ELEPHANT CORNER: From Whitey Bulger … To Philadelphia

Monday, a Boston jury convicted JAMES (“WHITEY”) BULGER of racketeering charges and involvement in 11deaths. Whitey Bulger had been on the lam for 16 years. Article after article included graphic details of his criminal exploits. But what’s more fascinating is the failure by the media in large part to mention Whitey’s brother WILLIAM “BILLY” BULGER, former President of the Massachusetts State Senate and former President of the University of Massachusetts. Billy did ask the media to respect his and his family’s privacy during His brother’s trial. It looks like they complied. If this case was tried in Philadelphia and the defendant was the brother of Pennsylvania Senate PRESIDENT JOSEPH SCARNATI (a Republican), every time his brother’s name was mentioned in the media, so would have been the Senator’s.

The kind treatment by the media may have been to honor Billy Bulger’s service. However, he was not a sainted public servant. He was a vindictive street pol. Billy had a stranglehold on his working-class electorate in his district in South Boston through patronage jobs and entitlements. Likewise, he was able to rise to power within the State Senate by forming relationships based on favors and back-room dealings.

What solidified his power also is what prevented him from becoming Mayor of Boston, which he desperately wanted. Some would blame this on the specter of Whitey, but many believe it was because he alienated the liberal, more-idealistic part of the Democratic Party that he needed to win citywide. That was probably good for the city, as he more than likely would have been as bad a Mayor as JAMES CURLEY, whose poor policies and corruption chased taxpayers out of Boston.

But then, MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER was also able to appeal to a wider Democratic electorate. Yet he has done nothing to improve the efficiency and transparency of our city government. He not only has not improved tax policies to attract businesses and jobs to city, but has raised taxes every year he has been in office. Maybe the answer is not a better Democratic Mayor; maybe we need a Republican.

Upon taking the lead of the Republican City Committee, CHAIRMAN JOHN TAYLOR established three new committees: Finance, Policy and Recruitment & Registration. Last week, initial meetings were held for all the committees at the new RCC office on Cottman Avenue. All three committees are of vital importance to the expansion of the depth and breadth of the party.

We need to raise money, but we need better messaging to appeal to the deep pockets that have stayed on the sidelines in Philadelphia for years but have donated to federal and state Republican candidates and causes. We need to recruit more committeemen in areas that have not seen Republicans for decades. The 64,000-foot message is our city government is broken and we need to make it more efficient and transparent. We also need a better tax structure that will attract new businesses and thus jobs to the city.

While the devil is always in the details, I believe these committees have the talent and passion to move in the right direction.

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