Steve Murphy

Class is in session

BostonBastard — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:00:07 +0000

(This post originally appeared at www.BostonBastard.com)

Just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Boston City Council readily presented their version of Boston race relations by making an example out of Charles Yancey, a black City Councilor who committed the egregious offense of actually trying to do his job and look out for his constituents.

The annual release of City Council Committee chairs is always a good way to get a sense of where the councilors stand in the eyes of the City Council power structure and this year was no different.

When Council President Stephen Murphy released his assignments last week, we learned that Matt O’Malley has proven himself as a willing stooge of the status quo, so of course he was handed the chair of the Government Operations Committee, which had been left available when Maureen Feeney finally decided to drop any pretense of giving a shit about her Dorchester constituents and went after a major pay raise.

Another major change was that Charles Yancey was removed from his chairmanship of the Post Audit and Oversight Committee.

Among councilors, Yancey is often criticized for not doing anything, but only because trying to improve the community in Mattapan doesn’t count among City Hall’s paler politicians.

Murphy: Who elected the Globe and Kevin McCrea?

adamg — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:46:17 +0000

Murphy on live TV.The City Council today appointed former Councilor Maureen Feeney as city clerk in a process that would have taken about 30 seconds if council President Steve Murphy had not taken the opportunity to rail against "the broadsheets" and a former mayoral candidate.

For 15 minutes, Murphy excoriated the Globe and Kevin McCrea, accusing them of creating a circus with moving goalposts that bordered on harassment and only showed they want to chose the next city clerk, but they don't have the right because who elected them?

Surprise! Maureen Feeney only person to meet criteria set by City Council to hire Maureen Feeney

adamg — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:19:27 +0000

The Dorchester Reporter posts a copy of Council President Steve Murphy's recommendation that the full council hire former Councilor Feeney for the post of city clerk - which includes a bonus denunciation of a Globe story daring to question the timing of her interview for the post. The council is scheduled to vote tomorrow to appoint Feeney.

City councilors develop sudden aversion to cameras

adamg — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:37:17 +0000

UPDATE: The city has a fulltime legal department, yet apparently nobody thought to check whether interviewing a former city councilor less than 30 days after she quit might violate state ethics laws, the Globe reports (Globe account required).

A roving UHub reporter files this report from this afternoon's interviews of the two candidates for the job of city clerk:

The Committee on Rules chaired by Steve Murphy interviewed the two candidates for the job. The first was Maureen Feeney, who fielded mostly softball questions from the councilors present for about half an hour.

However, Counselor Yancey asked her about the removal of councilor Turner - specifically the hearing at which the council voted 11-1 to remove him (one guess who that one vote was). Yancey asked if it was true that the rules don't allow for an item to be brought up and voted on in the same day unless voted on by a majority. Feeney agreed that is what the rules say. Yancey brought up the fact that he objected and so it was not unanimous and so Turner should not have been removed. Feeney agreed that rules should be followed. Yancey did not press the point.

The second candidate, Natalie Carithers, then also answered about the same questions from the councilors and also spoke for about half an hour. Yancey also asked her about Turner, but it was a brief discussion: She said she didn't know much about the hearing at which he was removed (even though she ran for his seat).

It appeared that the committee was going to have a discussion about the candidates but Murphy said something about the fact that there were cameras present and so that changed the complexion of the situation and so gavelled the meeting to a close.

Murphy vs. Flaherty for endorsements

adamg — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:20:03 +0000

Both the Phoenix and the South End News have endorsed incumbent at-large councilors Connolly, Pressley and Arroyo. But the Phoenix endorsed incumbent Murphy because he "has made wise use of that position, while the News endorsed Flaherty because "the sheer volume of his past successes as a City Councilor, the important issues raised during his campaign for mayor, and his on-the-ground experiences as a life-long Bostonian make him ready and able to serve the city again.

Both papers had advice for their endorsees: The Phoenix told Murphy to concentrate on Boston instead of his quixotic bids for state office; the News told Flaherty to concentrate on specific programs rather than his two-year-old hatred of the mayor.

Bay Windows, owned by the same folks as the South End News, also endorsed Flaherty over Murphy, citing his strong support of the gay and transgender communities.

Somebody misoverestimated cost of policing Occupy Boston

adamg — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:11:23 +0000

Just yesterday, City Council President Steve Murphy said BPD told him it was costing $2 million a month to watch over those scamps on Dewey Square. Channel 4, however, reports today that BPD has put the total cost of its supervision of Occupy Boston since Oct. 1 (the occupation began 9/30) at $146,189.55. Assuming that's current through yesterday, and assuming it includes another massive early morning crackdown, that comes out to roughly $350,000 a month.

Call Mayor Menino 617-635-4500 and Governor Patrick 617-725-4005 to permit Occupy Boston to expand

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:19:34 +0000

If you agree, please call and be nice. Agree or disagree, your comments are welcome below.

'Problem properties' rules could be used against landlords who rent to students

adamg — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:52:25 +0000

Police supt. on 102 Blue Hill Ave.: "Something no 12-year-old should have to experience."

A day after police and inspectors swooped down on a Blue Hill Avenue building nearby residents called a criminal warren, city councilors and lawyers began hammering out an ordinance for cracking down on owners of troubled apartments - including a provision that would require licensing for landlords with repeat offenses.

Murphy to Flaherty: Fuhgeddaboudit

adamg — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:17:34 +0000

The Phoenix reports City Council President Steve Murphy will back Ayanna Pressley for re-election to her at-large seat even if Michael Flaherty tries to get back on the council this fall.

Steve Murphy: How the hell did that woman get all that cyanide out of Northeastern?

adamg — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:32:11 +0000

The Herald reports that Councilor Murphy, head of the council's public-safety committee, will hold hearings on whether colleges are doing enough to protect the public from deadly chemicals (note to the councilor: cyanide is not a "pathogen"), such as the cyanide an apparently suicidal Northeatern lab tech took home with her to Milford the other day.

Billy Bulger endorses Steve Murphy

adamg — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:36:02 +0000

Mike Ball reports on a time for Murphy at Townsend's in Hyde Park tonight.

Meet the candidates in one of the races you probably don't care about: State Treasurer

adamg — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:55:23 +0000

The Globe introduces us to the people running for state treasurer this year:

Democrats Steve Grossman and Steve Murphy and Republican state Representative Karyn Polito are vying for the open treasurer's seat by trying to differentiate themselves based on their financial credentials, investment philosophies, and independence.

State Dem Convention results put two on Treasurer ballot and three on Auditor

JohnAKeith — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:13:58 +0000

The results from the state Democratic Convention being held today in Worcester are in, according to Boston.com and twitter feeds (hash tag: #madem10).

As expected, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor received enough votes to put them on the ballot (at least 15 percent) and receive the endorsement of the party (25 percent).

In the race for State Treasurer, Steve Grossman earned their endorsement by receiving more than 50 percent of the delegates' votes while Boston City Councilor-At-Large Steve Murphy made it to September's ballot with 15.6 percent of the votes.

The state auditor race is considered a hot one after Joe DeNucci announced his decision to retire (after ten years). Suzanne Bump, Guy Glodis, and Michael Lake all made it on the ballot. The rumor in the twittershere is that Glodis instructed some of his supporters to vote for Lake, thereby assuring his place on the ballot and potentially splitting the "progressive" vote between him and Bump, in September.

Possible breakthrough in firefighter contract talks: Union proposes one-year freeze on drug-testing pay increase

adamg — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:41:37 +0000

UPDATE: Administration to City Council: Just say no to firefighters; that would create a tidal wave of other unions demanding similar drug-testing deals. City council to administration: With all due respect, you suck. Councilor Ayanna Pressley: "There's some sort of conflicting shell game going on here."

Local firefighters union President Ed Kelly this morning offered to freeze for one year a 2.5% raise awarded by an arbitration panel in exchange for drug testing.

City councilors Mike Ross and Steve Murphy immediately congratulated Kelly for making the "significant concession."

"I think, frankly, it's extraordinary," Murphy said.

Steve Murphy's Web site highlights how he went to Boston Latin

adamg — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:26:45 +0000

UPDATE: The Murphy folks have reverted to a more boring, if safer, "Coming Soon" Web site. So no more chance to edit pages or read "lorem ipsum."

Or, if one were feeling less than charitable, one might suggest the Web site shows he needs to hire Web consultants who understand the concept of "staging server" and the importance of not putting up pages that any idiot can change the content on (see that "Edit" button below? It actually works, or, at least, did a couple minutes before I started typing this):