Councilors pick Feeney as president

The Boston City Council elected Dorchester Councilor Maureen E. Feeney as its president yesterday, signaling what some say is the rise to power of the council's minority members and those representing the city's most diverse neighborhoods.

The four minority councilors pledged their support to Feeney last week, giving her the leverage she needed to beat Councilor at Large Michael Flaherty, the incumbent . Flaherty, of South Boston, then decided not to run for re election.

The minority councilors, Chuck Turner of Roxbury, Charles Yancey of Mattapan, and Councilors at Large Felix Arroyo and Sam Yoon, said they felt sidelined under Flaherty, with their proposed legislation often tabled in committees they had no control over and with Flaherty gaveling down their resolutions sometimes before they were even introduced, saying they were not germane to the council and wasted time.

Feeney, the first woman to lead the council since Louise Day Hicks in 1976, said yesterday that hers will be a presidency of inclusion.

"This is a momentous day for the City of Boston," Feeney said. "It's a message for the City of Boston. It's a message that says we're here to work together."

The council president effectively sets the council agenda by choosing the chairmen and chairwomen of committees and determining whether certain initiatives can be introduced. The president also becomes acting mayor in the absence of the mayor. There is no more pay for the position, though the president gets a bigger office and budget to hire more staff because of the added administrative duties.

Since 2002, the presidency -- and consequently powerful committee chairmanships -- lay in the hands of Flaherty and his supporters, a group of white men in their 20s and 30s who once played squash and pickup basketball and at one point called themselves the "Young Turks." Now some of those councilors may have to take a back seat, along with their initiatives, to an emboldened minority caucus. They include Flaherty; Michael Ross of Beacon Hill, Back Bay and Mission Hill; Rob Consalvo of Hyde Park; and Jerry McDermott of Allston-Brighton .

For nearly 20 years, there were only two nonwhite city councilors, representing Roxbury and Mattapan. But in 2002, Arroyo, a former school committee member, won an at-large seat on the council and became its first Latino member. Then in 2005, Yoon also won an at-large seat, becoming the first Asian councilor. The four minority councilors have since banded together, meeting once a week as "Team Unity," the council's minority caucus, which has voted largely together and cosponsored many initiatives together.

As this year's election for council president approached, the caucus's votes emerged as powerful swing votes courted by all three candidates -- Flaherty, Feeney, and West Roxbury District City Councilor John Tobin. On Thursday, Tobin pledged his support to Feeney, he said, and on Friday, he helped Feeney win votes from the minority caucus. On Saturday, Feeney told Flaherty and his supporters that she had won enough support on the 13-member body to be elected president and she wanted their support as well.

Flaherty stepped aside, paving the way for yesterday's unanimous vote, and handed the gavel to Feeney.

"I'm glad that the former president knows how to count," Arroyo said yesterday.

Flaherty and Ross said yesterday that they did not know the minority caucus votes had been pledged to Feeney when they decided to support her, but they said it had become clear that Flaherty did not have enough votes to win.

"The two options were this: a divisive battle to go to round two or round three [of balloting], or uniting our efforts," Ross said.

Feeney sa id that no matter whose votes put her over the top, everyone on the council will share in her victory. "Everyone's at the table here," she said.

There has been talk among her supporters that Feeney plans to dissolve all the council committees and spread their responsibil i ties among the councilors.

"We hope that by working together we are going to move the city forward," she said. "It will be leadership by committee, if you will."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.