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'I have to do this.' Mahoney announces bid for Quincy at-large councilor
QUINCY ‒ Former councilor, school board member and three-time mayoral candidate Anne Mahoney will seek to regain the councilor-at-large seat she relinquished when she ran unsuccessfully to unseat Mayor Thomas Koch in 2023. Mahoney submitted nomination papers to the city clerk's office at midday on Tuesday, July 15, just hours before the 5 p.m. deadline. "I really didn't think I was going to be running," she told The Patriot Ledger. "I feel as though I have to do this. I still think I have something I can offer our city, to help guide and direct our leaders, and most importantly, to speak for taxpayers and renters, so we can all feel as though we're getting a fair shot." Mahoney said the current council votes with Mayor Koch more than 99% of the time, often without scrutinizing or even discussing his proposals. "I have a track record for that," she said. On the council, Mahoney was known for her criticism of Koch and at times pointed exchanges with department heads on issues such as spending and transparency. Mahoney served on Quincy's school board from 2006 to 2017, followed by three terms as councilor-at-large from 2018 to 2023. She challenged Koch in 2011, 2015 and 2023, gaining 45% of the vote in her latest mayoral bid. Mahoney talks raises, debt and accountability Mahoney said her critical approach comes from love of Quincy, not contrarianism. She cited the city's $475 million pension obligation bond, which Quincy issued in 2021, as an example of the need for scrutiny. The bond is a significant chunk of Quincy's $1.4 billion in direct outstanding debt. In 2022, the city's pension system lost $90 million on investments. In subsequent years, the portfolio has performed much better, but S&P Global still cited the loss when it downgraded Quincy's credit rating for long-term debt from AA to AA- in June and after lowering its economic outlook from stable to negative in April. "These things have to be questioned, not to blame but to make it better," she said. "That dialogue has to be there." On the 79% raise for the mayor and almost 50% raise for city councilors, which Koch proposed and the council passed in 2024, Mahoney said she objects to the size and timing of the pay increases. "You shouldn't be asking for them the day after you win an election," Mahoney said. The raises were set take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, but Koch and the council deferred them after the state Ethics Commission launched a conflict-of-interest inquiry last fall. Instead, the councilors' raise kicks in at the start of 2026. If reelected, Koch's raise, which would boost his pay from $150,000 to $285,000, takes effect in 2028. The last and only time Koch received a pay increase was 2014. If elected, Mahoney said she will not accept the raise, which will increase councilors' pay from roughly $30,000 to $43,500. Mahoney defends her own raise as Holbrook's Assistant Town Administrator In April 2024, Holbrook's select board hired Mahoney as assistant town administrator at a salary of $98,000. They agreed to re-open the contract "to address compensation" in the second and third year. When her contract was reopened this June, the select board extended its term to June 2028 with annual pay of $132,000. Mahoney said it was $12,000 more than she asked for. "I'm appointed by a board, and I have to earn my raise," Mahoney said, comparing herself to Koch, who as mayor is elected and proposes his own compensation. Mahoney carries out a wide range of functions as assistant town manager, including contract negotiations, public relations, constituent services, preparations for the annual town meeting and select board meetings and directing human resources, according to her contract. She is required to attend select board meetings on the first and third Wednesday of every month. Quincy city council meetings typically fall on Mondays, and Mahoney said she can fulfill the obligations of both positions. "I've proven I do my homework," she said. Competitive Quincy elections shaping up for 2025 Mahoney is the eighth at-large candidate certified for the ballot, triggering a preliminary election on Tuesday, Sept. 2. The preliminary will whittle the field down to six candidates for three councilor-at-large seats. Incumbents Noel DiBona and Scott Campbell have already certified their candidacies, according to clerk records. The third sitting councilor-at-large, Nina Liang, announced in March that she will not seek reelection. Liang was elected in 2015. The five remaining candidates on the ballot are Andrew Pham, Hannah Kaplan, Jackie Carvey, Ziqiang Yuan and Herbert Shaughnessy. Quincy City Council has three at-large and six ward seats. Councilors serve two-year terms. Quincy 2025 elections: 'I will question the mayor.' Quincy's Kathy Thrun announces bid for city council seat More election coverage: The man behind PorchFest Quincy is running for city council. What's on his agenda This year's city council election is shaping up to be more competitive than 2023, when only 12 candidates vied for nine seats and six candidates prevailed without facing an opponent. This year, 21 candidates are certified for the ballot. There will be at least two preliminary elections in September. Voters will advance six of eight candidates for councilor-at-large and two of four candidates for Ward 6, where incumbent Bill Harris faces challengers Deborah Riley, James Coffey and Christopher Chan. The general election, which will also determine three seats on Quincy's school board, is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 4. Six candidates are running in that race. As of now, only Ward 2 Councilor Richard Ash is running unopposed. Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@ Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer. This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Anne Mahoney joins race for Quincy at-large council seat Solve the daily Crossword
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US House poised to send stablecoin bill to Trump after 'crypto week' drama
(Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives appeared poised to pass key crypto legislation on Thursday, including the creation of a regulatory framework for U.S.-dollar-pegged cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins, after two days of fraught negotiations. House lawmakers in Washington were due to convene on Thursday afternoon to consider passing the stablecoin bill and another that would develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies more broadly. The stablecoin measure, which has already been agreed to in the Senate, is expected to pass and move on to be signed by President Donald Trump as soon as Friday. That would be a major victory for the digital assets industry, marking the first major crypto law enacted in the United States and paving the way for greater integration of crypto into traditional financial markets. Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 dollar peg, are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds. They have gained much momentum in recent years, offering faster and cheaper transaction costs than moving money through a bank. Their use has grown rapidly in recent years, and proponents say they could be used to send payments instantly. The week's negotiations to consider the legislation - dubbed "crypto week" by Republican lawmakers - ran into unexpected hurdles after some conservative hold-outs voted against considering the measures. Trump huddled with skeptics at the White House on Tuesday to try to save the initiative. Even after Trump announced an agreement, it still took about nine hours for the bills to clear key procedural hurdles late on Wednesday as private talks continued. In negotiations that went late into Wednesday evening, lawmakers decided to include language to prohibit the United States from issuing a central bank digital currency in an unrelated defense spending bill as a compromise to conservatives who strongly supported the ban. The anti-central bank currency bill had become a sticking point for conservative Republicans. While central banks in some nations have explored issuing their own digital currencies, the topic has been met with quick resistance in the United States from conservative Republicans, who argue it could allow the government to monitor Americans' spending. The Fed has studied the issue, but Chairman Jerome Powell has said that the central bank would never pursue one absent explicit approval from Congress. House lawmakers have said they are aiming to vote on all three crypto measures later in the day. When asked if he expects the crypto bills to pass on Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters: "I do." Sign in to access your portfolio
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David Rubenstein gives his take on Trump's threats to fire Powell
President Trump has made no secret of his anger toward the Federal Reserve and its decision not to cut rates. Trump says he is not planning on firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, but he has left the door open to ousting him. The Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman David Rubenstein weighs in on the turmoil, explaining why he thinks Powell has "done a very good job." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Opening Bid here. All right, for today's Power Player, I got a chance to speak with David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of global investment firm Carlyle about the ongoing saga around President Trump's dissatisfaction with Fed chair J. Powell. Trump telling reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday that he doesn't plan to fire Powell after Bloomberg and CBS reports said the chairman was on the chopping block. Here's what David Rubenstein told me about the situation. Well, President, uh, Trump just as you said, walked back that statement. So, what I just said before we went on the air, so before he went on the air is that he said he's not planning to fire Powell. As you probably know, J. Powell worked at Carlyle, and in effect for me for eight years. I hired him out of the George Herbert Walker Bush Administration, a very smart man. And you know, I recognized not everybody, uh, says he's done a perfect job, but I think he's done a very good job because he tells you what he's going to do or the Fed's likely to do before they do it, which is unusual for a lot of Fed chairs. And after it's done within 30 minutes, he will explain it exhausting detail what they did and why they did it. And I think that's helpful. You may remember in the days of, uh, William McChesney Martin or or Paul Volcker, they would do what they wanted to do and you had to guess what they did and why they did it. Now it's much more transparent. I think Jay's done a good job in that. Secondly, we haven't had a recession since J. Powell's been chairman of the Fed. Now, you know, recessions occur in the United States roughly every seven years or so, and obviously the Fed chairman is not the only person responsible for their being or not being a a recession. But I think we haven't had one because I think he managed the inflation reasonably well. Remember inflation went to 8%. And it went to 8% because um, the Bush administration or the, I'm sorry, the Trump administration and the Biden administration both both uh put a lot of money into the economy to keep us during the Covid period of time from going into recession. So we injected about five trillion dollars into the economy without corresponding tax increases. The result was some inflation. Now, some people made a mistake initially by saying it was transitory, and I think J. Powell would recognize that it wasn't transitory. But once they recognized it wasn't transitory, they began rate increases that I think dealt with the inflation problems brought it down now. Not quite where they want it to be, but lower than it had been. I think the most recent number showed about a 2.7% increase the last month, but uh, the Fed's target is 2%, so they got a way to go. David, how important is it that um, Jerome Powell finishes out this term? In terms of importance to the Federal Reserve as an institution and as the major player in markets. Well remember, the Federal Reserve has two jobs. It was set up originally to take care of inflation, make sure the currency was strong, and in the 1970s was given additional job of worry about unemployment. And the Fed is seen as being independent of the president and power because when you're independent, the theory is you can preserve the currency. You're not a subject to political pressure. And I think that's worked well for our country, and I think most people commented on that have said this worked well, and the Federal Reserve is really the crown jewel of the federal um governmental system in many ways because it's seen as very independent, uh, very merit-oriented, and I think many of the people who are most respected in our country over the years have been chairs of the Federal Reserve like Paul Volcker but and Ben Bernanke. But I I recognize that there are some people who are not happy with uh the fact that interest rates are have not gone down as much as let's say they've gone down in in Europe. But the United States is more complicated economy in some ways than Europe, and Europe had lowered interest rates because their economy was softening so much. They had to uh help the economy move forward. We haven't had that kind of softening. So, um, I J. Powell, uh to his credit, in my view, has not commented on anything that President Trump has said about him. In other words, if it were, if we I was getting beat up every day, or every occasionally from time to time by the president, any president, I probably wouldn't be as quiet as Jay has been. But Jay has basically not responded, not taken the bait. And I think uh he'd like to finish out the term if he could, which finishes in May of '26. And David, as someone that uh hired Jerome Powell, worked with him for what, eight years at at Carlyle, um how do you think he's taking these criticisms? And are you surprised that he hasn't just the hell with this? I'm I'm stepping down and I'm going to go, you know, enjoy myself for the next couple of years. I haven't talked to him specifically about it, so I'm just surmising, but my guess is that nobody likes to be criticized by the President of the United States. Who likes to be criticized by the President of the United States? No one really does, but he hasn't responded to any of the criticism, which I give him great credit for doing. I don't think I could have done that, because he's just decided to just take care of the the job he has and worry about getting inflation down, and interest rates will come down when they they are designed to come down. But remember, there is a uh a FOMC of 12 people, seven members from the Federal Reserve board and five rotating members from the various Federal Reserve boards around the country. 12 people, that's the FOMC, the Federal Open Market Committee. And they make the decision. J. Powell is the chairman, presumably he has a lot of influence, but it's not the only person making a decision. How important is it that the whoever succeeds uh Jerome Powell's Fed chair that they could be someone that is independent from the executive branch, someone that could stand up to the president, you know, because I think some of the thinking, just based on people I've talked to David, is that we get uh someone who has that direct line to President Trump, gets put in there because he promises the president they're going to cut rates, and now this person's doing everything the president asked them to do. Well, I think the markets would respond better uh if somebody is seen as independent. The candidates that have been mentioned, some of them are excellent. And I think they would be somewhat independent, but obviously, many of them have close relationship with the president. The president made it clear what he wants. Some of the people or candidates have already said they would lower interest rates, so maybe they're their existing view is that interest rates should come down and not because of presidential pressure. But I think overall, it would be a good thing for the country to have a strong Fed chair um to succeed J. Powell rather than a weak Fed chair. Out of all the names that we've heard uh and have you heard too, David, Kevin Warsh, um Kevin Hassett, Secretary Benson still in the mix, Christopher Waller at the Fed, is there one person out of that that group of four folks that are reportedly leading the uh the nomination uh or or top of mind with the president that you think would would be best suited to do this job at this moment? I know um I a number of them. I think I know three of them. Uh and I would say they are uh the three that I know um are are all talented, and all could do a good job. But until you get the job, you don't know, you know, how strong somebody's going to be and you don't know how independent they will be. Um so I I just can't say now who'd be better, but I think of the candidates that I know, all of them would be would be able to do a likely a good likely would be able to do a good job. Related Videos Powell isn't the only Fed hawk: Williams keen to hold rates Trump vs. Powell, earnings, retail sales data: 3 Things Trump-Powell to Be Continuing Headwind for Dollar, FX: Saravelos 'Sell America' Returns as Trump Raises Pressure on Powell 登入存取你的投資組合
