Mayoral race off with a click and a bang

The race to City Hall has begun on the World Wide Web as two candidates have both announced their intention to run for Mayor of Boston over the Internet. City Councilor Michael Flaherty and former City Council candidate and blogger Kevin McCrea have jumped into what may turn into a competitive contest as more prospects announce their candidacy for the Nov. 2009 mayoral race.

Mayoral incumbents have typically prevailed in previous Boston elections. The last mayor to lose a re-election was James Michael Curley in 1949. This trend of incumbents succeeding, along with the high public opinion of current Mayor Thomas M. Menino, has often kept the mayoral race a definite win for Menino.

However, Menino has not yet announced his candidacy. If he does, he would be running for his fifth term. First elected in 1993, Menino has been mayor of Boston for 15 years.

New candidate Kevin McCrea said the city of Boston is ready for a new mayor.

‘I think Boston is ready for change, and ready for someone who owns a computer, so that we can be more efficient and serve the citizens better,’ McCrea said.

McCrea, who is also a popular Boston blogger, announced his candidacy over the Internet on Jan. 22.

He has accused City Hall of having ‘closed-door secret meetings,’ and was co-plaintiff in successful lawsuits brought against City Council for banning the public from meetings.

During Flaherty’s time as City Council president from 2002 to 2006, he banned the public from meetings with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and lost to McCrea’s lawsuits. Flaherty’s apology for the ban was one of his first moves as mayoral-hopeful.

McCrea said he grew ‘extremely frustrated’ fighting secret meetings going on in City Hall, so he decided to run for mayor.

If elected, McCrea said he will offer an honest, transparent government with an open budget. All government information and transactions will be available online if he is elected, he said.

Flaherty announced his candidacy via YouTube Jan. 24. His campaign website encourages a conversation about the city’s needs and offers people an opportunity to sign up to meet him in their own kitchens.

‘I’ve heard a consistent call that our city is ready to move in a new direction, where government starts listening to their residents again,’ Flaherty said in the Jan. 24 YouTube video.

‘This campaign is fueled by resident ideas and motivated by their priorities,’ Flaherty’s spokesman Jon Romano said.

City Councilor At-Large Sam Yoon is also contemplating a run in the mayoral race, according to his spokesman, Jordan Newman. Newman said Yoon will sit with his family next weekend to discuss what a mayoral race would mean to his wife and children. Newman said this is a big decision with many personal considerations.

‘This will be an exciting race whichever way Sam decides,’ Newman said.