Blue Mass Group

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Flaherty Good. Better. – NOW it makes sense

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Got this on the way to work, and not going to lie, this is what I was eventually expecting but I never thought they would have the guts to do it. If nothing else I think they got their point across.

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  2. If you think this is gutsy, you should see the Bilboard on Galvin Blvd. Should make for an interesting summer. You need to give Flaherty credit. Also an impressive Field Organization as they were at multiple T stops both before and after work today handing out these cards.

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    • More like “cheeky”.

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      p>Just like I didn’t think him for showing “courage” for reporting a drug dealer to the police who accidentally called him on his cell phone (according to a pro-Flaherty flyer I got the other day). I realize he has to try to sell himself, but I really find this kind of self-aggrandizement off-putting.

  3. Is the message that Mike is younger then Tom Menino so therefore “better”?

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    p>or is it that Mayor Menino is in B&W and Mike is a 4-color kinda guy?

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    p>or is it 1993 vs 2009? So the sell by date on Mayor Menino (and Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy for that matter) has expired and we need to buy the fresh canddiate?

    • Age has nothing to do with it. Color has nothing to do with it. What it has to do with is the fact that Flaherty is ready to deal with today’s problems with solutions that will work for today. I’ve been following his videos and he makes sense. Today’s problems cannot be solved with yesterdays solutions. Mayor Menino doesn’t seem to have evolved with the times. Maybe he was able to deal with problems 16 yrs ago with the solutions of 16 yrs ago, but apparently the solutions he thought were going to work then didn’t because if they did, we wouldn’t need such dramatic change now. That’s Flaherty’s message. Change! Change for the BETTER!

  4. Flaherty looks an aweful lot like Menino. Not sure what’s so different between the two.  

    • Great, diverse group. Sheriff Cabral and Rep Malia were there, a lot of young people, activists, and people involved with local social service agencies, etc.  TM talked about his “green” agenda, about the success of JP Main Streets, his plan for in-district charters and his “Bounty Bucks” program to double the value of food stamps for city residents.

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      p>Earlier in the day, he spoke with BMG and developed a great rapport with Bob on late night “T” hours – 🙂

  6. is that in 1993 Menino was good, but times have changed and in 2009 Flaherty is a better choice to be our Mayor for the next 4 years.

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    p>But hey, who knows? Maybe they were just trying to bring back the v-necks. (even though I thought they never left…?)

  7. among Yoon and McCrea to do a version of this with their picture added under “Best”? 😉

    • says “Better solutions for the best Boston” on the back so it seems like the Flaherty campaign expected that.

            • Well we’ve seen Flaherty at the T stops (among other various places), should I expect to see “McCreative for a McGreater Boston” at McyD’s? He may want to get there quickly before Flaherty beats him to it. MF seems to be everywhere.

      • Thanks for pointing that out. If Flaherty expected that, then I guess that just proves he knows how to think one step ahead! What a great quality to have in a Mayor.  

          • “benoitsmidget” has been on here since 19 June.  Since then he’s made 10 comments, 8 of which have been exuberantly pro-Flaherty.

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            p>Hmmm…

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            p>At least he’s not throwing rocks like the McRae campaign folks.

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            p>Full disclosure: I consider not having Menino as mayor one of the benefits of living in Cambridge.  Judging from their presence on here, neither of these guys is a viable replacement. It makes me sad.

            • And if you give me some time, I’m sure I’ll think of one – 🙂

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              p>Actually, Alice Wolf is terrific, as Mayor, Councillor, Rep, etc.  

            • I don’t think four more years of Menino would be the end of the world, and I am pretty sure that either Flaherty or Yoon would do a decent job. McCrea I am less sure of. I believe he has good intentions, but he seems to want to make too many radical changes, not all of which I approve of, and I question whether he has the leadership skills to pull it off. Based purely on the behavior of their supporters on this web site, I would go with either Yoon or Menino.

    • If I knew how to paste pictures in comments I’d paste in 3 different pictures of Tom Menino

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      p>the first on winning the City Council seat for Hyde Park. (1982) (75% of the vote in Hyde Park) Good

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      p>the second at his first election victory party in 1993 (64 % of the vote City wide)Better

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      p>the third at his re -election election victory party in 2005 (76% of the vote city wide)Best

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      p>Accomplishments too long to list here, but it was fun to google Menino and recall all the battles he led to make Boston a more livable city one step at a time, day after day  for 16 years. And like the energizer bunny  he just keeps going and as a Mayor he just keeps getting better all the time.

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      p>If you couldn’t guess already, I’m a Menino supporter.
       

      • I’m not going to say Menino has never done anything worthwhile. I will forever be grateful that there is a memorial bench in Savin Hill for my late friend. The Savin Hill Courts were also renamed The Sean P. Sullivan Memorial Courts in honor of my friend. Without the Mayor’s help, this never would have been possibe. However, can you tell me, had there been a fire at the airport today, or in Neponset or South Boston what the Mayor’s accomplishment would have been? If his office wants to say that the “Brown Outs” were due to overtime pay not being available, then maybe he should hire some more jakes at the going rate. This would create more jobs and keep people safe. I’m glad he thinks money is more important than the safety of the people of this city.

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        p>If you couldn’t guess, I’m now a Flaherty supporter.

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        p>Like I said, I’m grateful for some of what Menino has done, but it’s time to move forward. This city needs change.

        • Flaherty blames Menino for pension loophole, abuse in the Globe today

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          In an interview lasting longer than 20 minutes, Flaherty was asked on five occasions if Local 718, individual firefighters, or both should share some or all of the responsibility for what happened in Boston.

          But he accused Menino of insufficient diligence. “It’s awful convenient of him to point the finger at someone else,” said Flaherty, who is challenging Menino along with Councilor at Large Sam Yoon and Boston developer Kevin McCrea. “This administration has taken zero responsibility for anything. It’s always someone else’s fault. Fortunately in this situation here, the state [stepped in to] close the loophole.”

          Asked a sixth time, Flaherty said that any fraud or abuse by an employee in any city department at taxpayer expense was intolerable.

          “It’s unacceptable and should not be tolerated, period,” said Flaherty. “That’s across the board. That’s not with any specific individual or agency or department they work for; that’s anybody.”

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          p>And just to be clear, we live in a neighborhood where the wonderful team from Meeting House Hill comes to display their amazing, and priceless skills, courage and compassion on a regular basis and are deeply appreciated.  

          • to avoid putting any responsibility on the firefighters who have been abusing the pension system. We all know that there have been firefighters who have lied about details of their disability in order to get better pensions, but Flaherty cannot say so because he is beholden to them for their support. Instead he wants to put the entire blame on Menino for allowing them to abuse the system. That is really lame coming from a former DA. I have to say that I am extremely disappointed in Flaherty for the way he is grandstanding on this issue.

            • yes HR Kevin from the 5th floor. I will say I am a Flaherty supporter and for all the right reason.. And yes, I am new to this site.. I hope that is alright with you ?    

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              p>As for the Firefighter, Their union leaders are guilty of a lot of things including being real bad at public relations. They should stick to CPR and Firefighting

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              p>But, can we agree that people who live in the City of Boston most likely knows or lives near a firefighter. The super majority are good hard working family men who also are at the rink and the park as coaches and fathers.

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              p>Take both Ed Kelly’s poor leadership and Menino’s spin machine out of the equation for 1 second. Wwhen did all 1500 firefighters become the criminals of the city. Every family and organization has bad apples. Including your cambridge software company…    

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              p>When Michael becomes Mayor, the only thing he speaks to is restoring the prestige that the Boston Fire Department had prior to Menino destroying it. I can say without a doubt that accountability will not be sacrificed, but neither will the goal of having the best fire department in the country.

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              p>Shouldn’t every Mayor strive for that ?

              • Who is saying that all or even most firefighters are bad? However, Flaherty’s extremely refusal to put any blame on the specific firefighters who are deliberately abusing the pension system is cowardly. Surely he could chastise those who are abusing the system while pointing out that they are the minority?

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                p>There is nothing wrong with being new to the site or promoting Flaherty. What is wrong is attacking other candidates while refusing to acknowledge your support for another candidate.

        • is because you are a Flaherty supporter.

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          p>That’s fine, but having this recent flood of overeager supporters touting their candidate and trashing the others is kind of like turning on PBS and seeing McDonalds commercials.

          • I am curious to know why you are on this site? I also applaud you for your BMG seniority. You are a true trailblazer.  

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            p>I have not trashed any candidate? I asked 3 tough questions yesterday because I believe the press in this town as allowed this Mayor a free pass for 16 years. They do not hold him accountable to anything.  

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            p>You seamed offended by those questions, but as a taxpayer and supporter of a change for Mayor,  I think the mayor should be accountable and does need to answer. Not just the firefighters, Wilkerson and Turner.

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            p>Right now his staff is all over the airwaves trying to mask the brownouts with overtime expense, but tell me, does that mean the 30K + overtime Lisa Menino makes in addition to her 70K salary is on the table?

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            p>You should go start your own web page so you can control the flow of info to support your 5th floor agenda..

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            p>Happy 4th..    

            • I do not work for the City, and have only visited City Hall to get my marriage license, dog licenses and parking permits. Your obsession with figuring out what floor I work on strongly suggests that you are much more familiar with the building than I am, and quite probably work directly for Flaherty — I have not seen you deny it yet.

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              p>I have posted comments here for several years now, and if you go back and read through them, you won’t find any evidence to confirm your suggestion that I work for the City or any other political or government entity in any capacity.

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              p>I would be happy to consider voting for someone other than Menino, and that includes Flaherty, but if your behavior is typical of his supporters, I can’t say I relish the thought of his becoming mayor.

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              p>So you have a choice: you can either selfishly satisfy your own ego and continue to demonize Menino while simultaneously dragging down your own candidate, or you can find a way to promote your candidate in a more positive and appealing way. That doesn’t mean you can’t criticize Menino or the other candidates; you just need to find a way to do it in a more subtle and balanced fashion. But whatever your decision, you will have to accept the simple fact that you cannot expect to post anything you want here without being challenged fairly or unfairly.

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              p>BTW, I don’t think Flaherty wants you to be throwing stones on the nepotism issue when he has his own issues on that front

  8. I think it’s our best one yet.

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    p>Glad everyone is enjoying the discussion this is generating. Michael is really trying to run a different type of campaign.

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    p>-Natasha Perez, Communications Director, Flaherty for Mayor Committee

  9. Until I see some sort of ad depicting actual people choosing to vote for this guy after the Menino people offered voters Klondike bars.

  10. Good. Better. I LOVE it! Flaherty team sure know how to have fun… it would be interesting to see how things play out going forward. Oh and V-neck sweaters rock!!

  11. First Youkilis with some crazy stats, then Yoon in a Sox cap saying something like “We Can Be Champions Again.”

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    p>OK, it needs work.

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