Last night, I met with the other six city council candidates who failed to advance past the September 22nd preliminary. The meeting was organized by Bill Trabucco (at the far left), an honest and passionate voice for the working class and one of several candidates whom I am now happy to call a friend. At Bill’s request, former candidate for mayor Kevin McCrea was kind enough to host the gathering at his home in the South End (where a strict no-shoes policy is enforced, on behalf of the ornate hardwood flooring).

Over pizza and soda, we shared humorous stories from the campaign, speculated about our future plans, and got to speak more freely than it is ever possible to do in the heat of a political race. The most interesting stories were those of self-realization: at least one candidate was happy to tell us that he had come away secure in the knowledge that he is not a “politician” and would seek to work outside of the system in the future. Another seems already to be gearing up for a second run (his new voice-mail message ends with an enthusiastic “See you in 2011!”). Several expressed a wish to spend more time with family, after many months of life in the public eye.

Can you imagine a Boston City Council that included these seven earnest and committed citizens? We are a diverse group in the truest sense of the word - not in the stale and superficial sense that has come to dominate the political discourse. In our collected life experience, we have Democrat, Republican, and Independent; we have Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and Jamaica Plain; we have public, private and parochial schools; we have native-born and immigrant; we range in age from 27 to 52; we have an EMT, a pastor, a musician, a radio host, a consultant, a seasoned public servant, and a small businessman. In a truly “new” Boston, people like us - with widely diverging political views - could come together to solve the problems that hurt EVERY neighborhood, and that our leaders have failed to address in any substantive way. For me, the system of government-run education is one that will be reformed only when honest and courageous leaders step forward to speak the truth to power. I hope that each of these men will join me as I work to organize the parents of Boston around the idea of school reform through decentralization.

Thanks to Bill, Ego, Rob, Jean-Claude, Scotland and Hiep for running clean, respectful and substantive campaigns! See you soon, back on the trail.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 1:19 PM and is filed under Ballot Signatures, Council Candidates.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.