Tom Finneran: A Good Man Earns High Office

Friday, November 08, 2013

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Marty Walsh knows how to get to “yes” and he knows how to say “no," believes Tom Finneran.

Boston has elected a new Mayor. Come January, Hall of Fame Mayor-for-Life Tom Menino will step down and Marty Walsh, a son of Irish immigrants will take the reins of our capital city.

You will like Marty Walsh. He’s a very decent, very kind, very thoughtful guy. In fact, you would have liked almost the entire field of candidates who entered the race to replace Mayor Menino.

Boston’s voters were given multiple candidates from which to choose. Experienced city councilors, neighborhood activists, a legislator, and a former legislator and gubernatorial aide all vied for the seat. Six of the twelve candidates were candidates of color and virtually all of the candidates made conscious appeals to voters beyond their natural base of racial and ethnic support. The racial maturity of the city, both in its candidates and in the voters, was one of the highlights of an exciting campaign.

In fact, one of the only lowlights occurred right after the September primary, when the Boston Globe ran a predictably pathetic hand-wringing article bemoaning the fact that the two finalists emerging from the robust field were white Irish Catholic guys. Completely ignoring the obvious facts that Marty Walsh and John Connolly had waged broad, deep, and energetic campaigns across the entire city, the Globe apparently preferred a racial and political balkanization of the candidates into those silly identity boxes which appear on too many government forms.

Back to the race for Mayor which unleashed twenty years of pent-up political energy………… Once Mayor Menino announced that he would not be seeking re-election, the field took shape. Its diversity and variety guaranteed virtually every Bostonian a preferred candidate or two, with Connolly and Walsh pacing the field in fundraising and volunteers. And kudos to all the candidates who made consistent efforts to broaden their base and their appeal. This was a good race to watch.

The turning point of the campaign occurred in the latter weeks of September and the first weeks in October when the three principal minority candidates embraced Marty Walsh, providing an impressive imagery and an exciting political energy to a very tight race. City Councilor Felix Arroyo, School Committee member John Barros, and former Representative Charlotte Golar-Richie moved almost in unison, creating a momentum for Walsh that was hard to stop. For John Connolly, those autumn decisions of his primary election competitors were fateful.

Two major issues emerged during the campaign and they will undoubtedly carry over to Marty Walsh’s administration. Those issues are the Boston Public Schools and Mayor-Elect Walsh’s close historic ties to organized labor.

The latter issue was a heavy weight upon Walsh’s shoulders as voters and reporters constantly pressed him on his ability and willingness to stand up to hard-bargaining union negotiators during contract talks. Whether he could and would protect the City’s bond rating and balance sheet from aggressive demands for wage and benefit increases became a dominant issue in every forum and debate. Those questions took on a heightened urgency and difficulty for Walsh as organized labor was also providing substantial financial support to his campaign. Walsh handled the issue deftly, speaking of his respect for the hard work of public employees, his family’s historic ties to organized labor, and therefore his trustworthy credibility with the unions when he tells them that the City can only afford to go so far and no further. The taxpayers come first was the clear impression he left on the toughest issue he faced.

Regarding the schools, both Connolly and Walsh deserve a lot of credit for elevating the issue and making it a constant theme of their speeches and policy papers. It is a conversation that is long overdue. Frustrations with school assignment policies, neighborhood schools, expensive busing to achieve a “racial balance” that is non-existent, minority student achievement gaps, and the overall dilapidated physical condition of many schools are constant topics among the parents of Boston’s school children. Both Connolly and Walsh (who by the way is a champion of charter schools) brought ferocious political energy to bear upon these questions. The questions endure and they now demand action.

Here’s a modest prediction—don’t be surprised to see Mayor Walsh appoint either John Barros, Felix Arroyo, or John Connolly himself to a position of significant leadership in the Boston Public Schools. Each of them is credible, passionate, and determined to address the ills of the system.

A final word about Mayor-Elect Walsh—he’s a good listener. He builds coalitions. He knows how to get to “yes” and he knows how to say “no”. These are the essential skills of any public leader. Not every elected official has such skills. Marty does. I have watched him both as a colleague in the Massachusetts House and as a neighbor here in Dorchester/ Mattapan. He’s a good man. He’ll be a good Mayor. You will like Marty Walsh.