Boston Pols, circa 1975

Boston Pols by Jack Vaughan, from the BU News, 1975.

Politics hasn't changed that much over the years. Mayor Kevin White, and his lame and inarticulate opponent, Joseph Timilty, both descend from families who have had their hand in the city politic for years. Both men's fathers were Boston politicians. The father of city Councilor Louise day Hicks, the South Boston patron saint of anti-busing, was also an old Boston pol. The Kennedys weren't the only family of Irish politicians, they just went national. Kevin, as the mayor is called by the insiders, even went so far as to marry the daughter of another family's political leader. Visions of the Corleones dancing on our heads.

So as it turns out, The Boston City Council has six out of nine members Irish, and the school committee is entirely Irish. And although there are important issues to be dealt with, 9 times out of 10 it boils down to a little power struggle between the pols , who are all Democrats. Louise Day Hicks and her anti-busing crusade is a case in point. 

In the mid-60s the people in power knew that the schools would have to be integrated. But there were plenty of opportunistic politicians around who smelled votes in the issue. People like Hicks, John Kerrigan, Paul Ellison, built careers on delaying the implementation of busing. They needn't cater to the black voter because they were elected citywide and the Irish vote ruled over all. They did a pretty good job since it was almost 10 years before the busing began. But that's when the shit hit the fan. The poor whites of the city had their hopes blown up by their leaders, who maybe thought they could kid them along forever. No such luck. 

The Mayor, for his part , maintained a fairly liberal position until recently. As one City Hall regular said, “Kevin became a liberal the day he knew he was running against Louise day Hicks. ” Hicks ran and lost against White twice.

But why didn't she run this time, when anti-busing sentiment is strongest and ROAR (Restore Our Alienated Rights) was organizing anti-busing factions? Why in fact didn’t a single anti-busing candidate go after the Mayor? The answer is Boston politics, same as usual.

For one thing, Hicks was afraid she'd lose. Kevin has built up a very imposing patronage machine. The liberal media has greatly underplayed the scandals that bubble up from his administration, fearing that a Wallace-like character would come to rule this enlightened city. 

Hicks went further, though. She successfully lobbied behind the scenes against other anti-busing candidates like Raymond Flynn and William Bulger. 

Like our City Hall insider says, "Hicks supports none of them because she couldn't stand another powerful pol on her turf." People downtown feel that Hicks has struck some silent understanding with the Mayer. And although she maintains the facade, for instance when occupying the Mayor's hotel suite during the course of this summer's National Conference of Mayors, she really doesn't oppose White. He has used his major weapon, patronage, to freeze out the anti-busing groups. Articles last spring the the Real Paper showed how the Mayor gave patronage jobs to relatives of ROAR's leadership. Same thing goes for Louise. He throws a little patronage her way and it solidifies her position in Southie, a place where public services have been sorely overlooked during her golden days of demagoguery. Some observers feel the same thing will happen if John Kerrigan ("The Fighter") or Ray Flynn get on the City Council this year. The councilors depend on the Mayor's jobs in great part to pay off their followers. It's an old system and it's kind of sad, no matter what you think of the anti-busing people, to see them sold out by their leaders. 

Some think Hicks just wants to be register of deeds and take care of her people, her son got a job at the Charles St. jail.

Kevin White has been Mayor since 1968 and there being no real opposition to him, he'll be re-elected shortly. Joseph Timilty, aside from his youth, stutter, and Mattapan residency, is just a mirror version of White. He attacks the Mayor for his national ambition (ever since 1972, when George McGovern almost picked him as a running mate, White and those around him have been tantalized by the idea of "President White." (His use of the Parkman House, which is City property, to woo National Democratic leaders was one of the first issues of the campaign last winter). But Timilty himself hardly impresses anyone that he not he in not just looking for his own piece of the same old political pie.

After eight years, White can look forward to four more years and perhaps many more after that. He can't be stopped until the patronage machine he has built during his reign betrays him. He is at the middle or maybe the beginning of a political career not unlike Richard Daley's or that of the greatest Boston pol of them all, James Michael Curley. He tends in conversation to call Boston “my city.” He's done a lot of good for the elderly, and SummerThing is a good program, but at the base is the old style delivery of goods and services that mark the classic big city machine. 

White, through his lieutenants, has worked ruthlessly to get reelected. His Fire Commissioner was indicted this summer for allegedly pressuring firemen to contribute to the mirror's re-election. Similar pressures were reported in the Youth Activity Commission, and the Federal Governments CETA (Comprehensive Employment Training Act) program was used to recruit workers for White's campaign. If you were willing to work for his election, you were eligible for the job. The Boston Finance Commission released a report showing that rules stipulating bidding on city contracts over two thousand dollars have been virtually ignored by White’s administration.

WBZ-TV recently found a builder prepared to swear that he was pressured into making contributions to White's campaign or risk losing City contracts . Yet these discoveries barely rock White’s campaign. He got the city sewed up and he plays the game better than the rest.

A lot of smart people are quite amused by Boston politics. Dapper O'Neil parades like W.C. Fields in front of cameras in the City Council chambers. The old rain-coated nicotine-stained reporters laugh at Louise Day Hicks’ little girl voice. Even his detractors say, “You gotta hand it to Kevin.” But basically, they're playing their own little game in the face of the terrors that confront our city. 

Boston Mayor Kevin White attacks
Faneuil Hall in search of buxom Fay Wray.