Michael Flaherty is entering the most important week of his political career, but he doesn’t have time to think about it in those terms. Instead, he was plugging away on the campaign trail, which brought him to Jamaica Plain yesterday to speak with seniors about crime, education and city services.
With a week until election day and hours before his last live forum with Mayor Thomas Menino, Flaherty is fighting to prove to enough Bostonians why he’s the man to lead the city. “The next six to seven days will be critical for us to meet voters, particularly the undecided voters,” Flaherty said.
It’s that group the 40-year-old city councilor from South Boston believes is larger than many think — larger, he claims, than the gap between him and Menino in the polls.
Flaherty, a former Suffolk County prosecutor, has pledged many reforms (mandatory random drug testing for city safety officials) and new initiatives (creating a green vocational school). But to beat Menino, Flaherty knows it will take more than rattling off a slew of promises. It will mean convincing residents to reverse course on a popular mayor of 16 years.
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