Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy decried “mean girl politics” after her latest late file order was blocked again by Councilor Sharon Durkan, this time delaying a hearing on ways to restore firefighter cancer screening funds.
Murphy and Durkan have been locked in the same battle for weeks — as Durkan has repeatedly blocked Murphy’s late-file proposals at the end of weekly meetings — but the matter has reached a boiling point of late.
Murphy insists Durkan’s motivation to block her proposals is personal, and is impeding Council business. After the latest block at the end of Wednesday’s Council meeting, Murphy intensified her criticism of Durkan, accusing her of exclusive “mean girl” behavior — as popularized in the 2000s-era movie.
“Mean girl politics has no place in City Hall,” Murphy said in a statement she quickly issued after the meeting. “Councilor Durkan can dislike me all she wants, but blocking public business because of personal feelings is not leadership.”
This week’s block by Durkan appeared to particularly irritate Murphy, as it came on the heels of a communication she filed with the Council last week, slamming Durkan for “repeatedly” blocking late-file orders from being considered at the end of meetings, saying Durkan’s behavior is “personal, petty” and “targeted.”
Durkan has been objecting to late-files, many of which have been proposed by Murphy, before they can be read into the record, which Murphy has argued limits transparency around Council business, as the public is left unaware of the filings.
Durkan says, however, that she’s driven by the need to uphold the state’s open meeting law, which requires proper notice of agenda items for meetings of public bodies, and that late-files should be allowed only if they rise to an emergency level.
After Durkan’s objection, Councilor Ed Flynn, an ally of Murphy, asked Council President Liz Breadon to read Murphy’s late-file into the record, and walked out of the Council chamber after Breadon said she wouldn’t, due to Council rules.
“I’m not reading it into the record if it’s not properly before the body,” Breadon said.
Murphy then tried to circumvent Council rules by stating what her late-file was for during Council announcements, a portion at the end of the meeting where councilors are limited to sharing updates like birthdays and community events but is often abused by councilors seeking to get in a last word on previous business.
“My announcement is that we are, in a few weeks, going to be taking votes on the budget,” Murphy said. “This was an emergency hearing regarding immediate replacement for funding for the Boston firefighter cancer screening, health screening, and mental health supports.
“Myself, Councilor (John) FitzGerald, and Councilor Flynn, we’re hoping to get this scheduled sooner rather than later, and now we’re going to have to wait another week,” Murphy said, adding while Breadon was trying to cut her off, “It’s just a shame that this is where the body has gone to. We all can have a cheat sheet about Robert’s Rules of Order, or we could just work as a body.”
Breadon then said, “This is not an announcement,” to which Murphy replied, “Well, I’m done. Move on. Thank you.”
Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune, the Council president last term, and Julia Mejia then rose to speak during announcements, to largely share supportive words for Breadon — though Louijeune also announced that Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata had recently given birth to her first child.
“I just want to give you the respect that is due to you as chair,” Louijeune said to Breadon. “So I just want to thank you for trying to move this meeting along. I know that it can be difficult.”
Mejia added, “I want to just echo and rise and thank you publicly. I know it has not been easy, and I know that sometimes I make it harder for you as well, but I’m also trying to balance all the drama and trauma that you have had to experience here in the chamber.”
Murphy’s late-file order centered around concerns expressed by fire officials about the city’s loss of $1.4 million in federal grant funding for health and wellness programs such as mental health and early detection cancer screenings, at a Monday Council hearing on the fire department budget.
Murphy is calling for the city to restore the lost funding by dipping into its “nearly $1.8 billion” reserve fund, saying the “screenings save lives.”
The city budget has been proposed at $4.9 billion, representing a 2.1% increase, and councilors have been mobilizing to potentially reject the mayor’s budget and seek additional funding due to painful cuts like that one. In response, Mayor Michelle Wu told councilors Thursday that such a move would be “fiscally irresponsible” and she would not increase her budget.
Murphy on Wednesday accused Durkan of weaponizing the Council rules to block her proposals out of personal dislike, and asserted that Durkan “was talking over me while I am trying to file a matter, then smiling afterward like blocking public business is some kind of victory.”
Durkan’s actions, per Murphy’s statement, are “immature and unprofessional.”
Through a spokesperson, Durkan said Friday that her blocks are procedural, not personal, and she supports trying to find ways to restore funding for firefighter cancer screening.
“Councilor Durkan’s objection was strictly procedural, and not political or personal,” Durkan’s spokesperson said in a statement. “Normalizing late-files undermines public transparency and violates the spirit of Open Meeting Law.
“The health of our city’s firefighters is an urgent priority, and she is committed to ensuring that the loss of federal funding does not leave a gap in support for these critical services. Councilor Durkan believes this can be addressed through the budget process, or through external partnerships, both of which she will eagerly champion.
“Rather than engaging in personal or online attacks,” the spokesperson said, Durkan “has reached out to Councilor Murphy directly to sit down and discuss how they can best work together to serve their shared constituents.”
Councilor Sharon Durkan has been blocking late-files at nearly every meeting. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)