New Balance Chairman Jim Davis greets employees and guests during the opening of New Balance’s athletic footwear factory in Methuen last year. (Amanda Sabga/Boston Herald)
The Boston old boys’ network that used to run the city is trying to flex its withered muscles to tilt the City Council race in what could be a last gasp at power.
The group of power brokers is funding a new super PAC that’s running ads supporting a slate of more conservative candidates.
But it’s questionable whether the strategy will work.
The old Boston — once controlled by politicians like Marty Walsh and Ray Flynn — is gone.
It’s been replaced by Michelle Wu’s Boston.
The first term mayor put together a coalition of progressives to win the last election and install a number of progressive Democrats like Kendra Lara and Ruthzee Louijeune on the council. They now run the city.
Southie’s Ed Flynn is still the council president for a few more months but he lost control of his more liberal colleagues a long time ago.
The Wu administration has effectively shut out the once powerful network represented by businessmen like New Balance’s Jim Davis.
Davis is now almost entirely funding the super PAC called Forward Boston which was formed last month and is spearheaded by PR maven George Regan. Davis contributed $150,000 to the super PAC, records show.
The name Forward Boston is ironic because Boston moving forward is the reason why politicians like Wu now control the city. Progressives and politicians of color now represent the new Boston, which has changed dramatically over the last few decades.
Wards in West Roxbury and South Boston still come out in force on election day but so do sections of Boston in Dorchester and Jamaica Plain, especially in general elections.
Davis and Forward Boston is counting on a less than stellar turnout of wards in JP and Roxbury and Beacon Hill in next week’s preliminary election to elect their slate of candidates.
Records from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance show that Forward Boston is supporting District 5 council candidate Jose Ruiz, a retired Boston police officer, in a tightly contested race that also includes incumbent Ricardo Arroyo and former Wu aide Enrique Pepen.
Ruiz, a conservative Democrat, has also been endorsed by Ed Flynn and former Mayor Marty Walsh. Wu has endorsed Pepen for the seat representing parts of Roslindale and Hyde Park.
Forward Boston is also backing two candidates, Ben Weber and William King, who are running to knock off liberal incumbent Kendra Lara of Jamaica Plain. The super PAC is also spending on behalf of John FitzGerald, a city of Boston official running for an open seat in District 3, which includes parts of Dorchester and the South End.
Davis, who has supported Republicans as well as Democrats like Walsh and the late Mayor Tom Menino, tried to insert himself and his money into the 2021 mayoral contest, backing Annissa Essaibi George over Wu.
Wu easily defeated Essaibi George to become Boston’s first ever non-white-male mayor. That election clearly signified the new Boston coalition has taken over, but not everyone wants to get the message.
