There’s been a lot of chatter about Boston City Councilor At-Large Michelle Wu lately, most notably revolving around her decision to back fellow City Councilor Bill Linehan for City Council President. As the unofficial face of the ushering in of a new generation at the helm of The Hub, Wu has been cast as the progressive councilor-elect in contrast to Linehan, an old fashioned Southie-native who continues to make enemies within a crowd of younger Bostonians.
Many Bostonians consider Linehan to be backwards, the relic of a shameful Boston epoch less tolerant to minority groups than most people would like to admit. Most recently he’s expressed his distaste for state Sentor Linda Dorcena Forry, a Haitian-American from Dorchester, to host the classic St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in South Boston.
He also continues to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade despite the fact that participation is exclusive to non-gays, a cited reason why Mayor Tom Menino has boycotted the parade since assuming office 20 years ago.
And he’s an opponent to bike lanes, a means of making Boston greener, safer, healthier, and tailored to a demographic that generally gets behind the wheel less than those of yore.
WGBH’s Peter Kadzis probably summed it up best when he said “There is nothing New Boston about Bill Linehan.”
The thing about the St. Patrick’s breakfast is that it’s traditionally hosted by the state Senator who represents the neighborhood, in this case Dorcena Forry. Linehan contended that the annual event be hosted strictly and solely by a South Boston politician, likely with himself in mind, though it’s not too far of a stretch to think he was initially against Dorcena Forry playing MC because of her heritage and being a woman. But he backed off once Dorcena Forry put her foot down.
His continuous march in the parade is naturally a slap in the face to the gay community, and, as Kadzis notes further, he’s blatantly made an “attempt to gerrymander part of Chinatown out of his council district,” which one could understandably tie to race.
So why is progressive Michelle Wu aligning herself with someone few people seem to like and support and is next in line as Mayor of Boston should incoming Marty Walsh, for whatever reason, vacate the role?
According to Wu, it’s because should Linehan be voted in as City Council President, he plans on regionalizing City Council clout amongst its committees thereby alleviating power from himself. But as Wu told the Dorchester Reporter, throwing her support behind his presidential bid isn’t necessarily an endorsement of his political stances.
“I’m supporting Bill because of his ideas for the structure of the Council and his years of experience in City Hall. His plan to decentralize power and engage individual committees in deciding relevant priorities will empower Councilors to advocate for Boston residents more directly, clearly, and effectively.
To be clear, I don’t agree with every position that Bill has taken, and I have forcefully spoken my mind to him about the areas where we disagree. There’s no question that Bill Linehan and I will have some vigorous disagreements in the future, and I will use all the tools I have to change his thinking and others’ in certain areas.”
And while limiting executive governmental power of any kind at any level can be taken up as a noble cause, intended to give more voice and authority to the people and equalizing the position of the City Council President’s constituents, Wu has taken some serious flack for her decision.
It will be interesting to see how Wu continues to handle the criticism leading up to the City Council election. At this point it seems unlikely she’ll flip flop back to the other side due to popular demand, but stay tuned to BostInno for the latest Boston City Council news. The internal election will take place in January after councilor-elects formally assume office.
