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Now here's a surprise: Firefighters don't endorse Menino


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Comments

Is it common for unions to endorse candidates this early?

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Now that they have picked a candidate, they can go back to doing drugs.

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I've heard that a minuscule percentage of BFD firefighters have been found using drugs. Are you referring to that, or to something else?

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and to their refusal to submit to testing.

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The hallowed halls of UH took up this issue recently:

http://www.universalhub.com/node/22674#comment-69102

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Menino has not been an effective mayor. Problems still persist. I thought he did one thing that might help but in the end it didn't seem to do anything to improve things. During one SHORT period he drove around with the heads of city departments and just observed everything. The idea was, see what problems exist and then figure out a solution to fix them. I thought that would help but I never noticed any positive changes. What happened with that by the way?

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The fact that the firefighters endorse Flaherty works against him. Sure, he will get the firefighter vote, but that is in exchange for what? Menino has been pretty soft until recently with the police and firefighters, giving them really generous benefits that have been abused.
Im not voting for Menino, but the firefighters are backing Flaherty because they think he will give them even more benefits (and give them concessions not to do drugs on the job). That is not a reason for the rest of us to vote for him. If Flaherty wants anyone but city workers to vote for him, he needs to show that he has residents concerns before increasing city workers pension and benefits.

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So Flaherty is starting to pick up certain labor endorsements that complement his Southie base, Yoon has a natural base among progressives and communities of color, and Menino has the power of incumbency and a willingness to put the squeeze on folks to support him.

Ho hum. I'm still waiting for the candidate who best articulates an attractive platform for the city's overall economic and civic viability. With so much anxiety floating around, that candidate could build an appeal that cuts across the city's traditional tribal lines.

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Im not sure Yoon can just assume he has the support of all the communities of color just because he is Asian. During the primaries many asians and hispanics supported Hillary Clinton over Obama while the black base kept their support for him strong. He won in the end but it was based off of stradegy and getting enough progressives and middle class white voters to come to his side.

Many times minorities are actually at odds with each other if the stakes seem high because they feel that someone with a large support base with one population will deliver more perks to that population and leave out the other minority groups, many times they would much rather go with the person who doesnt have a strong backing from any minority group at all. Plus while they all have similar issues dear to their hearts, all the groups do not have the same values and the same issues. It would be dangerous to assume he has that support without proof.

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You imply that the firefighters are supporting Flaherty because they are white and live in Southie. Come on, next time you pass a firehouse or fire trck, take a look. Ninety-nine percent of these men and women are progressives that support the AFL-CIO. The IAFF is in the forefront of firefighter safety issues and the welfare of firefighter families. Many Boston firefighters are also people of color.

Since the last mayoral campaign when the union supported Menino, he is the one who continually acted contrary to the best interests of firefighters. He is using the mandatory testing issue as a red herring. The audacity of him to imply blame on the union members who maintain the trucks for the death of Lt. Kelly when he knew they did not work on brakes I think was the last straw.

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one can afford to be "progressive" when the pols kowtow to you and you have the 2nd most expensive department in the country ..

you can be so progressive, you'll even make repairs to the trucks yourself, rather than trained professionals, and if something goes wrong, it's someone else's fault.

nice

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Something went wrong alright. A good man died. There were 20 mechanics on the job doing all the repairs in 1980. They were laid off and never rehired. How do you get new windshield wipers on a truck if the firefighters don't do it themselves? Do you think that the guy who would allow 25 year old trucks on the street pay a contractor or rehire mechanics to do it--no way. It took this tragedy for him to act. Menino was well aware of the problems with the apparatus. His commissioner was told that there were problems. He did nothing, even when there were resources to do it! Thank God children or a trolley didn't end up under Ladder 26.

By the way, people of Boston are getting what they pay for. It may be expensive but there is no emergency the department can't handle. Look at how close your neighbor's house is and try to imagine how you would feel if it was burning and not enough help was there to protect it. There may be problems but look at departments like Philadelphia or Detroit that were decimated by budget cuts and you'll see the trail of death and property destruction that will result. The Boston Fire Department is one of the best in the country. Ask anyone in the business of putting fires out(not the bean counters)their opinion.

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In response to Shady and anon (not verified), I'm not sure we're totally disagreeing. Most viable candidates have natural constituencies; observing that Flaherty, Yoon, and Menino have them is not assuming that it will translate that way on Election Day. If you read the last line of my post, I'm suggesting that the right candidate could attract voters in ways that go beyond his/her natural constituencies. It has been done before (Deval Patrick and Andrea Cabral demonstrated so, and white candidates have been recipients of minority votes for decades), but my broader point is that no one has seized the public imagination.

As for diversity in public safety departments, those challenges have been well documented and are ongoing. For example, as of 2007 (if memory serves me right), the Boston Fire Department had less than 1/3 minority members in a city where slightly more than 1/2 of the residents are people of color -- with very little progress over the preceding decade despite repeated audits and recommendations critical of that record.

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What else - money. Hard to get a message out without money and if you don't control development (Mayor Menino), unions (so far at least Flaherty) and city employees (again Menino). Yoon had to tap into an ethnic base outside the city and McCrea is scratching and clawing - kind of a shame because the two candidates (Yoon and McCrea) with the real reform message are on the outside looking in while the old boy network circles the wagons.

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By definition are not most true reform candidates on the outside looking in? If they were on the inside they either wouldnt be reformists so they would not be looking for reforms, OR they would have accomplished the reforms already. Its a catch 22 for you

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It makes me sick when people start trash talking about Flaherty's relationship with the Boston Fire Department. What would you do without fire fighters when they save your house from burning down or even save your life. I notice they are usually the first ones there when you get into an accident. Enough already, He received their endorsement and is not in bed with them. Flaherty supports mandatory drug testing for Fire Fighters along with other city employees.

What about some real issues such as the real reason why Menino is closing Fire Stations and risking our very own lives. He is only punishing the fire fighters for endorsing Michael Flaherty and using this as a scare tactic for other unions to endorse him and not Flaherty. Read “A Tale of Two Cities- What Happens When Menino’s Firehouse is Browned Out?” at www.ChangeForBoston.org

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Good Morning COuncillor how are you today?

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