Brighton's Russian Jewish Elderly Vote: Menino, Ciommo, Connolly, Murphy, Arroyo

Russian Jewish elderly voters in Brighton (e.g., at Wallingford Road, Ward 21, Precinct 13) have received their directions as to whom to vote for in the preliminary municipal election:

• Mayor: Thomas Menino, incumbent
• District 9 City Councilor: Mark Ciommo, incumbent
• City Councilor-At-Large: John Connolly, incumbent; Stephen Murphy, incumbent; and Felix Arroyo, Jr. (no fourth vote)

These directions usually originate from the precinct boss, Ukrainian-born Naakh Vysoky, and indicate for whom the many elderly residents of the senior housing should vote. A sample ballot for the precinct -- in Russian and filled out with the names of these candidates filled-in -- was obtained from an elderly voter and is shown here [right].

These voting directions normally move up to 500 votes for the favored candidates in the elderly Russian Jewish community in that heavy-voting precinct.

In the 2007 District 9 race, Greg Glennon carried 21/13 in the preliminary, but Mark Ciommo was able to work the vote hard to win the precinct in the final. This year, it appears that Ciommo has a clear edge to rack up these votes.

Given Mayor Menino's influence in that community, and Councilor Ciommo's experience as former director of the Veronica Smith Senior Center, it is not surprising that they are on the voting directions. Councilors-At-Large Connolly and Murphy are not so surprising, either, given their incumbency status.

But why is Felix Arroy Jr., the son of former Councilor-At-Large Felix Arroyo, also getting their vote? I haven't figure out the answer to that one yet.


UPDATE: A Russian speaker has kindly made the following translation of the Cyrillic at the top of the flyer:

The Russia-speaking community calls on you to take part in the elections
On September 22, elections will be held in our city, and we ask you to show your support for the candidates involved with our community. You may address them if you need any help. Please mark in the bulletin the names printed in bold.