Council presidency eludes Saunders

Council presidency eludes Saunders

David G. Yosifon

It happened again last week. For the second straight year Roxbury's City Councilor Gareth Saunders offered himself as a last-minute candidate for City Council president. And for the second straight year, he was easily defeated by James Kelly, the incumbent council president from South Boston.

Saunders's short-lived candidacy bewildered many political observers and angered some of his colleagues on the council, several of whom told the Banner they first learned about it from newspaper reports over the weekend, and did not hear from Saunders himself until the morning of the vote.

Saunders said he had been talking casually with fellow councilors for several months about a possible run for council president, but he avoided a formal announcement in order to hold off any early effort to quash his candidacy.

The only chance of unseating Kelly, Saunders reasoned, was a last-minute surprise attack that did not leave Kelly or Mayor Thomas Menino, a Kelly supporter, a chance to twist councilors' arms.

"It was a planned and premeditated strategy," Saunders said.

The strategy seems to have backfired.

"I think it was very disrespectful," said Councilor Maureen Feeney of Dorchester, who said Saunders first asked for her support just hours before the council met to vote.

"To me it was just somewhat of a ploy to read his name in print," she said.

Saunders, though, would have none of his colleagues' criticism, and fired back at Feeney:

"Any person of color who thinks they want to vote for Maureen Feeney should come talk to me first," he told the Banner.

Other councilors, however, said Saunders' timing probably made little difference to the final outcome. Kelly had the votes and no amount of planning would have carried the day for any opponent.

"Councilor Kelly did his homework and he had his votes secured," said Councilor Charles Yancey, who supported Saunders.

Saunders had hoped to make political hay of Kelly's vocal opposition to affirmative action and domestic partner legislation over the past year. Kelly drew criticism from several councilors this summer when he orchestrated a public hearing on ending affirmative action in the city's police and fire departments. After Kelly's contentious performance at the hearing, speculation circulated through City Hall that a majority of councilors might join together to wrest the gavel from Kelly's hand in the new year.

Saunders billed his candidacy as an alternative to what he termed Kelly's "divisive" use of the council's bully pulpit.

In a letter sent to several news agencies last week announcing his candidacy, Saunders wrote:

"President Kelly today still displays myopic views very similar to those he espoused during the turbulent 1970s anti-busing campaigns. These views seem to surface most often surrounding issues of race relations, fair housing, public education, desegregations, gay/lesbian rights, equity and diversity in the workplace."

In the end, however, it seems that speculation about Kelly's weakening hold on power was merely a mirage.

"I don't think it ever really fully materialized," Yancey said.

On Monday, only Yancey and Back Bay Councilor Thomas Keane supported Saunders over Kelly. And Keane made it clear that his vote was more anti-Kelly than it was pro-Saunders.

"I don't want to comment about who would or would not make a good president," Keane said, responding to a Banner inquiry about his vote. "Gareth was the only alternative so I voted for him."

Keane, who attempted his own run at the presidency last year, before running into the Kelly juggernaut and dropping out, told the Banner that he has not yet decided whether he will seek re-election to his district seat this year.

At-large councilors Peggy Davis-Mullen, Stephen Murphy, and Albert "Dapper" O'Neil, as well as district councilors Feeney, Maura Hennigan, Brian Honan and Paul Scapicchio all supported Kelly. Councilor Daniel Conley, of Hyde Park, and atlarge Councilor Francis "Mickey" Roache were both absent from the vote due to deaths in their families.

And so Kelly will head the council again in 1999, and will again enjoy substantial control over the body's agenda, public presence, and committee assignments.

In an impromptu acceptance speech, Kelly said his priorities for 1999 would include finding ways to ensure quality public education and affordable housing for middle-class city residents.

As Kelly begins his unprecedented sixth term as council president, Yancey and Saunders both said the political reality is that the majority of councilors will continue to support Kelly, whether or not they agree with his conservative positions, so as not to alienate South Boston voters who turn out in large numbers for city elections.

"The message is that councilors are not going to trade 10,000 votes that come out of South Boston for 2,000 votes that come out of Roxbury," said Yancey.

Yancey said he believed Kelly would remain council president until he steps down or until new councilors were elected who do not rely on Kelly's South Boston voters for their own base of support.

"Therefore the onus is on our community," Yancey said, "To be more politically involved so our views will be represented when it comes to votes like this."

Saunders concurred.

"We have to show that the road to an at-large seat runs through Roxbury, not just South Boston."

Saunders told the Banner that he is himself considering a run this year for one of the four at-large city council seats which represent the entire city. No African American has held an at-large seat since Bruce Bolling left in 1994.

Saunders noted that if he were to run for an at-large seat, it would open the opportunity for another person of color to reach the council through his current District 7 seat, which is heavily populated by African Americans.

Saunders said he will gauge the depth of financial and political commitment among his supporters, and decide by the end of this month whether he will run at-large or for his district seat.

Photo (Gareth Saunders)