Marxists for Keynes is following the upcoming elections for Boston City Council - at least as well as it can this early in the game, and without a plethora of local newspaper coverage. Last night Greater Boston had an entertaining airing of the Ward 4 candidates for Council - Charles Yancey, Ego Ezedi, and Arthur L. Sutton - in a joint appearance that soon devolved into a free-for-all shouting match. Ezedi and Sutton are clearly opposing the do-nothing approach of Yancey (Sutton even made a good dig at Yancey’s Sammy Davis, Jr. Day proposal). It was a shame that Ezedi, the most appealing of the candidates, couldn’t specify what he would do, but only said that he served with Mike Capuano. A resume is not a policy plan. But he made the excellent point that City Council is not US Congress or even the State Legislature and its activities should be focused on governing the city, not broad policy decision.
This is why I am finding this race so relevant, even though I don’t live in Ward 4. I call it the Rule 19 factor. Rule 19 is the provision that mandates that the City Council discusses only business relevant to the city; its violation can lead to the council president declaring the business out of order. Several of the councillors - Yancey, Felix Arroyo, Maura Hennigan and Chuck Turner - have called for the repeal of the Rule and Yancey and Arroyo in particular have been diligent in proposing self-righteous declarations on national foreign policy. Most recently, Arroyo fasted in protest of the Iraq war (though for some, skipping breakfast is a diet, not a hunger strike). Principal stances can be fine, but it’s time for city councillors to stop confusing grandstanding with leadership. Unless some extreme mitigating factor is involved (say, creationists wanting to overturn the School Board), I am using the Rule 19 factor as rule of thumb for support in the upcoming council election.
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