Evan Falchuk Starts Drive for Olympics Vote
Evan Falchuk, Chairman of the United Independent Party, wants the state to vote on Boston’s Olympic bid. Falchuk has filed paperwork that could lead to a binding referendum in which voters statewide would be able to decide whether or not Boston should continue with its bid for the 2024 Olympic Games. Falchuk filed the paperwork Thursday morning with Massachusetts’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance, according to a statement released by the former gubernatorial candidate.
“Boston 2024 officials seemed to be glossing over the more difficult issues hosting the Olympics most definitely will entail,’’ Falchuk said. “Raising critical questions about the billions the Games would cost, as well as security and traffic concerns, doesn’t make anyone a ‘naysayer.’ It makes us taxpaying, thinking adults who see the value of putting things like our seniors, veterans and kids in school above something like hosting the Olympics.’’
While a statewide petition is more complicated than one limited just to Boston, it can have binding results, unlike a municipal referendum, as the Attorney General’s office explained to BostInno. Attorney General Maura Healey would be responsible for determining the petition’s constitutionality and passing it onto the legislature, provided the petitioners gather enough signatures (the number required depends on the number of registered voters in the state).
Anti-Olympics advocacy group No Boston Olympics welcomed Falchuk’s effort.
“Evan is asking a lot of the same questions we’ve been asking about the bid for a year,’’ said Christopher Dempsey of No Boston Olympics. “Why the secrecy? What are the costs and the risks? We welcome the independent voice that he brings to the conversation. The more voices the better.’’
Denver successfully shot down the possibility of hosting the 1976 Olympics after an amendment outlawing the use of state funding for the games passed with 60 percent of the vote.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s opinion on a vote hasn’t been clear. He told WGBH in December he didn’t think a vote was necessary and that polling indicated a majority of Bostonians were in favor of hosting the Olympics. On Tuesday, he told the Wall Street Journal that he wouldn’t stand in the way of a vote. Laura Oggeri, the city’s Chief Communications Officer, clarified Walsh’s stance on Wednesday in a statement:
“Mayor Walsh is not in support of a referendum on the Olympics. He looks forward to engaging in a robust community process and having a two-way conversation with all neighborhoods as we move forward. Should the public decide to collect signatures for a referendum, that is a right of the people that the Mayor fully supports.’’
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