Plutocracy and its discontents, continued

by Ben Geman

But with the Menino administration estimating that it will be four to six months before anything is in front of the council, there's time for opposing councilors to be swayed. For one thing, the council relies on labor support, and labor wants this deal. "I am disappointed that Roache and Davis-Mullen and some of the others that have asked for labor help in their campaigns did not even ask us what we thought of this proposal before they came out against it," says John Laughlin, communications director for Painters and Allied Trades District Council 35 in Roslindale.

On the air -- and on the record Last week, the day after Boston mayor Tom Menino and top state politicians hammered out a deal for public aid for the Red Sox` stadium project, a number of Boston city councilors started whacking the plan. For the $665 million scheme to fly, two-thirds of the 13-member city council must approve the city's participation in the plan, which includes the use of eminent domain to acquire private land for the new park. Below are some of the comments made by councilors during their July 26 appearances on WTKK 96.9 FM's Margery Eagan and Jim Braude Show. Councilor Peggy Davis-Mullen (at-large): "I'm not moving at all. I've had this position for almost 18 months now -- it's a philosophical position. We need to be building affordable housing, we need to be building schools. . . . I have no interest in giving precious public dollars to a team that is actually talking about getting Sammy Sosa on board. A new ballpark is great, but they need to . . . pay for it themselves." Councilor Maura Hennigan (District Six): "I just don't see this moving forward, and I think that the sooner we kill this, the sooner we can start looking seriously at: do we get a partner to go in on this with the Red Sox who has some deep pockets who can make this happen? Let's look at a site that's much more appropriate, that has the infrastructure." Councilor Chuck Turner (District Seven): "[A]s I watched the news broadcast last night, my wife and I were laughing as we watched them talk about the mayor and the governor and Finneran and Birmingham and the legislature. And they never once mentioned the city council's having a voice in it, but I said to her, `That's their problem' -- because we are there, we do have the statutory power to exercise a decision-making power over this issue, and there is a core of us that is opposed to the plan as it's presently structured and located." Councilor Michael Ross (District Eight): "However it works, I think we have a job to do, and our job is to stand firm on what we've already said, which is that this is not something that we can really get together and support. Whether it's eminent-domain land-taking or taxes or increased fees, I just don't think it's responsible to do it." Councilor Mickey Roache (at-large): "I just don't go against things for the sake of going against them -- I've been listening for over a year to ordinary folks, and it's no surprise where the public, for the most part, is on this issue. They love the Red Sox, but they don't want to use any tax dollars to pay them. . . . There are times, I think, in one's life, particularly as a city councilor, when you have to stand up for the people in the city and you've got to separate whatever you think about the Red Sox and go back to basics." Councilor Jimmy Kelly (District Two): "Right now if the vote were to be held I would vote no. . . . I think in this particular instance, [Mayor Menino] made a major political mistake . . . by excluding the council. He just isolated himself, and I think that by doing so . . . it's going to hurt him, particularly when he thinks he's going to be twisting arms at the city council. . . . None of us like to be treated with disrespect, and I don't want to make more of this than I need to, but it may be coming out anyway -- that a lot of the negativity from the members of the council is because the council has been treated with disrespect by Mayor Tom Menino. He's going to pay for that." -- compiled by Ethan Jacobs

Expect the unions to remind councilors who their friends are. "There has been a long history of union support for a significant number of Boston city councilors," Laughlin says. "You will see an awful lot of unions say, `When you have needed us, you have asked for that help, and now we are asking you to make sure members are holding tools for the next few years on that or other projects.' You will see a pretty intensive lobbying effort by the construction unions in particular."

The council has a history of talking tough before eventually giving Menino what he wants -- even after moaning about being ignored by the mayor's office. Four years ago, several councilors were upset by the lack of information from Menino about the merger of the old Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center Hospital, but the plan ultimately passed. Samuel Tyler, head of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a business-funded city watchdog group, notes that Menino has been able to bring the council in line when he needs to: "The history of mayor-city council relations is that when the mayor really wants something, he is generally pretty successful in getting it."

Observers say that the longer a vote is delayed, the more time there is for Menino and other new-ballpark proponents to sway councilors -- and mend fences. "The longer this goes, the more pressure is brought to bear by the mayor and the unions and the other forces that have influence with the city council, and they will just sort of pick them off one at a time," says former councilor Michael McCormack. "That's the way it works."

This is not lost on Menino. It's not lost on the opponents, either -- anti-stadium councilors understand that time may work against them. Hence, the city council's parliamentary move on Wednesday. At the very least, they want to have a formal say on the issue sooner rather than later.

But it's likely that councilors can't force the endgame before Menino wants it. So expect this saga to drag on. With the financing plan in place, proponents will have time to focus on the neighborhood. In an argument that councilors will hear more of in coming weeks, Jim Rooney, the mayor's chief of staff, says it is important to consider the roadway and mass-transit improvements attached to the deal, and to see them as part of a greater Fenway-area "revitalization" that the park will aid. "The mayor has said all along this is not just about the siting of a park," says Rooney, noting that with the city financing deal in place, Menino wants to "renew the focus on the neighborhood."

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