Matt O'Malley

(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.

City Councilor Matt O'Malley says Boston could save up to $795,000 a year by eliminating the paper pay stubs some 16,000 city workers still get. O'Malley, who represents Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and a small piece of Roslindale, would replace them with an electronic system:

By eliminating the paper stubs, Boston would minimize the amount of time expended by payroll and other administrative personnel, reduce its expenditure on paper and envelopes and eliminate the costs associated with printing pay stubs. According to the National Automated Clearing House Association, the average cost of printing a pay stub for one employee is $1.90 per pay period.

His fellow councilors voted unanimously today for a resolution asking city managers to switch from paper to online.

O'Malley's victory speech.

Matt O'Malley, 31, today became Boston's youngest city councilor with a 60-40 win over Jim Hennigan for the 6th District seat that covers West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain and bits of Roslindale and Mission Hill.

O'Malley's win in the special election to replace John Tobin, who quit earlier this year, comes on his third try for a seat on the council - he lost two earlier bids for a citywide at-large seat.

In addition to being the youngest councilor, O'Malley will be the city's only red-headed councilor. He'll take office just in time for a Dec. 1 hearing on whether convicted Councilor Chuck Turner gets to stay in office or should be expelled.

Boston.com talks to Jim Hennigan and Matt O'Malley, one of whom will be elected on Nov. 16 to represent West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain on the city council. Both say they would vote to expel turner because of his corruption conviction last week. City Council President Mike Ross set the date so that whoever wins the election to replace John Tobin can join the expulsion discussion and vote.