"He's the dean of the council and a resource to all of us. "Either way, I'd hate to lose him," says Councillor Maureen Feeney, the former council president who sits two doors down from Murphy. "The first person that sticks their head out of their rabbit hole gets blasted." "The race of the council presidency is much like the old Bugs Bunny cartoon," Murphy said at the time. A Boston Phoenix story seven years ago, later referenced in the Dorchester Reporter, revealed Murphy's thinking on early electioneering-in this case for the big chair in the Iannella Chamber. He probably will hold his fire as long as possible, if the past is any indication. There's clearly much at stake - and even more up in the air - as Murphy weighs his options going forward: Stay put on the council for a likely term some day as president? Perhaps a bid for mayor when Tom Menino steps down? Announce for state treasurer to fill the vacancy of Tim Cahill, who is running for governor as an independent? Or run for state auditor to replace the retiring veteran Joe DeNucci, who has held the post since 1987.Ī decision, says Murphy, who has served on the council for a dozen years, is likely as the BIR goes to press. "We just want to make sure we don't give voters a niche of anger over something that we control," says Murphy. While elective politics at the city and state level have more to do with local aid than nation-wide healthcare, sage officials these days are hedging their bets. All this framed against the national healthcare debate. Here in Massachusetts, we have approved an income tax rollback that hasn't been implemented, and voted for a Clean Election mandate that the Legislature stopped in its tracks.
We've bailed out Wall Street, and it hasn't trickled down. "There was a flashpoint of anger," says Boston City Council Vice President Murphy, reelected last year to an at-large council seat with 18 percent of the vote, just 346 votes shy of top vote-getter John R. Inside this dense concrete bunker, the political climate is chilling, as observers assess the damage from the storm surge of angry voters that swept Scott Brown into the United States Senate faster than you could say "All bets are off!" It overlooks Faneuil Hall and a swath of Boston Harbor in the distance on this promising late January day when the sun is a bit higher in the sky and the temperature is flirting with the 50s. The view is serene from Stephen John Murphy's office on the fifth floor of Boston City Hall.
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