After taking to Southie’s Innovation District to outline his plans for the future of Boston, Marty Walsh stood outside of District Hall where Massachusetts President of the Senate Therese Murray announced her endorsement of the State Rep. After that, the Walsh campaign dispatched an aggressive press release calling for John Connolly to address a polling firm that has been calling up voters and soliciting anonymous negative attacks against Walsh.
Friday morning, the former union leader took to a forum co-hosted by BostInno and the New England Venture Capital Association where Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital and Steve Kraus of Bessemer Venture Partners acted as dual-moderators, posing questions to Walsh from Bostonians via Twitter. Though he may not have wowed the crowd full of young entrepreneurs, startup professionals, venture capitalists, and tech junkies, he did continue to promote his plan to burgeon Boston’s innovation realm by way of departmental collaboration and increased neighborhood accessibility, but severely undercut his position by blatantly saying he had no specific plan for such.
Therese Murray stood alongside Walsh and discussed the importance of the work Walsh has undertaken in his position on Beacon Hill that highlight his effort in the realm of women’s rights, domestic abuse, and leadership in the workplace. Tomorrow, Charlotte Golar Richie will be hosting a women’s rally for Marty Walsh at the Old South Church to further aid the cause.
Perhaps taking center stage in the entire race, though, is the position of both candidates on running a clean non-offensive race. Last week it came to light that a political action committee in support of Walsh had circulated flyers portraying Connolly in a negative light. Connolly subsequently called Walsh on in the next debate, preemptively striking Walsh before he could explain in the very first volley. Walsh, of course, vowed to ask the PAC to cease, though, he acknowledged that he ultimately has no control on how the organization campaigns on his behalf.
But Connolly’s shot may have backfired because press, pundits, and proponents of Walsh remembered during Connolly’s 2007 bid for Boston City Council a similar occurrence taking place on the part of the former Boston Public School teacher.
The latest press release by Walsh’s people features a recent finding by the Boston Globe in which Connolly may be found guilty of hypocrisy. The evidence includes the Connolly campaign having shelled out $18,000 to a polling firm identified as Braun Research, or BR Interviewing, and that the group was behind a collection of phone calls that conveyed anonymous negative attacks against Walsh.
“The voters of Boston deserve to know if John Connolly is being straight with them,” said Walsh in a statement. “The voters want to know if John Connolly is saying one thing in front of the cameras and doing the opposite when no one is looking. John has a documented history of launching negative attacks and denying them publicly, and the people of Boston deserve to know whether he has done so again in this election… Unfortunately, John has stayed silent and refused to say whether his campaign is directly responsible for these attacks.”
Stay tuned to Bostinno to get the latest from the Connolly campaign on the situation at hand, and all other details from the Boston Mayoral race prior to the November 5 election day.
