Boston Phoenix Endorses Ciommo and Re-Election of All Councilors-At-Large

The Boston Phoenix has endorsed Mark Ciommo for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor, and the re-election of all four Boston City Councilors-At-Large -- Felix Arroyo, Michael Flaherty, Stephen Murphy, and Sam Yoon.

Actually, they tried to endorse a fifth candidate for Councilor-At-Large, John Connolly, by writing, "If Phoenix readers looking for guidance in next week’s election disagree with one of our endorsements, we hope they will vote for Connolly." Maybe they couldn't quite make up their mind.

In endorsing Ciommo, they write:

In the hard-fought district race in Allston-Brighton, the Phoenix urges the election of Mark Ciommo, a life-long resident of that neighborhood and the executive director of the Veronica Smith Senior Center. In the years to come, Allston-Brighton will have to cope with the continued growth of Boston College and the unprecedented expansion of Harvard University. During the campaign, Ciommo has made his mark as the candidate best able to fight for the interests of his neighbors while simultaneously engaging the educational powerhouses as potential allies.

In the Councilor-At-Large race, the Phoenix has been the only city newspaper to provide regular, in-depth coverage. The Phoenix's local politics endorsements ought to carry weight from the politically-astute crowd, because their news and op/ed pages have provided information and analysis on which to base editorial board endorsements.

Their endorsements for Councilors Flaherty and Murphy seem to be based on their records and perception that both are continually improving during their time in office. For Councilors Arroyo and Yoon, the Phoenix editorial board appears to be encouraging both to better reach to their potentials as voices for minorities and those who are less fortunate economically. The near-endorsement of Connolly says that he too would be a "welcome addition" to the council.


So there you have it. Between the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Boston Phoenix you have endorsements for both candidates (Ciommo and Glennon) in Allston-Brighton, and all five front-runners (all four incumbents plus Connolly) for Councilor-At-Large. Well, actually the Globe said to "throw the bums out" in the Councilor-At-Large race, and the Phoenix says to "keep the bums in, but maybe substitute a new guy if you want to throw one bum out." The Allston-Brighton TAB will be coming out with their recommendations in the next day or so, and I expect they will stay within these seven names.

So go ahead and try to figure out who to vote for based on media endorsements. You won't see any endorsements here, though.


On a related note, within 24 hours of the Herald endorsement of Glennon I saw stickers plastered to Glennon lawn signs reading, "Endorsed by the Herald," as well as a one-page photocopied flyer left about. No such response from Ciommo, at least that I've seen, about his endorsement from the Globe. Schofield had same-day flyers out in A-B after he was endorsed by the Globe in September.