Flaherty starts his mayoral quest

Councilor faces uphill battle

Michael F. Flaherty Jr., a popular city councilor and native son of voter-rich South Boston, launched his campaign for mayor yesterday, saying he wants to bring openness to a city government that is "run behind closed doors and has shut out the public."

In making the morning announcement, sent by e-mail and through a posting on YouTube, Flaherty set off for a decidedly uphill battle: toppling a four-term mayor on track to become the city's longest-serving chief executive who commands sky-high approval ratings and a $1.4 million campaign war chest.

Flaherty pitched himself as a next-generation mayor for Boston. After the e-mail, at 7:17 a.m., Flaherty changed his Facebook status to "Michael just announced he is running for Mayor!" and invited his 1,561 "friends" to visit his website, where he had posted a YouTube video laying out his plans.

"I want to lead this great city as its next mayor," Flaherty said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon. "I love the city. I care deeply about all of our neighborhoods and our city's future, and that's the crux of what my campaign will be about."

Flaherty held no public events, relying on news of his announcement to spread virally through online networking tools, as he went to church and coached two ice hockey games.

His candidacy has long been expected, even before a campaign worker inadvertently leaked his intentions early by posting a test version of the announcement video on YouTube late Saturday night. The video was immediately posted by the widely read blog Universal Hub, a goof that caught his campaign flat-footed on the night before his planned roll-out.

In the video, Flaherty slams Mayor Thomas M. Menino's administration for lacking transparency and failing to involve residents in critical decisions.

"Regretfully, I think this simple commitment to democracy has become overshadowed by a city government that is run behind closed doors and has shut out the public," he said in the announcement, in which he spoke into the camera, sitting at his kitchen table, wearing a tie, with shirt sleeves rolled up.

Menino said last night that he welcomed Flaherty into a race that he himself has not yet officially joined. Menino said he had no timeline for announcing whether he will seek an unprecedented fifth term, because he is focusing on steering the city out of a financial crisis, a $140 million deficit in the next fiscal year. The municipal election is in November.

"I'm not in the mind-set right now for campaigning," Menino said last night as he arrived for a benefit for children with diabetes at a North End restaurant. "I'm in the mind-set of trying to work on this budget."

While he called Flaherty "a friend," Menino defended his administration from the charge that he lacked transparency.

"We've been out there everyday working hard in the neighborhoods," he said. "We've been very transparent in my administration. It's easy to make statements, but you have to do the job."

Flaherty, 39, a former Suffolk County prosecutor, has been signaling his intention to take on Menino for about a year. From Menino's now-stalled plans to build a new waterfront City Hall, to the mayor's effort to get city unions to accept a one-year wage freeze, Flaherty has been a persistent critic.

He has been on a yearlong listening tour of the city's neighborhoods and he has been furiously raising campaign cash, building up a war chest of about $600,000.

But he is likely to be just one member of a crowded field seeking to be the city's chief executive.

Menino all but announced plans to seek reelection in his State of the City address this month. Longtime city critic and failed City Council candidate Kevin McCrea announced his mayoral bid last week. And At-Large Councilor Sam Yoon has been weighing a challenge to the mayor for several months.

Flaherty had kind words for Menino in an interview, but he said that after nearly 16 years, the city needs new leadership.

"He works hard. He has accomplished a lot," Flaherty said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him as a person and as our mayor, but this race will not be about the last 16 years, nor a referendum on his leadership. It will be about the next four years and who is ready to fix our schools, to reduce youth violent crime, battle substance abuse in our communities, to create jobs and deal with the challenging economy."

Flaherty could give Menino a serious challenge, said fellow Councilor John Tobin.

"He already has more money than Mayor Menino's previous two challengers raised combined for their races," said Tobin. "And he's got a pretty decent campaign network out there."

An April 2008 survey of city residents conducted for the Globe by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center had Menino leading Flaherty in a hypothetical match-up 60 percent to 22 percent.

But Flaherty, who has been the leading vote-getter among at-large council candidates for the past three election cycles, commands a strong base of support in South Boston and in the South End, the survey showed. He led Menino 51 percent to 40 percent in those areas, according to the Globe survey.

Flaherty has a full week of campaigning ahead as he rolls out his case for change. He will address the Rotary Club of Boston Wednesday night, speak to parent roundtables Tuesday and Thursday, and greet commuters at T stations and coffee shops, according to his office.

John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.