Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Cornell Mills on Radio Boston WBUR 90.9 fm
http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/03/03/district-seven
Tito Jackson, Cornell Mills Race For District 7 City Council
By ANTHONY BROOKS Mar 3, 2011, 3:50 PM
Longtime Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner was removed from the council after being convicted of corruption charges. Boston is in the midst of a special election to fill the vacancy.
Cornell Mills and Tito Jackson, the two candidates for the District 7 City Council seat. (Composite by Jeremy Bernfeld for WBUR)
After a primary election in February, two candidates emerged from the field. One’s a Beacon Hill insider with ties to the Patrick administration. The other is the son of former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, who is currently serving time in prison after pleading guilty in her own corruption scandal.
We meet the two candidates for District 7′s City Council seat.
Listen Now Click Here
Tito Jackson, Cornell Mills Race For District 7 City Council
By ANTHONY BROOKS Mar 3, 2011, 3:50 PM
Longtime Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner was removed from the council after being convicted of corruption charges. Boston is in the midst of a special election to fill the vacancy.
Cornell Mills and Tito Jackson, the two candidates for the District 7 City Council seat. (Composite by Jeremy Bernfeld for WBUR)
After a primary election in February, two candidates emerged from the field. One’s a Beacon Hill insider with ties to the Patrick administration. The other is the son of former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, who is currently serving time in prison after pleading guilty in her own corruption scandal.
We meet the two candidates for District 7′s City Council seat.
Listen Now Click Here
District 7 contenders have like objectives Yet Council rivals differ on who can best deliver
District 7 contenders have like objectives
Yet Council rivals differ on who can best deliver
By Meghan E. Irons
Globe Staff / March 14, 2011
South End’s Rutland Square Association raises thousands of dollars each year to hire contractors to clear trash-strewn streets and snow-blocked alleyways and replace dead trees in nearby public parks.
Those are jobs the city is supposed to do, but neighbors in this affluent section of the mostly low-income City Council District 7 have taken on the tasks themselves. As they prepare to select either Tito Jackson or Cornell Mills as their new city councilor in a special election tomorrow, residents are hoping for an effective fighter to take on their cause.
“We need a forceful voice’’ in City Hall, said Stephen Fox, who chairs the Rutland Square board. “We need a councilor who recognizes that there are common sets of interests [across the district]. But we need to be able to have him fight for the things that are important to us.’’
District 7 encompasses a large swath of Boston, including Roxbury and parts of the Fenway, Dorchester, and the South End, each with its own set of problems. And after the federal corruption probe that took down their former councilor Chuck Turner, residents are hungry for change.
“We need someone to shake things up,’’ said Elisabeth Owens, a 75-year-old former nurse. “This is a multicultural, ethnic area, and it needs to be represented that way.’’
In Roxbury, despite pockets of affluence, many residents have struggled to overcome government neglect, poverty, and crime. But the neighborhood got a boost recently when Mayor Thomas M. Menino pledged anew to rebuild the abandoned Ferdinand Building, stirring hope of a revitalized Dudley Square.
Mills and Jackson both champion issues such as social justice, job creation, crime prevention, and economic development. But they differ, community observers say, on who can best deliver.
They are close in age — Mills is 36 and Jackson is 35 — but Mills paints himself as a mature, married father of four and homeowner in contrast to Jackson’s single, laid-back style. Mills favors dress shirts and slacks to Jackson’s business suits. Mills is described as edgy; Jackson, amicable. Jackson says he is a man with connections; Mills says he has a better grasp on the issues.
It is Jackson, though, who has wide support, having garnered more than 1,944 votes to Mills’s 271 in the preliminary election, when only 7 percent of the more than 41,000 registered voters turned out.
Jackson has big-name backers from unions, state officials, and business leaders — support he said he has earned after a failed bid for an at-large seat on the City Council and a period serving as Governor Deval Patrick’s political director.
As of Feb. 28, Jackson raised more than $72,000 — much of it from outside the district — since the start of the year, compared with Mills’s more than $4,500, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Adopted when he was 2 months old, Jackson was raised in Grove Hall by his mother, Rosa, and activist father, Herb Kwaku Zulu Jackson. He highlights his stint in the state’s economic development office, saying he has a proven record in creating jobs and economic investment.
And he uses charm to disarm his critics.
When two elderly men at a senior center asked how he got the name Tito, he was quick with a story.
“I asked my mother what my name would be if I wasn’t adopted,’’ he said. “And you know what she said? Bill.’’
His easy style warms hearts but has drawn criticism from some advocates, who say Roxbury needs a tough councilor
“He’s too naive; he’s too nice,’’ said Jamarhl Crawford, a Mills supporter, whose blog, Blackstonian, has taken Jackson to task. “In terms of a fighter, he’s not the guy.’’
Jackson brushed off the criticism, saying that he is the only one in the race who can get results for District 7.
“Understand that Chuck Turner’s and my father’s fight was not about fighting for the sake of fighting. The objective is to make sure that we get the resources that we need,’’ Jackson said.
Mills casts himself as the common man and “a son of Roxbury’’ who cares deeply about his community and understands its plight. He recounts his background as a small-business man, community advocate, and a former homicide investigator in the Suffolk district attorney’s office.
He promises to mentor youths, fight foreclosures, and bridge the divide between residents and police.
At a late-night debate both men scheduled in a Grove Hall nightclub, Mills pledged to be a staunch advocate in City Hall who will “go after the governor, the mayor, the School Committee, or whoever is keeping our community back.’’
Mills welcomes the challenge of being the underdog, and said the walloping he took at the polls last month only taught him that he had to work harder to reach unaware voters.
Mills’s campaign is targeting Cape Verdeans and residents in , subsidized housing developments, hoping those who voice support for him will follow through.
As he knocked on doors in Orchard Gardens housing development last week, he got a sample of what he is facing. Only 12 of the development’s 400 registered voters showed up last month, he said. Some he visited said they would vote for him, but many didn’t know the date of the election.
“A large part of my base will come from people who don’t participate in the election cycle,’’ Mills said. “But we have some here that we’ve been able to reach.’’
Mills also talks about his mother, Dianne Wilkerson, the former state senator who began serving her federal corruption sentence on Friday. He doesn’t mention her case or say in public how he feels about her conviction, but he does talk about the belief she instilled in him and his brother to put their community first.
That approach does not sit well with some in the district who were deeply hurt by the conviction and disappointed by Mills’s reticence.
“That is in the past,’’ said Jayne Simon, a South End resident and Jackson supporter. “We just need to let that go and move on.’’
Mills, who said he and his wife contemplated leaving the state after the Wilkerson controversy erupted, defended his mother. He pointed to gains she achieved for people of the district during her long tenure — a record he said should not be forgotten.
“I’m proud of her courage and her ability to continue to stay proud and stay positive even in the face of the most difficult obstacles,’’ said Mills, who accompanied his mother to a Connecticut prison, where she will serve her time.
In the final week before tomorrow’s vote, the candidates have been taking their case to the public. On Thursday, both were debating senior issues inside a Roxbury church, an event monitored by a strict time manager with a ticking clock. By evening, the two men were side by side in the South End Library, where members of a predominantly white audience were taking notes.
Not every answer won approval from the crowd, but it seemed clear that both candidates were listening.
“Both candidates expressed an understanding of the key issues here,’’ said Fox. “They seem to be used to the idea that there are different priorities depending on what part of the district you are going to. And that’s encouraging.’’
Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.
Yet Council rivals differ on who can best deliver
By Meghan E. Irons
Globe Staff / March 14, 2011
South End’s Rutland Square Association raises thousands of dollars each year to hire contractors to clear trash-strewn streets and snow-blocked alleyways and replace dead trees in nearby public parks.
Those are jobs the city is supposed to do, but neighbors in this affluent section of the mostly low-income City Council District 7 have taken on the tasks themselves. As they prepare to select either Tito Jackson or Cornell Mills as their new city councilor in a special election tomorrow, residents are hoping for an effective fighter to take on their cause.
“We need a forceful voice’’ in City Hall, said Stephen Fox, who chairs the Rutland Square board. “We need a councilor who recognizes that there are common sets of interests [across the district]. But we need to be able to have him fight for the things that are important to us.’’
District 7 encompasses a large swath of Boston, including Roxbury and parts of the Fenway, Dorchester, and the South End, each with its own set of problems. And after the federal corruption probe that took down their former councilor Chuck Turner, residents are hungry for change.
“We need someone to shake things up,’’ said Elisabeth Owens, a 75-year-old former nurse. “This is a multicultural, ethnic area, and it needs to be represented that way.’’
In Roxbury, despite pockets of affluence, many residents have struggled to overcome government neglect, poverty, and crime. But the neighborhood got a boost recently when Mayor Thomas M. Menino pledged anew to rebuild the abandoned Ferdinand Building, stirring hope of a revitalized Dudley Square.
Mills and Jackson both champion issues such as social justice, job creation, crime prevention, and economic development. But they differ, community observers say, on who can best deliver.
They are close in age — Mills is 36 and Jackson is 35 — but Mills paints himself as a mature, married father of four and homeowner in contrast to Jackson’s single, laid-back style. Mills favors dress shirts and slacks to Jackson’s business suits. Mills is described as edgy; Jackson, amicable. Jackson says he is a man with connections; Mills says he has a better grasp on the issues.
It is Jackson, though, who has wide support, having garnered more than 1,944 votes to Mills’s 271 in the preliminary election, when only 7 percent of the more than 41,000 registered voters turned out.
Jackson has big-name backers from unions, state officials, and business leaders — support he said he has earned after a failed bid for an at-large seat on the City Council and a period serving as Governor Deval Patrick’s political director.
As of Feb. 28, Jackson raised more than $72,000 — much of it from outside the district — since the start of the year, compared with Mills’s more than $4,500, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Adopted when he was 2 months old, Jackson was raised in Grove Hall by his mother, Rosa, and activist father, Herb Kwaku Zulu Jackson. He highlights his stint in the state’s economic development office, saying he has a proven record in creating jobs and economic investment.
And he uses charm to disarm his critics.
When two elderly men at a senior center asked how he got the name Tito, he was quick with a story.
“I asked my mother what my name would be if I wasn’t adopted,’’ he said. “And you know what she said? Bill.’’
His easy style warms hearts but has drawn criticism from some advocates, who say Roxbury needs a tough councilor
“He’s too naive; he’s too nice,’’ said Jamarhl Crawford, a Mills supporter, whose blog, Blackstonian, has taken Jackson to task. “In terms of a fighter, he’s not the guy.’’
Jackson brushed off the criticism, saying that he is the only one in the race who can get results for District 7.
“Understand that Chuck Turner’s and my father’s fight was not about fighting for the sake of fighting. The objective is to make sure that we get the resources that we need,’’ Jackson said.
Mills casts himself as the common man and “a son of Roxbury’’ who cares deeply about his community and understands its plight. He recounts his background as a small-business man, community advocate, and a former homicide investigator in the Suffolk district attorney’s office.
He promises to mentor youths, fight foreclosures, and bridge the divide between residents and police.
At a late-night debate both men scheduled in a Grove Hall nightclub, Mills pledged to be a staunch advocate in City Hall who will “go after the governor, the mayor, the School Committee, or whoever is keeping our community back.’’
Mills welcomes the challenge of being the underdog, and said the walloping he took at the polls last month only taught him that he had to work harder to reach unaware voters.
Mills’s campaign is targeting Cape Verdeans and residents in , subsidized housing developments, hoping those who voice support for him will follow through.
As he knocked on doors in Orchard Gardens housing development last week, he got a sample of what he is facing. Only 12 of the development’s 400 registered voters showed up last month, he said. Some he visited said they would vote for him, but many didn’t know the date of the election.
“A large part of my base will come from people who don’t participate in the election cycle,’’ Mills said. “But we have some here that we’ve been able to reach.’’
Mills also talks about his mother, Dianne Wilkerson, the former state senator who began serving her federal corruption sentence on Friday. He doesn’t mention her case or say in public how he feels about her conviction, but he does talk about the belief she instilled in him and his brother to put their community first.
That approach does not sit well with some in the district who were deeply hurt by the conviction and disappointed by Mills’s reticence.
“That is in the past,’’ said Jayne Simon, a South End resident and Jackson supporter. “We just need to let that go and move on.’’
Mills, who said he and his wife contemplated leaving the state after the Wilkerson controversy erupted, defended his mother. He pointed to gains she achieved for people of the district during her long tenure — a record he said should not be forgotten.
“I’m proud of her courage and her ability to continue to stay proud and stay positive even in the face of the most difficult obstacles,’’ said Mills, who accompanied his mother to a Connecticut prison, where she will serve her time.
In the final week before tomorrow’s vote, the candidates have been taking their case to the public. On Thursday, both were debating senior issues inside a Roxbury church, an event monitored by a strict time manager with a ticking clock. By evening, the two men were side by side in the South End Library, where members of a predominantly white audience were taking notes.
Not every answer won approval from the crowd, but it seemed clear that both candidates were listening.
“Both candidates expressed an understanding of the key issues here,’’ said Fox. “They seem to be used to the idea that there are different priorities depending on what part of the district you are going to. And that’s encouraging.’’
Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.
To pack political punch, District 7 must vote
To pack political punch, District 7 must vote
By Joe Fitzgerald | Monday, March 14, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Even those who presume to speak for this city’s black population are somewhat uncomfortable attempting to explain why 93 percent of the registered voters in District 7 chose not to participate in last month’s primary election to fill the City Council seat left vacant by the expulsion of Chuck Turner.
“It’s problematic,” Minister Don Muhammad admits. “It says they (voters) don’t feel their presence is having that much of an impact. I don’t agree with that assessment, but that’s what’s happening in the black community.”
Tomorrow’s final election, pitting Tito Jackson, 35, against Cornell Mills, 36, offers a compelling choice between two articulate sons of the district, both of whom have spoken with passion and clarity on issues affecting their neighbors.
“The problem,” one prominent leader suggests, “is two-fold. First, there’s resentment over Turner’s criminal outcome. I think it’s caused despair. Secondly, I’m not sure either Jackson or Mills has a strong enough name to galvanize people. I think those are the reasons you’re seeing such apathy.”
He’s probably right, but it makes no sense.
Democracy is like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. With 30,319 eligible voters, District 7 has a potentially powerful punch. Imagine if Jackson or Mills arrived at City Hall on the wings of an assertive political base fully engaged in the process.
What juice that would give them. Like E.F. Hutton, they’d find everyone listening whenever they spoke, assuring them of a prominent seat at the table of governance, casting a long shadow in the corridors of power.
But that’s not a scenario they can create. They’ve done their parts by running, and running well. It’s up to those 30,319 voters to collectively give them a voice that must be heard, a voice that cannot be ignored.
Why should the community settle for being a political mistress, a place manipulative pols visit every few years to be seen speaking in a black church, never to be seen again until the next election?
Why not be a player instead?
In this week’s Bay State Banner, the lead opinion piece contends white men don’t like President Obama; it’s next to a man-in-the-street survey asking if there’s a conspiracy to destroy black politicians.
Please. With tomorrow’s opportunity to light a candle by sending a strongly backed councilor to City Hall, why do so many still choose to waste time and space cursing the darkness?
Maybe that’s the real problem in District 7.
If so, here’s hoping Jackson or Mills might be the cure.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1323140
By Joe Fitzgerald | Monday, March 14, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Even those who presume to speak for this city’s black population are somewhat uncomfortable attempting to explain why 93 percent of the registered voters in District 7 chose not to participate in last month’s primary election to fill the City Council seat left vacant by the expulsion of Chuck Turner.
“It’s problematic,” Minister Don Muhammad admits. “It says they (voters) don’t feel their presence is having that much of an impact. I don’t agree with that assessment, but that’s what’s happening in the black community.”
Tomorrow’s final election, pitting Tito Jackson, 35, against Cornell Mills, 36, offers a compelling choice between two articulate sons of the district, both of whom have spoken with passion and clarity on issues affecting their neighbors.
“The problem,” one prominent leader suggests, “is two-fold. First, there’s resentment over Turner’s criminal outcome. I think it’s caused despair. Secondly, I’m not sure either Jackson or Mills has a strong enough name to galvanize people. I think those are the reasons you’re seeing such apathy.”
He’s probably right, but it makes no sense.
Democracy is like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. With 30,319 eligible voters, District 7 has a potentially powerful punch. Imagine if Jackson or Mills arrived at City Hall on the wings of an assertive political base fully engaged in the process.
What juice that would give them. Like E.F. Hutton, they’d find everyone listening whenever they spoke, assuring them of a prominent seat at the table of governance, casting a long shadow in the corridors of power.
But that’s not a scenario they can create. They’ve done their parts by running, and running well. It’s up to those 30,319 voters to collectively give them a voice that must be heard, a voice that cannot be ignored.
Why should the community settle for being a political mistress, a place manipulative pols visit every few years to be seen speaking in a black church, never to be seen again until the next election?
Why not be a player instead?
In this week’s Bay State Banner, the lead opinion piece contends white men don’t like President Obama; it’s next to a man-in-the-street survey asking if there’s a conspiracy to destroy black politicians.
Please. With tomorrow’s opportunity to light a candle by sending a strongly backed councilor to City Hall, why do so many still choose to waste time and space cursing the darkness?
Maybe that’s the real problem in District 7.
If so, here’s hoping Jackson or Mills might be the cure.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1323140
Tito Jackson, Cornell Mills see hope in tomorrow
Tito Jackson, Cornell Mills see hope in tomorrow
By Laurel J. Sweet | Monday, March 14, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Politics
RUNNING MAN: Cornell Mills, a candidate for the City Council seat formerly held by Chuck Turner, gets in some last-minute campaigning in Grove Hall yesterday.
Photo by Ted Fitzgerald
A former Gov. Deval Patrick aide and the son of a disgraced state senator vying to fill the Boston City Council seat vacated by Chuck Turner’s ouster both say they want to help the district move beyond scandal to prosperity after tomorrow’s special election.
“Councilor Turner gave his life to this community for well over 40 years. His impact on the community is still present. But the reality people are facing day to day is, ‘Can I pay my bills?’” said District 7 candidate Tito Jackson, a motivational speaker and Patrick’s former political director.
Cornell Mills, meanwhile, said his own family’s political misfortunes have given him strength. Just two days after dropping his 55-year-old mother Dianne Wilkerson off at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., Friday, Mills said, “It was a tough day, but it gave myself and the rest of the family a lot of resolve.”
The former state senator will spend the next 3 1⁄2 years in prison for pocketing $23,500 in kickbacks.
“She was very confident and very strong,” said Mills, 36, a real estate agent and former employee of the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office. “She’s got a wealth of knowledge about politics that’s been preparing me for this run for years.”
But the candidates’ biggest obstacle may be persuading people to head to the polls between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Only 2,885 of more than 30,000 people with active voter registrations in the district that includes the South End, Fenway, Roxbury and Dorchester turned out for last month’s preliminary election. Culled from a field of seven, Jackson took 67 percent of the vote to Mills’ 9 percent.
Jackson, 35, said he was feeling “super fantastic” yesterday as he headed out to Grove Hall to shake the hands of prospective constituents. Jackson’s war chest stands at a healthy $25,553 to Mills’ $708. Jackson also has the overwhelming financial support of trade unions and businessmen.
“We are not an island unto ourselves. Do we need to have relationships? Do we need to partner? Yes, we do,” Jackson said. “The overarching objective is to make sure people from District 7 have more access to jobs, more access to capital and that we’re able to walk down safe, clean streets.”
Mills, whose backers include his mom’s attorney, famed Harvard University law professor Charles Ogletree, said he believes those looking to develop District 7 see Jackson “as the path of least resistance.”
“People should get out and vote for me because I’m the candidate who’s closest to their issues,” said Mills, who was introducing himself around Uphams Corner yesterday. “It’s been a rough economic time and people don’t have a lot of faith in the political system to change their status.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1323157
By Laurel J. Sweet | Monday, March 14, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Politics
Photo by Ted Fitzgerald
A former Gov. Deval Patrick aide and the son of a disgraced state senator vying to fill the Boston City Council seat vacated by Chuck Turner’s ouster both say they want to help the district move beyond scandal to prosperity after tomorrow’s special election.
“Councilor Turner gave his life to this community for well over 40 years. His impact on the community is still present. But the reality people are facing day to day is, ‘Can I pay my bills?’” said District 7 candidate Tito Jackson, a motivational speaker and Patrick’s former political director.
Cornell Mills, meanwhile, said his own family’s political misfortunes have given him strength. Just two days after dropping his 55-year-old mother Dianne Wilkerson off at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., Friday, Mills said, “It was a tough day, but it gave myself and the rest of the family a lot of resolve.”
The former state senator will spend the next 3 1⁄2 years in prison for pocketing $23,500 in kickbacks.
“She was very confident and very strong,” said Mills, 36, a real estate agent and former employee of the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office. “She’s got a wealth of knowledge about politics that’s been preparing me for this run for years.”
But the candidates’ biggest obstacle may be persuading people to head to the polls between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Only 2,885 of more than 30,000 people with active voter registrations in the district that includes the South End, Fenway, Roxbury and Dorchester turned out for last month’s preliminary election. Culled from a field of seven, Jackson took 67 percent of the vote to Mills’ 9 percent.
Jackson, 35, said he was feeling “super fantastic” yesterday as he headed out to Grove Hall to shake the hands of prospective constituents. Jackson’s war chest stands at a healthy $25,553 to Mills’ $708. Jackson also has the overwhelming financial support of trade unions and businessmen.
“We are not an island unto ourselves. Do we need to have relationships? Do we need to partner? Yes, we do,” Jackson said. “The overarching objective is to make sure people from District 7 have more access to jobs, more access to capital and that we’re able to walk down safe, clean streets.”
Mills, whose backers include his mom’s attorney, famed Harvard University law professor Charles Ogletree, said he believes those looking to develop District 7 see Jackson “as the path of least resistance.”
“People should get out and vote for me because I’m the candidate who’s closest to their issues,” said Mills, who was introducing himself around Uphams Corner yesterday. “It’s been a rough economic time and people don’t have a lot of faith in the political system to change their status.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1323157
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Cornell Mills District 7 Network Newspaper!
Cornell Mills District 7 Network Newspaper!
Click Cover to view Paper
or follow link below!
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Click Cover to view Paper
or follow link below!
Feel free to share on facebook and more!
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