Tag Archives: maureen feeney

Hiatus…

Posted by thebastard on

Sorry for the absence, I’ve been getting wrapped up in agriculture. I’m still posting on DigBoston.com, somewhat regularly.

July 12
Soap Box Derby
With one last congratulatory circle jerk, the city’s budget season mercifully ended last week, with every councilor ultimately approving the operating budget, while Mike Ross was the only councilor willing to make a show of opposing the school budget.

If the closing the Council’s budget votes serves as any indicator, schools are likely to rank high on the issues list in the 2013 mayoral race.

Whether they bothered to pay attention or not, voters got a taste of that race during the last few months worth of school budget hearing, with Ross and John Connolly, not to mention Charles Yancey, taking one last opportunity to squeeze some grandstanding out of the process.

Read more at DigBoston.com


May 25
Dark Horse
John Connolly had better watch his ass, I’m starting to think that fellow City Councilor Mike Ross may also be considering a run at the mayor’s office next year, and who can blame him — he’s got the charisma, cash and quite possibly the fire to make it happen.

The 14-year Council veteran may also be the last hope among the former Young Turks to take on the mayor in 2013.

Ross has charisma. He’s doesn’t have John Tobin-level charisma, but he is likable – certainly more so than Consalvo who always seems like he has a baby in his trunk he’s willing to sell.

Read more at DigBoston.com


May 15
Bosom Buddies
Mitt Romney and Eric Fehrnstrom are like two peas in a pod – a hateful, homophobic, douche bag pod.

This week’s announcement from Barack Obama that he supported Same Sex Marriage, naturally elicited directed attention towards Romney’s homosexual issues track record, which resembles the pock-marked pizza face of an overly-aggressive awkward teen who hates the world almost as much as himself.

Recently news has come out on that Romney was an asshole in high school, and not just any wedgie-administering, swirly asshole. We’re talking a homosexual slur spewing, hold-you-down-and-cut-your-hair kind of asshole. But really, this shouldn’t be news. Everyone who lived in Massachusetts during his miserable reign from the governor’s office knows that he has a serious problem with homosexuality.

Read more at DigBoston.com


May 9
Asleep on the job
The annual municipal budget season is always a mixed bag for journalists in Boston, who on one hand, get to see a stream of hearings that provide opportunities for city councilors to posture over their various pet causes, while on the other hand, having to endure hours of mind-numbing budget talk.

This is the time of year that the usually powerless City Council gets incredibly busy. It’s also the time of year when the majority of Boston journalists pay even less attention to municipal politics.

As an example to the nuances of budget discussions, considering the recent comments from a City Council meeting in regards to a $558,394 supplemental appropriation to the city’s transportation budget.

Read more at DigBoston.com


April 24
Party Crashers
I heard a rumor that Suzanne Lee and Maura Hennigan were both seen at the South Boston vigil for Barbara Coyne – the 63-year-old woman stabbed last week, politicking in some form or fashion.

This was just a rumor, but it’s so easy to believe, because really, would it actually be shocking to see a Boston politician using the tragic death of a constituent as an opportunity to drum up for electoral support.

Hennigan was supposedly collecting signatures for her 2012 reelection bid as Suffolk County Clerk, while Lee was supposedly campaigning for 2013.

Read more at DigBoston.com


April 18
Fuzzy Math
Late last year, former Boston City Councilor Maureen Feeney was railroaded by public opinion in her attempt to effortlessly transition into a higher-paying gig as City Clerk, which included a pay bump and an estimated possible $60,000 a year in additional wedding fee collections.

In response last week, the Boston City Council put in place new “rules” because as elected officials it’s always good to at least fake the desire to make shenanigans more difficult for yourself to get away with.

The City Council can’t prevent the City Clerk from collecting without a home rule petition to the state legislature, which slows down the process so much, that if the Council went that route, they would likely loss any political capital that comes from making a show of actually giving a shit about honesty in government.

Read more at DigBoston.com

Feeney’s foible

Posted by thebastard on

A shortage of power suits has hit the Boston City Council Chamber.

 

There was at least a modicum of outcry when news hit that City Councilor Maureen Feeney had quietly quit her job days after this month’s municipal elections, so that she could become the City Clerk by the end of the year.

Just two days after the Nov. 8 elections where Frank Baker topped City Hall-Favorite John O’Toole to replace the retiring Feeney, Dorchester’s nine-term Councilor slinked into the annals of the Boston political grave yard by quietly filing her resignation, two months shy of the end of her final term.

The speculation was that Feeney has had her eye on the cushy City Clerk gig, giving her a pay raise with the added bonus of wedding fees to replace having to contend with constituent services for Boston’s biggest neighborhood.

By transitioning from the Council to City Clerk, Feeney stands to go from a $87,500 salary up to $103,000 with the added bonus of wedding fees, which was recently estimated to be as high as $68,000 a year.

The Bruins were responsible for the City Clerk getting a new boat this year.

The City Clerk position tends to be reserved for retired City Councilors and requires that those who are chosen for the job have been off the council for at least 30 days. By resigning early, Feeney would become eligible in time for the City Council meeting of the year – Dec. 14. By the way, the City Council votes on the City Clerk appointment.

It was assumed that the Council would wait until Feb. 2012 to vote in Feeney, primarily because she said she would serve out her term when she announced last spring that it would be her last. If she had gone through with that pledge, Feb. 2012 would be the soonest that the Council could lawfully made her City Clerk.

So why did Feeney bother to resign early? One thing to consider is that by quitting Nov. 10, she’ll be eligible for the City Clerk position as early as Dec. 14 – the last City Council meeting of the year.

The only difference between the Council in December and the one that will meet in January will be the addition of her successor Frank Baker, the candidate she campaigned against. So maybe she jumped the gun with her resignation once she realized she had backed the wrong horse.

Pun intended.

I’ve always had the impression that there was something dirty about Feeney. Not in a Sal DiMasi or even a Chuck Turner kind of dirty, but more as a party hack who has no qualms with being a loyal cog in the machine. The sort of thing that probably isn’t illegal, but still manages to leave a fowl taste in your mouth.

Feeney rose to prominence in the Boston political scene jumping from legislative aide to replacing her retiring boss, Jim Byrne in 1993. For over a decade, Feeney played her role as a typical district councilor more engrossed with their own district than with aspirations to higher office.

That changed in 2007, when Michael Flaherty was bumped out of the Council Presidency and was replaced by Feeney – the first female Council President in about 30 years at the time.

By replacing Flaherty, and in turn supporting a new two-term limit on the council presidency, Feeney took some of the steam out of Flaherty’s political machine, just in time for the beginning of his run at Mayor Thomas Menino’s seat.

At the time, there were plenty of local journalists with no sense of Boston political history past two or three years, who heralded Feeney’s ascension as proof that she was destined for higher office. Instead Feeney’s swan song as Council President was having to be the face of Chuck Turner’s punishment after he was busted for taking bribes while being a black politician.

So the Councilor who has always been a loyal piece in Menino’s chess set, is now cashing in her loyalty for a cushy gig with a pay raise.

It should come as no surprise that her political career has ended with the quiet dignity of an 80-year-old pederast stealing the blanket from a sleeping toddler.