2009 elections

Flaherty: Yoon forced out of Boston by Menino minions

adamg — Fri, 13 May 2011 11:13:06 +0000

The Dig interviews Michael Flaherty on his bid to get back on the City Council and asks him if he stays in touch with the latter half of Floon, now down in DC. He does:

[H]e definitely misses Boston, and quite frankly wishes that he never had to move, but after having run for mayor I think that there was a tremendous amount of pressure, and he was having difficulty finding a job because the administration seemed to be going out of their way to prevent that from happening.

Coakley: Mass deletion of City Hall e-mail an MIS screwup, not a criminal act

adamg — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:50:03 +0000

The state Attorney General's office said today no charges are warranted against mayoral aide Michael Kineavy for deleting e-mail because he was just doing what he and other City Hall employees were told to do: Purge their inboxes every day because messages would be stored on a back up server - which turned out not to be the case.

The AG's office says Kineavy did nothing intentionally wrong and it's not his fault the City Hall e-mail system didn't work the way IS told employees it did. Investigators found no evidence that Kineavy "double deleted" e-mail in a deliberate attempt to purge messages from what turned out to be a non-existent server.

Investigators found that while the city did have backup systems, they were intended only for recovery of key records after a disaster - which meant that when a worker deleted a message from his or her inbox, it quickly disappeared into the ether, rather than being saved.

See the comments below for a statement from the AG's office. Full report.

Menino everlasting

adamg — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:22:26 +0000

Via The Boston Channel

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today took his record fifth oath of office at Faneuil Hall.

In his inauguration speech (complete text), Menino said his next four years would be devoted to four main goals: Transforming education in Boston, creating a high-tech research community on the waterfront, improving basic city services through new technologies and bringing the city's residents and neighborhoods closer together.

Apparently, losing a Boston city election inspires men to grow goatees

adamg — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:55:15 +0000

First Michael Flaherty, now at-large council candidate Andrew Kenneally (also click on that link to read what Kenneally and Tomas Gonzalez told students at BU about surviving a losing campaign).

Michael Flaherty emulates Al Gore

adamg — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:09:13 +0000

Following his loss, he's grown a beard. A goatee to be exact.

Flaherty's beard: At City Council meeting today.

Chuck Turner to run once more

adamg — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:59:49 +0000

Chris Lovett talks to the recently victorious but still presumed embattled city councilor, who tells him he'll run again in 2011, then retire before the 2013 elections. Turner pre-endorsed Tito Jackson for 2013, Lovett writes.

Memo to Boston residents

adamg — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:27:21 +0000

Your guy won/lost this past Tuesday. You can take the sign down now.

How the at-large candidates did, ward by ward

adamg — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:54:34 +0000

Matt O'Malley, who knows something about running for an at-large city-council seat, analyzes the numbers - and suggests why Tito Jackson should consider running for Chuck Turner's district seat in two years.

Flaherty took Back Bay

adamg — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:40:47 +0000

The preliminary precinct breakdowns from the city show that Michael Flaherty actually carried Ward 5 (Back Bay, Beacon Hill and part of Fenway), although barely (2,544 to 2,472). In the September preliminary, that was Menino country.

Floon also carried the day in Ward 16 in Dorchester, another area Menino took in September. Obviously, though, that and the Flaherty strongholds of Charlestown, South Boston and neighboring Ward 7 in Dorchester were not enough to overcome Menino romps in areas such as Hyde Park, Roslindale and Roxbury.

Matt O'Malley, who has much better eyes, dives into the numbers in much greater depth. On Blue Mass. Group, Bob has still more analysis of the numbers.

Precinct-by-precinct results from Boston election

adamg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:15:28 +0000

Right here - get your reading glasses on.

Via Harry Mattison.

Campaign notes: What's next?

adamg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:17:24 +0000

The Globe declares Menino A leader in touch, in gear. The Herald looks ahead to 2013 and wonders if Menino will really stick around that long.

John Carroll predicts Menino will regret running for that fifth term. David Bernstein hopes Menino uses some of his political capital to deal with "some very difficult things that need doing." Scot Lehigh starts with the nagging. Peter Gelzinis talks to some voters, provides a sort of O. Henry ending.

Menino wins fifth term

adamg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:02:36 +0000

Call him Hizzonah again.

Boston today gave Tom Menino a record fifth term today, re-electing him by a 57-43 margin over challenger Michael Flaherty.

"Let's be clear: We haven't made history with this election, but we will in what we create of it," Menino told supporters. History will not record the win until we make "a new Boston Miracle for our kids," he said. "Complacency is the highest hurdle we face. Let's fend off the temptation to rest on past accomplishments."

Live Boston Election tweets

adamg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:37:02 +0000

A fine day for an election

adamg — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:38:12 +0000

At-large candidate Tito Jackson lets a voter have cake at Holy Name School in West Roxbury this morning.

What are you seeing out there?

It's like Halloween tonight

adamg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:09:55 +0000

Only instead of kids at the door, it's politicians on the phone. John Kerry robo-called in support of his good friend Ayanna Pressley. Not one minute after I sat back down on the couch, Ayanna her-robo-self called. I hope we don't run out of candy - or my wife's patience.