Michael Flaherty for one of your four At-Large votes

The motivation for former City Councilor Michael Flaherty returning to the City Council arena is unimportant. He is a candidate worthy of your vote. The sheer volume of his past successes as a City Councilor, the important issues raised during his campaign for mayor, and his on-the-ground experiences as a life-long Bostonian make him ready and able to serve the city again. His no-holds-barred approach to criticizing Mayor Menino makes his voice an important one. Flaherty should, however, consider the success of the current slate of candidates when it comes to collaboration. Flaherty’s campaign has called incumbents Stephen Murphy, city council president, Arroyo, Connolly, and Pressley "Tommy’s Team," a term chosen because of the Mayor’s support of the incumbents’ reelection. If elected, Flaherty would do well to take a page from the incumbents (and make a step toward objectivity) and keep his criticism focused like a laser beam on specific policy disagreements, rather than spread like buck shot on being against everything the Mayor supports. Flaherty’s oppositional zest of the Mayor could leave him looking like a twentieth century poll on the twenty-first century council.

The Hub’s four incumbent at-large councilors have banded together on the campaign trail, urging voters to return them all to office in a City Hall power play, dubbed “Tommy’s Team,” that Menino foe Michael Flaherty said is meant to advance the mayor’s agenda and shield him from a tough 2013 challenge.

The four councilors — John Connolly, Ayanna Pressley, Felix G. Arroyo and council president Stephen J. Murphy — have been urging voters across the city to pull the lever not only for themselves, but also for their colleagues. Flaherty, a former at-large councilor who ran against Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 2009 and is seeking an at-large seat, claims the “team” strategy is aimed at keeping him off the panel and guarding Menino’s interests.

“The prospect of my return to the City Council probably worries a lot of people,” said Flaherty, who is widely seen to be mulling another mayoral run. “During the past two years, it’s been very comfortable for both the mayor and the council. There’s been very little in the way of challenging the current administration. ... The mayor likes to have everything his way, and with only a couple of exceptions, that seems to be fine with the current City Council.”

Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce called the claims “political rhetoric” and declined to comment further.

All four incumbents have been regularly encouraging voters to consider their colleagues at ward committee meetings, debates, union events and candidate forums from West Roxbury to Jamaica Plain to Dorchester. Murphy has formally endorsed the other three, while all four said they are supporting their fellow councilors. But all stopped short of saying they’re running as a “slate.”

“That’s what Flaherty is calling it. I wouldn’t call it that,” Murphy said. “I endorsed the others because they’re supportive of me as president. And I enjoy working with them. We’ve been a productive group.”

Pressley — widely viewed as the most vulnerable incumbent — and Connolly have taken the strategy a step further, striking up a formal alliance that includes sharing resources and campaign cash.

“Everywhere we’ve gone during the campaign, we’ve all talked about how we’ve all worked together as a team at City Hall. We’ve had a very productive two years,” Connolly said. “I certainly ask people to give Ayanna a vote and encourage people to look at all the incumbents.”

While Flaherty claims the four have been a rubber-stamp for Menino, Pressley pointed out the council went against the mayor to save three branch libraries, two schools and three community centers.

“Just because we get along, is not the same thing as, ‘Going along, to get along,’ ” Pressley said. “I don’t think the function of the council is to challenge the mayor. When we disagree (with Menino), yes, we’ve done that. But by many accounts, this is one of the strongest councils that’s served in this city.”

There have been signs of a rift within the team strategy, however. Sources said Murphy and Arroyo were not happy with the formal alliance of Connolly and Pressley, while Murphy’s campaign team expressed displeasure in a recent sarcastic post on Connolly’s Facebook page.

“I’m not part of a slate,” Arroyo said. “I work very well with all of them ... but at the end of the day, I’m asking (voters) to give me one of their four votes. They can vote for whoever they want with the others.”

Yet Arroyo acknowledged he has urged voters to consider the other three.

The strategy of running as a slate has been tried before when former Mayor Kevin White backed seven councilors who were dubbed “Kevin’s Seven.” Only one was elected.

Said Flaherty: “The last thing Boston needs right now is a City Council more worried about each other than the critical issues facing all our neighborhoods.”

Former City Councilor Michael Flaherty signaled that he intends to continue to be a thorn in Mayor Thomas Menino's side as he took shots at the administration last night in one of the first candidate forums of what’s expected to be a bruising at-large council battle.

“A lot of bullying takes place in the city of Boston,” Flaherty said during a forum sponsored by Boston Pride at the W Hotel last night. “The City Council gets bullied a lot by the administration. . . . You’re looking at someone who doesn’t tolerate bullying.”