You’ve probably heard that Charlotte Golar Richie, who finished third in the Boston Mayor preliminary election and whose endorsement was sought by both John Connolly and Marty Walsh, has decided to go with Walsh. That completes a hat trick for Walsh in terms of former candidates of color: Golar Richie, John Barros, and Felix Arroyo all endorsed Walsh, and that could give Walsh a significant boost with those candidates’ former supporters. And maybe the boost goes even further, since the fact that all three went with Walsh seems to send a bigger message about the kind of Mayor they all think Walsh will be.
Walsh posted a bunch of photographs from today’s endorsement announcement on his Facebook page. This is the one that, to me, speaks volumes. There are some more formal ones, in which Walsh can’t manage a smile for some reason. But this one is great. If I were Walsh, I’d post this photo every place I could find.
Looks like a movie ad.
…should be playing in the background.
And you are correct ( I can’t say right anymore). It’s hard to catch John smiling too. I was standing right behind John and Felix maintaining my Nancy Regan attentive smile and kept poking poking them both. It did go on, but they always do.
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This didn’t get a ton of coverage but I think it should.
http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2013/10/john_connolly_receives_endorse.html#comments
Apparently a minister thought he heard Connolly make a couple promises before the group of black clergy endorsed him but then said he didn’t hear the promises.
Par for the lawyer’s “I’m a school teacher” campaign.
More like 30,000 votes. Think about it, that may well be the outcome of this combined support. To see them all on the Walsh team is more valuable than and higher impact than any one of them as individual endorsement. To see ALL the progressives in one campaign is a as much of a negative endorsement of Connolly as it is a positive for Marty.
If as I suspect Linda Forray and Chang Diaz pile on, this is over for Connolly.
Things like this keep happening, the media will have to redouble their efforts to keep the working class candidate in his place.
Add to this a long list of civic leaders from communities of color who endorsed Walsh as a group today.
The list includes respected elders, influential community groups, and rising young leaders. It represents a growing consensus among social-justice progressives that marks a distinct difference between the candidates. For example, it includes Gloribell Mota, who ran against Carlo Basile for state rep in E. Boston. Basile, who switched parties to back Kerry Healey over Deval Patrick in 2006, has been one of Connolly’s most active backers.
the next day, then everything went silent. That’s when I thought she switched. Seems like she was able to work out whatever concerns she had and made her endorsement.
not a reply.
Good chance the margin of victory on election day will be less than that.
I grew up in Savin Hill the product of a Bi racial parents in the 1980s. Marty Walsh was two years older than me, we grew up in Savin Hill at the same time and hung out with many of the same friends. It was not easy growing up there at that time especially with your skin tone being different than everyone elses. I can honestly say it seems like the man has matured way beyond his youth.
There were many times when Marty and his friends would hang out on the corner of Savin Hill Ave and crack racial jokes and literally make fun of anyone who walked by that looked any different than white irish/polish or italian decent. Granted this was Boston in the Mid 80’s but still. Marty was in the thick of it, always with the group on the corner and always cracking those racial jokes that everyone would laugh at. It was hard for anybody growing up there at that time that looked different than those corner crews. There were a few of us who didn’t think the taunting was funny, but everybody put up with it as it was suppose to be normal. Savin Hill and Boston in general has changed for the better and thank God. You know who else has change from the better Marty Walsh. He seems to have matured from his racially insensitive youth. He showed courage in the Gay marriage fight and has reached out to minorities but the scars from his teenage and early 20 years are hard to erase for those who grew up with a different skin color only a few streets away.
the events you describe may have been from the time that Marty was drinking a lot.
I’m curious – if you live in the city of Boston, who are you planning to vote for?
I look forward to hearing from our shiny new commentator on something other than what happened decades ago regarding a candidate s/he obviously dislikes.
I do not dislike Marty Walsh. I think he has been a progressive voice and a strong labor leader. I think he will make a fine mayor.
It’s fair to revisit those times, and alcohol only gets partial blame. We have grown as a city, and Walsh has I’m sure grown as a person. It doesn’t excuse his actions at the time. I too am interested in who you’ll be with.
I will say that I believe that Walsh has done more than reach out to communities of color. His consistent support for undocumented immigrants, for support services for those in affordable housing, on protecting EBT card users, on protecting the safety net and on criminal justice reform show that he has the voting record to back up and justify that outreach. I’d also suggest that his opponent doesn’t have nearly the record to match, only partly a result of lack of opportunity.
Time has healed some of those wounds but some scars ate still there I must admit. Marty really was wild and as racially insensitive as any of his wild friends from that area. He was always quick with a sly remark or a minority joke which was common among his friends. I must say he has made inroads since he stopped drinking in his mid 20s. If he saw me today and i asked for help i would have no doubt that he would reach out. That being said as a progressive living in the city John has been appealing to liberal minded voters a little bit better than Marty. I think John is a bit smarter and has a more forward thinking vision for the city than Marty does. Right now i would have to say I am tilting towards John