Ambitious young councilors lose luster
With Tobin’s exit, just 2 of the Young Turks remain in office
They played squash and basketball together, campaigned for each other, and strategized over late night meals. Calling themselves Young Turks, a half dozen clean-cut, ambitious men under 40 had hoped to usher in a new era on the Boston City Council, to pass sweeping legislation and change city governance on a fundamental level. All had aspirations for higher office.
But seven years later, their dreams have failed to materialize, and all but two have left the City Council. This week, West Roxbury Councilor John M. Tobin Jr. announced his departure for a job at Northeastern University.
Some, like Tobin, said they wanted to spend more time with their families. Some left for higher paying jobs. All have shelved any aspirations for higher office.
Those who have served on the council say it can be a difficult place to pursue idealistic political goals.
“The Boston City Council is a great place if you’re going to use it as a bully pulpit,’’ said former councilor John Nucci, now vice president of external affairs for Suffolk University. “But at some point you want to move on to a place where you can really get things done.’’
The city’s strong-mayor form of government largely relegated the Young Turks to supporting roles, and the ordinances they were able to push through, in the end, addressed mainly small-bore issues like discarded shopping carts and out-of-town taxis picking up Boston fares.
The group came together in 2002, with the election of Tobin, Jerry McDermott, and Rob Consalvo. They bonded with Michael P. Ross and Michael F. Flaherty, who had been elected three years earlier, and Paul Scapicchio, who had joined the council in 1998. Together, the six needed only one more vote on the 13-member body to pass whatever legislation they wanted. That vote was often pledged by the councilor they called their “big sis,’’ Maureen Feeney.
In 2003, they were called “a real power bloc’’ and “the ones to watch.’’
But three years later, the exodus began. Scapicchio, who represented the North End and East Boston and had unsuccessfully pushed for the sale of City Hall and a law prohibiting teenagers from hanging out on street corners, announced he was leaving. He became vice president of the government affairs division of law firm Mintz Levin.
McDermott, who represented Allston-Brighton, left the following year. He had chaired the council’s Ways & Means Committee, which reviews and votes on the mayor’s budget, but has no power to change it. At the time, he said he was leaving to spend more time with his family and took a job with Habitat for Humanity. McDermott is now director of the state office of US Senator Scott Brown.
Last year, Flaherty, then councilor at large, made his own exit, mounting a failed bid for mayor. He had been council president and was credited with eliminating some of the antics the council was famous for, such as an ash tray-throwing argument and resolutions about the Middle East. But he also presided over the council when it was sued, successfully, for breaking the open meeting law. He and others from the group had met behind closed doors without notifying the public.
Now, Tobin, who had been rumored to be a potential mayoral candidate in 2013, is taking his leave. During his time on the council, he helped push through a safe haven law, allowing mothers to drop off unwanted babies, no questions asked, at hospitals and fire or police stations. He also championed an effort to provide wireless Internet connections for free across the city, without success.
He joked yesterday about the dissolution of the Young Turks. “It’s kind of like Jordan, Joey, and Donny leaving the New Kids on the Block,’’ Tobin said.
Scapicchio said he remembers being surprised, when on his first day as a councilor, a former councilor told him to plan his exit strategy.
“He said, ‘Paul, you’ve got to be thinking about what you want to do next,’ ’’ Scapicchio recalled yesterday, adding that he soon came to realize the spot he was in. “Either you move up or you go out on your own terms.’’
The only remaining members of the Young Turks are Consalvo, of Hyde Park, and Ross, who is now council president. Ross said yesterday that he will miss the camaraderie and acknowledged that times have changed.
“We’re not Young Turks anymore,’’ he said. Ross said he is not giving up, though.
“I never entered this job because it was easy,’’ he said. “I knew that there would be challenges, and I welcome them. I look forward to continuing that work.’’
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com. 
