3 is the Magic Number.....

A wonderful day today. The Globe did a fun article about the talent show, with a good picture of me for a change! I've hired some gentlemen from the New England Shelter for Homeless Veteran's to work on the campaign and they are great, and getting along with the kids just great. They all have nicknames for each other, so I'd like to welcome Speedy and Motormouth to the ElectKevin team. Jamie has put together a long Rap about the McCrea campaign, which is hilarious but unfortuneately not ready for prime time viewing.

They had the drawing for position on the ballot today and I got position 3, which is great. 3 is the magic number as we all know from watching Schoolhouse Rock. "3 is the magic number" is my favorite De La Soul song, and the Big House is full of recurring 3's, from the routered 'keys" in my hardwood floors, to the window pattern, to the rows of maple, to the number of fireplaces, 3 is part of the mathematical puzzles. Needless to say, I hope it is a good omen.

When I was down at City Hall, I ran into councilors Murphy and Tobin. I had stopped in Tobin's office to get his advice on where the voters were in his district, and he offered to give me a call when I ran into him in the hall. Hope he follows up, it would be generous of him to give me that time.

Councilor Murphy was particularly nice. He called me aside and gave me the advice to watch how I spend my money, that it can be very easy to go through money quickly in a campaign. I thanked him, as there was no reason for him to give me that advice other than altruism, as he technically is an opponent of mine. We talked for about 20 minutes, and luckily for him he ran into me at tonights BBQ for Congressman Lynch, and asked me not to write about our conversation on the blog! I respect his wishes, although he gave me some really great stories about some of the less than highhanded business down there. Thanks for your time and advice councilor Murphy!

I was on "All About Boston" with Catherine on BNN at 4:00 today, we had a great give and take I thought. She's got a lot of spunk, and I enjoyed the time.

Later it was off to Congressman Lynch's BBQ where the crew was assembled O'Malley, Yoon, Flynn, White, Connolly, Murhpy. I congratulated John Connolly for getting pole position in the drawing and told him I fully expect to see campaign literature that says "Vote for the #1 candidate, John Connolly", you've got to take your luck where you can get it. I told him I'd be happy to have him tell people I should be their #3 pick, as long as it is in their top 4!

Near the end of the evening, John Connolly, Ed Flynn, Congressman Lynch and I chimed in with the Band on an old ballad of the Irish Immigrant. Thankfully, I think, they had our mikes turned down low. Maybe Ed Flynn has a good singing voice, but I know I don't!

I had an interesting talk with Jack Kowalski, who didn't identify who he was at first, while I was meeting the people at the picnic. He asked me about affordable housing and my positions on it and we also talked about the need for a more representative city council. One that more closely reflects the racial makeup of Boston. After a bit of time he identified himself as a public relations consultant who was going to be working with Sam Yoon. A little bit disengenuous perhaps, but my message doesn't change whomever I talk with, so I don't care. (How many consultants does Sam Yoon have??? Dude, you went to Princeton and Harvard, you are a smart guy trust your instincts!!! It is like Luke Skywalker in StarWars on the Millineum Falcon with his eyes covered, "just use the force") We talked about Sam's campaign, some of the other candidates and about the future of Boston. Nice conversation. He excused some of Sam's stuff on being a neophyte, but after a year of campaigning shouldn't he have a platform? Jack said things would "sharpen up" as we got closer to the election. I am a bit leary of candidates (and sam is far from the only one) who wait until the last minute to take a stand on things.
I told Sam last night I loved the line in the Globe that he would raise the IQ of the City Council just by sleeping at City Hall. We laughed, as Jim Spencer kept a wary eye.....

An apology to Lisa Wangsness for potentially scooping her story. My bad, wasn't thinking.

Patricia White came over to tease me at the BBQ tonight. I was dressed up (for me) in a blue collared shirt and red tie (because I was on TV earlier). She said "Kevin, where is the Red T-Shirt? I thought you were running against all of this", as she indicated with her arm the crowd in front of us at beautifully manicured Curry College. I laughed and told her that "the rich and connected will be welcome in my office as well as the common people. My office is open to all" She and Clara joked about the fact that at least I had on a red tie, and I further let her know that there were many facets of me that I was waiting to spring on the other candidates. She honestly professed to "having no talent whatsoever" when it comes to the talent show. She said she can work a room, but that doesn't have much real world practicality. I told her how Clara didn't want me to twirl the baton because I'm not that good, and as I admitted,its true I'm not very good at it anyway.

Ok, it's late, I'm listening to DEVO ....Use your FREEDOM OF CHOICE!, yes I am a child of the 80's. So over and out, a great day today, I'm feeling good.

Oh, one more thing. The south end news did an article about our day in court against the city council last week. (The only news source in the city that covered this event) Councilor Flaherty released a statement "I am unable to comment on the case now being considered by the court and handled by the city's corporation council. I strongly support the letter and the spirit of the Open Meeting Law. I always have."
Quite a different line from when we filed the suit, when he was happy to comment on it for the press and just called it a political stunt. What has changed, Michael??? You are a lawyer and a democrat. I do not understand how you can believe that holding closed door meetings with the BRA, BU, and who knows who else is good government.
Let's put the past behind us, sit down and settle this suit, and give the city council a chance to regain at least some control over the BRA. The cynical side of me says the only reason for you not to do this is because you want this nearly dictator like control of the city for yourself if you become mayor.