The annual intrigue surrounding the selection of a Boston City Council president may be muted next month, as current President Maureen Feeney appears to have a lock on a second one-year term. Feeney was not publicly counting her chickens - or returning phone calls - last week, but other councilors say she has broad support on the 13-member body to win the post when the council convenes Jan. 7.
"I think she's got it," says Councilor Steve Murphy. "She's done a good job, and I'm supporting her."
An eight-term district councilor from Dorchester, Feeney won the post in January, putting an end to the five-year hold on the job enjoyed by at-large councilor, and would-be mayoral hopeful, Michael Flaherty. There was lots of sentiment for change, especially among other councilors with mayoral ambitions of their own, who were eager to put an end to Flaherty's run with the gavel and the added visibility that came with it.
The council also adopted a rule change sponsored by Feeney that limits councilors to two consecutive terms as president. That seems to have added to the momentum behind her bid for a second year at the helm. The best evidence of a gathering consensus for Feeney may be that she has the support of both incoming councilor John Connolly and Murphy, who last month was on the receiving end of unsigned campaign mailings from Connolly charging that he had lost his commitment to the council job and was shopping for a position in state government.
Bygones not gone
Speaking of flier-gate, Connolly probably shouldn't be checking his mailbox for a Christmas card from Murphy.
"I made a mistake that I regret. I extended an apology to Steve," Connolly says of the episode, which became the campaign story of an otherwise lackluster council race.
But Murphy isn't yet in much of a forgiving mood. "This is my livelihood, my reputation, my career, and to sully it like he did with falsehoods is really unfair," says Murphy.
The fliers' highlighting of the multiple other offices he has run for may have been accurate, says Murphy, but he maintains that his dedication to his council duties has not flagged, nor did he lobby the Patrick administration for a job - though he acknowledges he did have discussions with the administration about a position.
"When there are issues of common concern, I'll work with him, but I don't see any reason to go running into the arms of John Connolly," says Murphy.
Pharaoh Menino?
Flaherty, the chief mayoral wannabe at this point, has gone from subtle jabs at Mayor Thomas M. Menino to full frontal assaults. Bernie Margolis, ousted Boston Public Library president, has likened Menino to Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Flaherty seems to be taking things to biblical proportions.
While frogs, flies, and other plagues were visited upon Egypt because of the pharaoh's enslavement of the Israelites, Flaherty seems to see a Boston-accented version being meted out against defenseless city dwellers - perhaps as punishment for hizzoner's increasingly pharaoh-like reign, which brooks no dissent.
"Rats plague Boston's neighborhoods" was the alarming heading on a Flaherty news release reporting on a recent hearing he convened to get to the bottom of the rodent infestation. "City unprepared" was the simple message line on a news release slamming the city for its poor response to the recent rush-hour snowstorm, the New England version of the biblical hailstorm that pounded the Egyptians.
Michael Jonas can be reached at jonas@globe.com.
