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IN LIKE FLYNN
Rising son
BY ADAM REILLY
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Last week, when Ed Flynn, a son of former Mayor Ray Flynn, announced that he was jumping into the Boston City Council’s at-large race, it caught a hefty segment of the city’s political class by surprise. Several other at-large candidates said they’d had no inkling Flynn was planning a run. And one veteran of the Ray Flynn administration professed to have had "not a clue" that Ed Flynn — a 36-year-old substitute teacher and former legislative-affairs specialist at the US Department of Labor — was poised to declare. Why the widespread surprise? It could be due, in part, to Ray Flynn’s metamorphosis since leaving City Hall in 1993 to become Bill Clinton’s ambassador to the Vatican. While Kevin White — Flynn’s mayoral predecessor, and the father of fellow council hopeful Patricia White — remained very much a part of Boston’s political fabric after leaving the city’s top job, Flynn has had a stranger odyssey: returning home to run for governor, then dropping out of the race amid intimations of problem drinking during his ambassadorship; switching gears and running for Congress in the Eighth Congressional District, but losing in the Democratic primary to Mike Capuano; gradually reinventing himself as a spokesman for conservative-Catholic America; and endorsing George W. Bush over John Kerry in last year’s presidential election. An odd path for a man who did an admirable job healing Boston’s racial wounds in the wake of the busing battles of the 1970s, and who stitched together a remarkable coalition of conservatives and progressives during his tenure in City Hall. "He kind of went very insular, hunkered down with his family, and cut off a lot of people from the old administration," Flynn’s former City Hall associate recalls. How the father’s journey will affect the son’s political future remains to be seen. Some observers suggest that Ed Flynn, who was mentioned as a possible candidate in 2001 and 2003, is running to get experience and to build name recognition, with an eye toward eventually succeeding District Two councilor James Kelly — who, like the Flynn family, calls South Boston home. "He wants to be the heir apparent to Jimmy Kelly," one observer says. "This way, he kind of runs a nice, clean race and gets his name out there." If this theory is right, Flynn won’t have to worry about whether his father’s shifting politics will alienate liberal-leaning New Boston voters. But if Flynn’s priority is capturing an at-large seat, he may need to keep his father’s ambiguous legacy at arm’s length. The role Ray Flynn plays in his son’s campaign in the coming months should be a good indicator of the younger Flynn’s real intentions. Ed Flynn did not return a call for comment. But according to several sources, his personality and name recognition should make him a credible candidate. "Eddie Flynn is a good kid — very, very likable," says one. "I would think that if he made outreach to some of the old department heads [from his father’s administration], people would at least be friendly. I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t return his call."
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