Ray Flynn, Mel King endorse Flaherty for Boston mayor

"These gentlemen have previously endorsed everyone from George W. Bush to Ralph Nader," Martin said. "There's a real contrast between this endorsement and the progressive voices -- NOW, MassEquality, and the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters, for example -- that have endorsed Mayor Menino."

While Flynn had previously spoken of his support for Flaherty, and King had spoken of his support for Yoon, their endorsement was rich with symbolism, given their reputation as positive forces in the city’s troubled political and racial history. Flynn is an Irish-American politician from South Boston, King an African-American community leader from the South End.

King, whom Yoon regards as a mentor, said he was pleased that Flaherty had asked Yoon, the first Asian-American city councilor in Boston, to serve as his deputy mayor, if he is elected.

“This combination of Flaherty and Yoon is as symbolic of bringing people together as anything that’s happened here in the city of Boston,” King said. He said it showed that “people of different backgrounds can come together and unite to make the city of Boston better.”

Flynn and King decried the student dropout rate, youth violence, and what they called the chronic lack of jobs in poor neighborhoods that they have seen under Menino's 16-year tenure. Neither man mentioned Menino by name, but both faulted him for failing to make the majority of residents, who don't have children in the Boston public schools, care about the minority who do.

"It's divisive if you don't see all the children as your own," King said.

Their contrasting styles were on vivid display as King, dressed in a black pullover and rumpled pants, quoted Jesus and Khalil Gibran to make his points, while Flynn, a former ambassador to the Vatican who wore a suit and shamrock-speckled tie, cited a papal encyclical on social justice.

“The symbolism is just off the charts,” said state Representative Brian P. Wallace, a South Boston Democrat who worked for the Flynn campaign in 1983 and is writing a book about the race. “Not many people understand that they came from completely different sides. It wasn’t that long after busing, and they were polar opposites.”

Now, Wallace said, “it’s a different time and for them to come forward again today, I think, is huge.”

“There’s an awful lot at stake – the future of the city of Boston and the future of our children and grandchildren,” Flynn said. “Flaherty and Yoon will bring it back to where it needs to be – social and economic justice.”

Flaherty and Yoon both hailed the endorsement, with Yoon saying, "Ray Flynn and Mel King are legends in Boston history."