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Yoon, not Floon, endorses four at-large candidates

The Man Who Would Be Deputy Mayor today endorsed Felix Arroyo, John Connolly, Tito Jackson and Ayanna Pressley. His reasoning, in e-mail to supporters:

These four individuals truly represent a new generation of political leadership in Boston and bring the skills, talent and temperament we need to bring city hall into the 21st century.

Felix Arroyo has devoted his life to public service as a community organizer, and long time activist on housing, youth and labor issues. Felix is ready on day one to be an effective advocate and voice for all of Boston. Learn more about Felix at http://felixarroyo.com/

John Connolly deserves to be re-elected as your At-Large City Councilor. As a colleague, I can tell you that John is open, honest and working hard to represent all of Boston. Learn more about John at http://www.connollyforcouncil.com/

Tito Jackson is deeply committed to civic engagement and bringing new voices into Boston city government. With a background in economic development, Tito will bring real opportunity to Boston's neighborhoods. Learn more about Tito at http://titojacksonforboston.com/

Ayanna Pressley is a breath of fresh air for Boston politics. With a compelling personal story and real experience in politics and government Ayanna will be the first woman of color to serve on the Boston City Council. Learn more about Ayanna at http://ayannapressley.com/

With such a deep field of talented candidates, it is difficult to pick just four, however I wish to say a word about Tomas Gonzalez and Andrew Kenneally. As intelligent young challengers, I hope this is not the last time we hear from Tomas and Andrew and believe they will be involved in the affairs of this city for a long time to come.

You can make the difference this year. No matter who your candidate for Mayor and City Council are, I urge you to get involved and get talking to your neighbors. This is your city and your city government. Don't let anyone discourage you from voting.

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Comments

Um... This seems kind of weird to me. I mean for starters he does not say why an incumbent should not be reelected to the seat. He is also taking sides in a hot contest while "running" for Vice Mayor leaving out some other candidates that may support him and Michael Flaherty.

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that they won't push in other areas ...

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Definitely disagree about the obligation to talk about an incumbent - both on principle and in practice. First, incumbents shouldn't be entitled to anything, and they have to make their case to voters just like everyone else. And second, as is often the case with newspaper endorsements, the endorser won't mention anybody except the endorsed candidate. That's partly to save column inches, but also to maximize the effect of the endorsement.

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I disagree Yoon worked with him in the Council and is still serving his term. If I were a voter I would like to know why Yoon is skipping over a sitting incumbent who he works with and will have to work with as "Deputy Dog". In the very least I would like to see a simple mention that while he respects the guy he works with he feels the other 3 are more in with his line of thinking.

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Being an incumbent means that you were elected before and would like to be elected again.

Nobody has to make a case that you shouldn't be reelected - the incumbent has to make a case that they should be reelected.

An election is NOT a Human Resources Department review or termination action for the current office holder. The current office holder is not the default owner of the seat. In an election, one must win the majority of votes to hold the office. Simple. All serve at the pleasure of the voters.

The idea that an incumbent deserves a special negative review or other consideration due to being an incumbent (as opposed to advancing merits which compare with another candidate) is, quite frankly, bizarre.

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This is not the Boston Globe, this is a sitting City Councilor (who for starters is running a campaign for a job that does not exist in the first place) saying that one of his fellow councilors should not be reelected. I would like to know why he felt that someone who was there a decade before him should not be reelected. If one were a Democrat and the other a Republican it would be obvious.

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I would have a much greater expectation that a newspaper tell me why it has chosen not to endorse an incumbent than I would an organization or an individual. Its not something that you usually see, so I'm not sure what's bothering you so much about this. Also, if you look at why someone made an endorsement FOR a candidate, you might get some hint about why he didn't endorse the other candidate.

I think its also safe to say that neither candidate would really appreciate the endorser spelling out the reasons why they didn't endorse someone. Think about it.

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Agree that the endorsement can be risky for the mayor's race, but the comment suggests incumbent's seats are *less* open than non-incumbents. It's an open field every election! Incumbents and challengers should have to impress, perhaps incumbents more because you've seen their work!

Do you think Yoon should have written "I don't like Murphy because he's too close to Menino and we didn't work well together?" (my guess for the reason) If he doesn't support someone at all, not even partially - like Kinneally and Gonzalez- isn't it better to leave their name off entirely so he doesn't even give them a name rec boost?

Alternatively, maybe he was thinking if he couldn't write anything nice, he shouldn't write anything...

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i am surprised sam endorsed pressley, connolly and arroyo since its well known in menino circles that they have endorsed the mayor.

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Remember, Flaherty did try to take out Felix Jr's dad, back when he was a anti-tenant, Rule 19 gag order enforcing right winger.

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This has been discussed on this blog a few times already, but Flaherty endorsed Felix Sr. in 2005. Please stop posting jiberish without facts.

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Michael Flaherty (then council president) endorsed Felix D. Arroyo (then at-large city councilor) in 2003, not 2005. Flaherty's endorsement was widely seen as a self-serving effort to curry favor with white progressives and communities of color. It was neither an endorsement that Arroyo asked for, nor one he needed to win re-election that year.

You also don't know how to spell gibberish.

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2003, not 2005 is a fact. Your interpretation of why he did it, is just that. Choose to believe what you want, just don't pass it off as facts.

Jiberish =

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jiberish

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Just seems to me that if Flaherty were to produce a list it would have some different names on it, his former employee for instance. It does not seem fair to the Flaherty guys that Yoon who is "running" with him is endorsing and pulling votes away from their friends.

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If your confident in the "ticket's" chances wouldnt Floon want a strong ally- Kenneally- on the council? But since Yoon & Flaherty rarely agreed on anything prior to late Sept., maybe this is just Sam going rogue or more likely pandering to neighborhoods where Flaherty needs help.

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I also found it a bit odd for Yoon to endorse while Flaherty remained silent. I know the two are preaching that they will be independent thinkers (which is good) but I also found it odd that Flaherty had Flynn do the pre and post debate talk on NECN and not Yoon. If you were preaching a change for Boston don't you think you would want Yoon, the potential Deputy Mayor, speaking and not an old face like Flynn?

I have no inside info but perhaps these two points may begin to paint a picture of Floon splintering a bit. If there was a history of these two working together I'd say it was just two random examples but since they were in opposing camps on the council, Flaherty with the Young Turks, and Yoon with Team Unity, I think one has to at least wonder if there is a bit of separation growing between the two.

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Nah, Floon is just using their numbers advantage here. They are two people, Menino is one. Every mayor has candidates s/he'd like to openly endorse, but he doesn't because it's not worth offending some candidates and their supporters. By being two people and appearing to act 'independently', they can endorse candidates (Yoon) and also stay mum (Flaherty). Menino is staying mum but behind the scenes he is actively supporting Murphy, Arroyo, Pressley, and Mike Ross with signs and volunteers.

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the mayor was putting up connolly signs while he was doing his own during the preliminary election.... so the top four are bought and paid for... of course there will be a rude awakening for connolly... the mayor does not like those who do well in the election... expect connolly to get some elbows so room can be made for the real successor - consalvo....

as for floon, they are trying to move more left...its an old trick for flaherty as others mentioned above.... sad to see him kick his former employee though...no loyalty there... if there is anyone who didn't think flaherty knew that yoon was going to endorse, i have some beach front property for ya in readville...

i say vote out all the incestuous bums and hire a city manager....

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seems strange that Yoon would leave Flaherty's former aide and council candidate Andrew Kenneally off his endorsement list. Kenneally's close with Flaherty and is running a solid campaign. He had a legit shot at the top 4. yoon going in the other direction is a blow to his campaign. Too bad, he was gaining some steam. Does this mean Yoon will be doing his own thing as deputy mayor or that their relationship is on the rocks?

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Although he's made a point of running his own campaign, as opposed to trying to tie himself to Flaherty (or the other councilor he worked for, was it Feeney?).

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n/t

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his linkedin says he worked for flaherty, maura "moonbat" hennigan, sen. harry "boring" reid, cong. norman sisisky, and the great cong. joe moakley. i also heard he worked for mumbles many years ago. if that is the case, i give him credit for running his own campaign and being his own man.

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Which of the candidates are advocating access to the public records of city government?... ask your favorite candidate will you advocate for greater access to public records of City Hall ?...

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Or Sam Seidel, or anybody else running for city council in Cambridge? Or don't you care about your own city?

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I always felt that Sam Seidel was the type that would push for more openness in city government, does he need to be pushed?

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But I'm thinking a Cambridge resident like Zak would. Right, Zak?

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