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Menino, Flaherty split Jamaica Plain ward votes; neither wins endorsement
By adamg on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 10:25am
Challenger Michael Flaherty took the Ward 11 Democratic Committee vote last night 11-10, while incumbent Tom Menino got a 14-12 vote in Ward 19, which also includes part of Roslindale. Neither, however, won a formal endorsement because rules require a two-thirds vote for that.
Ed. note: I took down an earlier blog post on the votes because it had a couple of serious inaccuracies.
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Comments
Thanks Adam
Thanks for the clarification Adam.
Is Menino Still Pitching a Shutout?
To the best of my knowledge (please correct me if I'm wrong) Menino has won a handful of these ward endorsements and not a single ward committee has endorsed Flaherty. Maybe someone can provide the full list.
Not a shut-out
I don't have a list, but even if Flaherty hasn't gotten any ward committee endorsements, it still wouldn't be a Menino shut-out. He'd need all the endorsements for that. A ward committee's not endorsing a 16-year incumbent isn't a win for the incumbent because they didn't endorse the other guy either.
one could argue
That these vote lines prove the theory that Yoon's voters are following in his footsteps to the Flaherty/Yoon ticket. I would love to know if that is true or not? These wards make up JP and some of Rosi, where Yoon did quite well.
Unfortunately for the
Unfortunately for the communities, the members of ward committees do not have to be held accountable to the voters. There were plenty of young engaged voters at the candidate forum yesterday who were actually standing and cheering for the Mayor when it was his time to speak.
Without exaggeration, there was not a single clap uttered for Flaherty.
These young individuals then approached the ward committee members to ask how to get involved and were told the rosters had been set -- so I think it's difficult to understand how the process of picking ward committee members goes and whether or not they have an ear on the community, or if they're just pushing their own agenda.
Ward committee members are elected
They are on the Presidential primary ballot every 4 years. (Disclosure: I'm an elected member of the Ward 6 Democratic Committee in Somerville.)
Thanks! But when I spoke to
Thanks! But when I spoke to committee members last night it sounded like they had solidified their roster in June of this year for this election -- so I'm not sure if the same rules apply! I'm definitely going to look into it!
Not this year
The ward committees are elected during the presidential primary.
Sometimes there are vacancies during the 4-year term, in which case the committees can recruit and appoint new members to fill them. Also, sometimes fewer people run for these committees than there are seats to be filled. But it sounds like neither of these cases applied in your ward.
Yes, do
Yes, do look into it. I can try to clarify a little -- Ward committees are elected at the same time as the presidential primaries. Most (all?) committees also have a provision for electing associate members at any time along the way during the four years to the next ballot. Associate members are elected by the ward committee members themselves, and eligibility would likely require something like attending a certain number of meetings and, of course, being a registered member of that committee's party. That's to encourage new members to get involved more often than every four years.
The roster referred to above has to do with a requirement that ward committees establish who its voting membership is for the purposes of making endorsements several months prior to the actual endorsement. That could be the state democratic party's rule, or it could be a secretary of state rule -- not sure. (Howard L. would know.) But it's to prevent a campaign from packing a ward committee with new associate members for the sole purpose of swaying that particular vote.
Does that help?
The Easiest Way...
The easiest way to become a part of your local Ward Committee is to find out where and when the meetings are held and go to them. If you show up regularly and not just when there's a hot issue you can very quickly become a part of the group.
Bad news for the Menino Machine
Pretty bad that Menino can't even get the local ward committees to back him. He is a 16 year incumbent.
Pretty bad?
JP? Really?
Talk to me about doing poorly when he loses in Ward 18.
Ward Commitee Endorsements
Menino has the endorsement of:
Ward 4 - South End/Fenway
Ward 5 - Back Bay/Beacon Hill/Bay Village/West Fens
Wards 15 and 16 - Dorchester
Ward 22 - Brighton
I think there's one more as well ...
Ward Committees vary from neighborhood to neighborhood in terms of orgnaization. Ward 5, for example does a lot of followthrough in terms of poll workers, etc. Others give their endorsement in the hope the campaigns will utilize it.
I think Ward Committees are more effective with Council at large endorsements and down ballot state offices when people are looking for guidance and information, as opposed to President, Senate, Gov, Mayor. To that end, the Ward 19 Dems endorsed Ayanna Pressley, Felix Arroyo and John Connolly. After multiple ballots, neither Steve Murphy or Tito Jackson could muster a 2/3 majority.
Finally, to Francesca's point, you don't need to score in every inning to pitch a shutout. :)
Thanks Howard
Fair enough, Howard -- sports metaphors are not necessarily my thing, so I appreciate the schooling. However, I do stand by my assertion that you can't really claim a victory because the other guy didn't win, either. And saying that the Mayor wasn't completely upset by Flaherty, only merely blocked, and trying to spin that positively for the Mayor is a bit of a stretch, wouldn't you agree?
Anyway, any idea how many/which ward committees haven't endorsed in this race yet, or are not planning to endorse?
I would argue ....
That's it's nice to have a Ward Committee endorsement, that some Ward Committee endorsements are better than others and that at this point in the election everyone is going to try to spin everything to their advantage. I don't think there's a ward in the city that one cannot win even without Ward Committee backing, if the candidacy is strong enough.
I know that Ward 21 is meeting tonight, not sure of any others, but it is getting late in the season. I'm not sure if you were with us last night when someone brought up their admiration for Ward 5's early endorsement process, which gives them time to back up their support (others argue that the race may not take shape til late). I mentioned that Ward 19 once endorsed early to give JP resident Frank Jones a boost, but it's been a while since we've done that.
Best,
H
Well played.
Well played Howard.
I think when you look at
I think when you look at this race, the question is:
Has Flaherty offered any proof that he can run the city as well or better than Mayor Menino?
The fact that he can not get any Ward Committee endorsements means that he has not convinced enough Bostonians that he has the capability to successfully execute the duties of Mayor.
Menino is a strong Mayor who has a record of fighting to improve the lives of all residents in this city and the trajectory of Boston's development across multiple areas is one of steady, consistent growth and improvement. Flaherty would have needed to prove that he's bringing something to the table, and just he hasn't done that.
Ward 13 reports ....
That they endorsed the Mayor as well.
Flaherty still trying to catch up with Menino
While this may not be a win for Menino it certainly shows that Flaherty is far away from being competitive with Menino. He has still yet to secure an endorsement from any of the City's wards.
No, it actually is bad news for the Mayor
If you're familiar with Ward Committees, who tends to be on them and how they tend to vote, any incumbent not getting the endorsement of a Ward Committee is not good news for the incumbent. Especially a long-time incumbent. And especially if that Ward Committee has endorsed that same person in the past. It shows that support is diminishing for the incumbent, at least on that particular Ward Committee.
It may or may not show if the challenger is competitive -- candidates certainly win elections without Ward Committee endorsements -- I couldn't tell you how often, but it's not unusual. To arrive at some idea, you might look at how often an individual Ward Committee's endorsed candidate has won over some period of time.
That point would carry
That point would carry weight if Ward Committees were made up of the same people every time -- then you could actually say that individual people were changing their minds -- but in Wards 19 and 11, the people on the committee change, this last roster was only set in June of this year -- it doesn't necessarily hold the same people who endorsed Menino in the past.
I'm still looking for a game-changer from Flaherty.
Look at the roster
I'm a Ward 11 member, and I know many Ward 19 members. The membership changes, but not hugely year to year. It is many of the same people who were in a position to make a mayoral endorsement four years ago. The roster was set in June -- that only means that any members added to the ward committee after June were not eligible to vote in this endorsement round. That's all it means -- there was no turnover of membership at that time. Many people stay on ward committees for decades.
I think we've had decent turnover since 2005
I'd have to go back and check, but a number of current members became active after the 2004 election and in conjunction with the 2006 Patrick campaign and 2006 and 2008 Chang Diaz campaigns, maybe as many as a dozen people. We've also gradually increased our membership numbers to the maximum allowed and welcome associates who participate in our activities. Associates are often elevated to full membership as vacancies occur.
BTW - check out Josh Dawson's post on Blue Mass Group re: Senate forum for Second Suffolk. It's something that people from all local campaigns and committees supported, but looks like we're not going to get them on stage in our area.
I think we've had decent turnover since 2005
I'd have to go back and check, but a number of current members became active after the 2004 election and in conjunction with the 2006 Patrick campaign and 2006 and 2008 Chang Diaz campaigns, maybe as many as a dozen people. We've also gradually increased our membership numbers to the maximum allowed and welcome associates who participate in our activities. Associates are often elevated to full membership as vacancies occur.
BTW - check out Josh Dawson's post on Blue Mass Group re: Senate forum for Second Suffolk. It's something that people from all local campaigns and committees supported, but looks like we're not going to get them on stage in our area.
Wards 11 & 19
What happened in Wards 11 and 19?