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Hennigan visits BU Dems
Aaron Kellogg, Daily Free Press
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
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City Councilor-At-Large Maura Hennigan and
Democratic State Representative candidate Mike
Moran promised to uphold all eligible Boston
University students' right to vote, in a meeting
with the BU College Democrats on Tuesday.
Hennigan and Moran attended the
Democrats' Tuesday night meeting, after concerns
about student voters who were turned away from
the polls at 111 Cummington St. during a special
primary election on March 15.
Hoping to
show her commitment to BU students, Hennigan
said she is calling for a hearing to look into
the Cummington Street polling
controversy.
"A city cannot create a
chilling effect on your rights," Hennigan said,
encouraging students to actively participate in
city, state and national elections. She said she
would try to schedule the hearing on BU's
campus.
Moran echoed Hennigan's concerns,
saying voter participation should be encouraged
and that all voters should head to the polls at
a young age.
He also distanced himself
from the Ward 22 Democratic Committee, of which
he is a member, for its role in asking three of
the four primary candidates to post election
observers at BU polling stations. Moran said the
committee had assumed a "ward-boss mentality" in
recent years, a sentiment that he said
encouraged him to gradually disassociate from
his organization.
Moran defended his
decision to send his own election observers to
BU polls during the primary, but told wary
students that his observers were at all polls
throughout the district, not just BU voting
sites.
Both Moran and Hennigan addressed
student concerns on a number of issues unrelated
to the election.
Hennigan stumbled over
a question from College of Arts and Sciences
junior Jake Lambert about the University
Accountability Ordinance, a measure the City
Council passed last year that required area
universities to provide certain contact
information for off-campus students.
She
said the council was "working with the student
body" to find ways to prevent students from
engaging in destructive behavior, but that she
did not know whether the council had already
passed the act.
Hennigan, who recently
announced her decision to run for mayor this
year, addressed her recent proposal for a
mayoral term limit, which has not been imposed
since 1938.
The councilor said the limits
were necessary because Boston mayors were
abusing their re-election privileges. Hennigan
noted that nine Presidents had passed through
the White House during the same time that three
mayors had managed Boston.
BUCD President
Matt Henderson said he was pleased with Hennigan
and Moran's responses to student
questions.
"[Hennigan] showed she put
students first in a way that she has not always
been up front about," he said.
Henderson
said the College Democrats will be assisting
Moran with his campaign, and have called off a
regular meeting on April 12 and instead will
talk to students about his
candidacy.
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Council seeks to review BU vote challenges
Priyanka Dayal, Daily Free Press
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Councilor-At-Large Maura
Hennigan proposed at the City Council's weekly
meeting to hold a hearing to investigate voting
challenges to BU students during the special
primary election held March 15. A handful of BU
voters were questioned about their eligibility
and turned away from the 111 Cummington St.
polling station.
"[Students] were really
given a hard time when they went to cast their
votes," Hennigan said. "We want to make sure
that in the city of Boston we do everything we
can to encourage voter
participation."
Anyone with an address in
Boston is eligible to vote here, Hennigan said.
Councilor Michael Ross (Back Bay,
Fenway) said students are an important part of
politics and civic life. "I do think it's
important to support young people's
involvement."
Hennigan said students get
rapped for their bad behavior, but are
overlooked when they make positive contributions
to the city.
"I would hope the city would
not single out students" with "intimidation or
voter suppression [techniques]," Hennigan
said.
A Boston Foundation report found
that Boston's population, specifically the
number of students, is declining. "We should
want [students] to stay here," she added.
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