Somerville for Palestine endorses Burnley for mayor
Activist group Somerville for Palestine has endorsed city councilor at-large Willie Burnley Jr. in his run for mayor. The endorsement comes after the group held meet-and-greets with Burnley and councilor at-large Jake Wilson, who is also running for mayor. Though an event was planned with incumbent mayor Katjana Ballantyne, disagreement over police presence at the event caused the event to be canceled.
“Willie is the only candidate who has committed to act on our Palestinian Solidarity ballot measure and figure out how to move public money out of companies profiting off of Israel’s apartheid, genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine,” the group said in a Monday Instagram post sharing the endorsement.
Burnley said in a July 21 mayoral forum that he would implement the measure, the proposed text of which calls for Somerville to end contracts with companies that “engage in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine,” if passed. The Medford City Council voted to pass a similar measure Wednesday.
Ballantyne and Wilson said they did not believe implementing the measure was allowed by state law.
Greater Boston Labor Council endorses
The Greater Boston Labor Council issued nine endorsements for Somerville City Council on Tuesday. “The Greater Boston Labor Council seeks to endorse and elect pro-union candidates who can be a strong voice for workers, will reflect the values of our labor movement and will actively advance a pro-labor agenda,” the group’s website reads.
Incumbent councilors Matthew McLaughlin, Ben Ewen-Campen, Jesse Clingan and Naima Sait were endorsed in Wards 1, 3, 4 and 5. Emily Hardt, running for Ward 7 councilor against fellow challengers Wilbert Pineda and Michael Murray, was also endorsed.
Endorsements were also made for the council’s four at-large positions. Incumbents Will Mbah and Kristen Strezo got endorsements, as did newcomers Marianne Walles and Holly Simione. The race for councilor at large is crowded, also including Ben Wheeler, Ari Iaccarino, Justin Klekota, Jack Perenick, Scott Istvan, Jon Link, Christopher Ryan Spicer and Tuesday N. Thomas.
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