Climbing Above the Culture Clash

municipal elections, demonstrating
broad popularity beyond his Irish
roots to appeal to constituencies as
diverse as the Vietnamese and Russian
communities. Through his “Kitchen
Table Conversations Tour,” Flaherty
has met with Boston residents to
hear their ideas to improve the city.
make the city government’s budgeting,
record-keeping and planning accessible
to the public; and a data tracking
and analysis system called CitiStats,
already in use within several U.S.
cities, including Somerville.
Another important campaign theme
is keeping families in Boston, with
“
When it comes to public safety, especially
youth violent crime, we’re not going to be
able to arrest and prosecute our way out of
the problem.
”
working people, and the role of unions
in securing those conditions. He also
stayed active in his old neighborhood,
coaching Little League and youth
hockey and serving as director of the
South Boston Citizens Association.
Flaherty credited Professor Robert Volk,
director of BU Law’s Legal Research
and Writing Program, with teaching
him to research and write like a lawyer
in that first year, as well as keeping an
eye on his extracurricular activities.
“Professor Volk was always looking
on, making sure I was doing what I
was supposed to be doing,” he said.
He reached out to the city’s expanding
gay and lesbian population, becoming
the first citywide elected official to
endorse same-sex marriage in 2001.
He later helped push through the
council an ordinance known as the
transgender protection law, which bans
discrimination against people based on
their gender identity or expression.
Flaherty also draws upon his personal
experiences to inspire his political
views. His pitch for mayor sounds
themes that have preoccupied him
since his ADA days: turning around
the public schools, reducing youth
violent crime, decentralizing policing
to give more power to district
police captains, and streamlining
government spending by making
decisions based on real-time data.
One of his major priorities is to bring
greater transparency and accountability
to government operations, which he
says will help the city identify areas
of wasteful spending. He advocates
using such tools as the Internet to
such proposals as increasing affordable,
family-sized housing and expanding
neighborhood crime watches.
“I’m a city kid. I was born and raised in
the city,” said Flaherty, 40, who grew
up in Boston and still lives in his old
neighborhood with his wife, Laurene,
and their four children, three of whom
attend the Murphy School in Dorchester.
Flaherty’s own education took him
from Boston College High School
to Boston College and then to BU
Law. The first year of law school was
tough, he said, not least because he
continued to work as a driver for
Airborne Express Company, a job
he’d had since leaving high school.
While learning torts, contracts and
other 1L subjects, he was working as a
courier, delivering freight to warehouses
citywide, and loading and unloading
airplanes at Logan Airport. As a member
of Teamsters Local Union 25, he
gained a first-hand understanding of
the importance of “good wages, good
benefits and good safety conditions” for
In his ambitious campaign, Flaherty
said he refrains from ugly politics. He
conceded that Tom Menino was good
for the city when he first took office in
1993, but also said he believes that a new
generation needs a new kind of politics
— with a new politician to lead the way.
Flaherty’s hope is that his approach
to politics and governing, coupled
with his longtime love for the city,
will persuade Boston voters that it’s
time for a change — and that he is
the best candidate for the job.
So far, his hard work has paid off —
Flaherty took second place in the
September primary, and will face off
against Menino in November. In The
Boston Globe, Flaherty told his followers
on primary night, “If everyone in this
room stands with me, rolls up their
sleeves, and helps me throw a shoulder
into this effort, we will change Boston.” •
For more information on how Flaherty does in November,
go to www.cityofboston.gov/elections/results.
8 | Boston University School of Law | www.bu.edu/law