Langone political family. Lydia Edwards of East Boston, by contrast, is a black woman known for representing minorities and unions.

Neither race is really as simple as those descriptions suggest. Flynn and Passacantilli both come across more as bridges forward to the new Boston than backward to the old. Kelley was a long-time Tom Menino aid, and is getting campaign help from some key cogs in that old political machine. Edwards won East Boston outright in her campaign for state senate last year, and has been endorsed for city council by the man who beat her in that race, Joe Boncore. Those are hardly outsider credentials.

In other words, if the “new guard” candidates win, don’t expect any huge shakeup.

On the other hand, as one political activist who did not want to be named talking about the candidates and who supports both Passacantilli and Flynn concedes: “If you get Frederick Langone’s grandson and Ray Flynn’s son in there, it’s hard to say that things have changed.”

It’s harder to get a good read on Roxbury’s District 7, where 12 candidates are running. Among the strongest candidates are Kim Janey, senior project director for Massachusetts Advocates for Children, and Deeqo Jibril, executive director of the Somali Community and Cultural Association.

Regardless of who wins, suffice to say that there won’t be a return to the old guard minority representation typified by Chuck Turner, who held the District 7 seat before Jackson, and Charles Yancey, who was defeated by Campbell two years ago. But, they might also not stir things up the way Jackson currently is.

Meanwhile, the real sign of complacency may be the races that aren’t happening.

As has increasingly been the case, city councilors — even before they’ve built up much of a history on the council — tend to get a pretty free ride to re-election.

The four at-large councilors are getting what appears to be only token challenges this year, and the same is true for two of the six district councilors who are running for re-election. The other four — Campbell, O’Malley, Frank Baker, and Tim McCarthy — are unopposed.