Candidates finding common ground with black, Latino voters as primary draws near

Yawu Miller

At the Ward 12 Democratic Committee’s candidates forum last week, City Council President Michael Flaherty spoke in favor of a return to the elected school committee — a cause that blacks voted for overwhelmingly on a 1996 city-wide ballot.

The next day Flaherty reversed his position on Boston University’s Level 4 Biosafety lab, coming out against the federally-funded facility where the university plans to experiment with infectious diseases.

With both issues, announced just two weeks before the preliminary election for the city council, Flaherty has positioned himself more solidly with the black and Latino communities that have increasingly become a factor in the city’s electoral equation.

Flaherty is not alone in championing causes that were once the exclusive territory of the minority members of the council. At-large Councilor Stephen Murphy, who in 2000 angered black political activists with a Kwanzaa joke delivered at a South Boston holiday event, has taken a lead role in the council’s efforts to reform the Criminal Offender Record Information Act, a fact he underscored at the Ward 12 meeting.

The Ward 12 meeting — co-sponsored by the group Roxbury VOTE — gave the mostly white roster of at-large candidates their best chance yet to make their pitch to voters of color. With recent city-wide electoral victories by Councilor Felix Arroyo and Sheriff Andrea Cabral, this year’s crop of at-large council candidates seems more inclined to demonstrate their willingness to take the side of people of color.

Thus, Matt O’Malley, speaking before the 50-or-so activists who turned out for the Ward 12 meeting, underscored the fact that he served as manager of Cabral’s successful 2004 campaign for sheriff. His campaign literature features a photograph with Cabral and other African American supporters and the message “One Boston.”

Until Arroyo’s 2003 victory in the at-large race, the phrase “One Boston” would more accurately have referred to white Boston — South Boston and the white neighborhoods in Dorchester, Roslindale, Hyde Park and West Roxbury — where the majority of the votes in city elections were cast.

The new electoral reality cannot be lost on Flaherty, who is widely rumored to be mulling a run for mayor. Arroyo came within 1,700 votes of Flaherty’s first-place finish in the 2003 at-large race.

The council candidates’ interest in voters of color is not new. Flaherty has consistently campaigned in communities of color, even though Arroyo has topped the ticket in the predominantly black wards 12 and 14 in the last two elections.

What is new is the apparent willingness of Flaherty and other candidates to weigh in on issues that have traditionally been championed by Arroyo and the council’s two black members, Chuck Turner and Charles Yancey.

Whether or not those positions will translate into increased votes for the white councilors remains to be seen. The Ward 12 Democratic Committee voted to endorse councilors Flaherty and Arroyo as well as challengers Matt O’Malley and Sam Yoon. The majority of the candidates left the forum after little more than an hour to attend a candidates’ night at St. Mark’s Church in Dorchester.

Thus the event’s host, Sarah-Ann Shaw, did not have the opportunity to question the candidates on more divisive issues like rent control — which has had the support of councilors of color and has been opposed by the majority of the white councilors.

Nor were Flaherty and Murphy asked to explain their stance on the Voting Rights Act suit the U.S. Justice Department brought against the city alleging that Chinese and Spanish-speaking voters were not given fair treatment at the polls. Both councilors spoke out against calls by their colleagues of color urging the city to settle the lawsuit, which Menino agreed to do last week.

Missing at the Ward 12 debate were Althea Garrison — who told the Banner she would be out of town last week — and Patricia White, who appeared at the St. Mark’s forum later that evening.

Mayoral candidate Maura Hennigan made an appearance at the Ward 12 meeting as well as at St. Mark’s, where Mayor Thomas Menino was also in attendance. There, candidates were given a few minutes to make their pitches to voters representing several neighborhood associations.

While at the Ward 12 meeting, most of the white candidates spoke of their commitment to social justice issues like the Biolab and affordable housing, at the predominantly white St. Mark’s meeting the candidates spoke more about their respect for the Dorchester neighborhood, before humbly asking for one of the voters’ four at-large votes.

Arroyo kept his pitch consistent, telling the audiences in Roxbury and Dorchester that he would approach his work on the council with a commitment to respect and equity, before making the oft-repeated request.

“I would really be honored if you would give me one of your four votes in this particular election,” he said, concluding his speech.

Arroyo is the only at-large council candidate to receive the endorsement from all of the Democratic ward committees that have held their endorsement meetings to date.

In addition, Arroyo received the exclusive endorsement from Ward 4 (South End & Fenway) and Ward 5 (Fenway, Back Bay & Beacon Hill), believed to be a first for both committees. Arroyo has also received the endorsement from Wards 9, 10, 11, 19, and 21.