“Voters should pick their candidates based on who’s best for the job — most diligent at council business, and most adept at identifying key issues and addressing them. The contest isn’t about personal ambitions, or any particular neighborhood, race, or gender. It’s about serving the citizens of Boston.
On that basis alone, the four incumbents — Ayanna Pressley, John Connolly, Stephen Murphy, and Felix Arroyo Jr. — have distinguished themselves.
Pressley, 37, came to office two years ago with a knowledge of politics gained in the office of Senator John F. Kerry and an open, engaging campaign style. She’s grown considerably in the job, having helped to forge a compromise on the firefighters’ contract and stood up to some of her African-American supporters in voting to oust bribery-tainted Councilor Chuck Turner.
But her deeper distinction comes from her willingness to promote issues that are far from other officials’ radar screens, such as human trafficking, where she revealed her own experience with a violent pimp who tried to recruit her. Her advocacy for teenage girls ranges from support for sex education, including abstinence, to applying pressure on the Boston schools to activate a long-dormant mandate to help accommodate teen parents.
Pressley’s seat is widely perceived to be threatened by the return candidacy of longtime councilor Michael Flaherty, who gave up his seat to run for mayor in the last election. Some fear the symbolism of replacing the council’s first-ever African-American woman with a white man. That wouldn’t matter as much if Pressley’s presence carried only symbolic weight. But she represents less the principle of diversity than the reality of diversity: Her advocacy for women and girls yields tangible results.”
Read full editorial here.