The View From Prospect Hill for the week of Dec. 28

If the Progressive Democrats of Somerville are as smart as we hope they are, they must realize they have just removed one of the most effective progressive leaders ever to work in Somerville.
For more than two decades Ward 6 Alderman Jack Connolly encouraged neighborhood involvement, increased transparency in city government and never promised his vote away.
And now he has been voted out of office.

   On Jan. 3, Rebekah Gewirtz will be sworn in as the new Ward 6 alderman and for the first time in 22 years, Connolly will not be sitting at that horseshoe of power in City Hall. But he has set a high standard for his 28-year old successor to match.
    Gewirtz, the co-founder of the Progressive Democrats of Somerville, will be hard-pressed to match Connolly‚Äôs legacy of fair, open government. When he first joined Somerville‚Äôs legislative branch in 1984, indictments were being passed out to elected officials like parking tickets during a snow emergency. But Connolly fought to preserve the BOA‚Äôs integrity during this difficult period. He convinced his colleagues not to allow Michael McKenna, who had recently plead guilty to accepting bribes, to sit on the board. He proposed that BOA meetings be broadcast on local cable, so voters and citizens could keep up with how their elected officials were voting. And Ward 6 voters always knew they could find him in his College Ave. insurance office if they needed help. How progressive.
     But Connolly‚Äôs public service went beyond some 21st Century buzzword. He was never afraid to speak his mind but he also worked effectively with three different mayoral administrations to make sure that city services reached his constituents. He helped to transform Davis Square from a neglected urban blight into one of the hippest places on earth. And then the people he had worked so hard to attract to his corner of the city voted him out.
      But even the Progressives who pegged Connolly as a victim of changing demographics have to admit: Jack Connolly‚Äôs something was something else.