City Council Campaign Phone Survey: Should Candidates Run Towards, or Away From, the Mayor?

I occasionally see quotations, information, and the like from the Brighton Centered blog appear in other places in the media. But this week I saw it appear in a different form: as part of a political phone survey conducted in Allston-Brighton.

I got a call last Monday night (June 4) from a market research guy working for Connections Strategies doing a phone survey related to the race for the open Allston-Brighton District City Council seat.

• Only seven candidates' names were given in the survey: Benjamin Bloomenthal and Paul Creighton were omitted.
  
• Several key issues questions in the survey were related to institutional expansion.
• An interesting question (approximately): Do you want a City Councilor who will work with Mayor Menino and other elected officials, or who will stand up independently despite the consequences? The poll had several questions related to Menino, suggesting that this candidate has some interest in whether to run towards, or away from, the Mayor.
  
• Fairly accurate descriptions of each candidate were read, asking for a response. I recognize some of that information as having flowed off of this Brighton Centered blog (or the A-B TAB), since there has been little additional information on all the candidates.
• Nothing was blatantly a "push poll," where a poisoned grape is placed in the question to try to build opposition to a candidate, instead of doing actual polling. (Like: "What would you think if Candidate X were found to have twenty-seven wives?")
  

My guess right after hanging up the phone, based on no insider knowledge: it was paid for by the Schofield campaign. I only base this on: (1) a few pieces of information for various candidates that were included or excluded (probably intentionally); and (2) he's the candidate with the strongest fund-raising record in previous elections, and hence is most likely to be able to afford this substantial expense particularly this early in the campaign. I won't mention the exact items leading me to the conclusion in #1, and I'll defer to a future posting the campaign finance data which form the basis for #2.

I am gratified that at least the information from Brighton Centered did not get used in a push poll. Things could've been worse... And it's a sign that the campaign has not turned negative.

The fact that only seven candidates were identified in the poll led me to call up the Boston Elections Department and write about how the other two candidates did not submit sufficient signatures to get onto the ballot. The winnowing of the field from nine to seven had not been reported prior that blog post.

What do you think about the Mayor Menino element in this phone survey? Is the Mayor enjoying high popularity ratings in Allston-Brighton? Or have residents grown weary of his long tenure and the perception of him being pro-development?

Down to Seven Candidates for Allston-Brighton District City Councilor

Two of the nine candidates for the open Allston-Brighton District City Council seat have not submitted sufficient signatures in order to appear on the ballot this fall, according to Doug Currie of the Boston Elections Department.

Paul Creighton did not submit any signatures, while Benjamin Bloomenthal submitted fewer than the required 139.

Withdrawal of Creighton appears to throw a major curve into the election: he got more than 30% of the vote for the seat in 2005 against incumbent Jerry McDermott. Since most of the other candidates live in Brighton, Creighton's withdrawal seems to open up many Allston votes that would have gone to him.

This brings the total number of candidates for the seat down to seven. Objections to ballot certification are to be filed by July 3.

Interview With Council Candidate Paul Creighton

Paul Creighton is no stranger to Allston-Brighton politics: he had a strong showing with more than 30% of the vote against then-incumbent Councilor Jerry McDermott in the 2005 race. He works as the Director of the Allston-Brighton Area Planning Action Council.

Creighton wants to be City Councilor because "being an elected public official is an honorable position to have. I think I can be helpful to the neighborhood."

And he paints a picture of a neighborhood that could use a lot of help:

"The community and neighborhood infrastructure has disintegrated, and there are very few institutions left that would make for a strong community life. The number of people starting families has shrunk tremendously... The schools are less and less meaningful in people's lives. The expansion of the larger institutions (particularly BC and Harvard) are almost a death blow to what I view as a neighborhood life... The degree of change has only accelerated over the last few years."

His list of major issues confronting the Allston-Brighton neighborhood is broad: increasing property taxes; a tight city budget; unaffordable housing; little confidence in the school system; and traffic. He blames many of the problems on the ever-expanding institutions, and the "willy-nilly" way that all the change is occurring. "It's going to be one big dormitory, one big academic institution," he says. "It will be very hard for anybody else to lead a different kind of life that doesn't march to the academic beat."

Looking forward, Creighton maintains that "unless you do something to try to change the culture of city services, it's all going to get worse."

A long-time community activist who started his career in the war on poverty, Creighton still believes "that community action and organization [are] a way to contend with these powerful forces. You begin by organizing people to fight the fight."

Finally, he sees the role of the City Councilor as someone who "has to be out front, not sort of sitting on the sidelines waiting for how the wind blows. The district City Councilors are supposed to be leading... You have to be someone who is prepared to fight City Hall."

Paul Creighton Announces for A-B City Council Seat

Via Harry Mattison and BostonNOW: Paul Creighton has jumped into the race for Allston-Brighton's open seat on the Boston City Council. He is director of the Allston-Brighton Area Planning Action Council, and ran strongly against Jerry McDermott in 2005.

Also reported: Rosie Hanlon of Brighton Main Streets is strongly considering joining the race, too.

As a sign of on-going problems at the City of Boston Elections Department, BostonNOW quotes the Mayor's spokesperson:

According to the mayor's spokesperson Jennifer Mehigan, candidates for Jerry McDermott's seat must file papers by May 15. By May 22, they must submit 139 legible signatures from registered voters in the district who have not signed for another candidate.

I personally called the Elections Department on Wednesday morning, and was told that the requirement was 200 signatures for the A-B councilor's race. (The number of signatures apparently varies by district.) Somebody in City Hall: please get your story straight!