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Menino, Flaherty win Boston preliminary election

E-mail|Link|Comments () September 23, 2009 12:46 AM

Mayor Menino (right) is facing a challenge from City Councilor Michael Flaherty on Nov. 3.

By Donovan Slack and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino surged to the top of the field and Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty Jr. grabbed second place in Boston’s preliminary mayoral race Tuesday, setting up a general election that pits two former allies who have become sharp political adversaries.

Menino captured 50.5 percent of the vote, while Flaherty got 24 percent, beating out the other challengers by a comparatively slim margin for a spot in the final. City Councilor Sam Yoon ended the day with 21 percent, and South End businessman Kevin McCrea got 4 percent.

In their victory speeches, Menino and Flaherty displayed dramatically different postures, potentially foreshadowing a fierce, six-week campaign that will culminate with the Nov. 3 election.

“We’re going to engage in a positive campaign, about the future of the city," Menino told scores of supporters at his election night party at the unadorned headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103 in Dorchester. "Come join us. Together, we will continue to move Boston forward.”

Flaherty, speaking to a room packed with backers at a Dorchester restaurant, signaled he plans to go after Menino aggressively. He said the city cannot wait another four years for new leadership and led the crowd in a chant of ‘‘We can’t wait! We can’t wait!’’

‘‘If everyone in this room stands with me and rolls up your sleeves and throws a shoulder into this effort, we will change Boston,’’ he said.

Tuesday's contest marked the end of the first chapter in Menino's toughest battle for re-election since he took office 16 years ago. Already the longest serving mayor in city history, he is seeking a fifth, four-year term.

Also Tuesday, a wide field of council candidates vied for eight places in the general election. Incumbent councilors John Connolly and Stephen Murphy made the ballot, as did Felix G. Arroyo, Ayanna Pressley, Andrew Kenneally, Tito Jackson, Doug Bennett and Tomas Gonzalez. In a notable development, District Councilor Chuck Turner, under federal indictment on corruption charges, easily topped his race with nearly 53 percent of the vote.

At Yoon’s Election Night gathering at a Masonic social hall in Dorchester, an energized, diverse, and mostly young crowd of about 200 was expectant, upbeat, but realistic that their candidate faced a hard road.

‘‘I want you all to know that there is nothing I regret about doing this,’’ Yoon told his supporters. ‘‘And there is nothing you should regret one iota.’’

Over at Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club, a storied bar in the South End where ‘‘Let the Good Times Roll’’ played on a neon jukebox, a smattering of McCrea supporters watched results coming in on the lone television. McCrea, wearing a campaign button, said he was happy with the day’s turnout.

‘‘I’m feeling fantastic,’’ he said in an interview. ‘‘People across the city today were thanking me for being in the race.’’

Interviews with voters across the city found that the dominant issue in the campaign wasn't schools or public safety or property taxes, but the mayor himself. Many who voted for Flaherty, Yoon, and McCrea said they were casting ballots not necessarily for one of those candidates, but against the status quo.

In West Roxbury, Jim Ryan, 70, a former newspaper pressman and shop owner, said he voted for Flaherty because ‘‘Menino’s been in there long enough.’’ In Jamaica Plain, teacher Joe Golding, 35, voted for Yoon ‘‘to see new and different plans in Boston.’’ In Roxbury, Omar Franklin, 48, an associate minister, cast his ballot for Flaherty because ‘‘we need change.’’

Still, thousands of voters stood by the longtime mayor, gushing about his record, his personal touch, and his leadership style.

In the South End, Suezanne Bruce, 27, said she cast her ballot for Menino because, ‘‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’’ In Roxbury, 83-year-old Thelma Henderson voted for Menino because ‘‘that’s my man, he looks out for me.’’ In Charlestown, homemaker Patricia Murphy, 64, said Menino must be a good mayor to still be in office.

‘‘If he was a bad person, he would have been voted out a long time ago,’’ she said, ‘‘because the voters are not foolish.’’

The race energized more voters than in any mayoral preliminary since Menino took office, with 81,641 residents casting ballots. That was nearly double the amount that voted in each of the last two preliminary elections, in 2005 and 2001.

The highest turnouts were in South Boston and West Roxbury, both hotly contested battlegrounds. South Boston, Flaherty’s home neighborhood, logged more than 7,500 voters. In West Roxbury — home to many city employees, who have supported Menino, and firefighters, who are backing Flaherty — nearly 9,400 residents voted.

One 81-year-old West Roxbury voter said the battle outside mirrored his internal struggle, which also was ‘‘more or less a conflict between Menino and Flaherty.’’ But the retired clerical worker, Richard Fallona, said he ended up voting for Menino.

‘‘He’s kept at it,’’ said Fallona, wheeling a shopping cart as he stopped by to vote on his way to the grocery store. ‘‘He’s kept Boston moving.’’

But another voter, Brendan Adams, 36, who works in the schools, opted for Flaherty.
‘‘The Boston public schools, they’re a mess,’’ he said. ‘‘We need new leadership. We need someone who’s actually going to be sitting behind the desk, not just cutting ribbons all day.’’

Andrew Ryan, Eric Moskowitz, Stephanie Ebbert, Brian MacQuarrie, Milton Valencia, and Brian Ballou of the Globe staff, and Globe correspondent Jeannie Nuss, contributed to this report. Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.