# Bill Linehan

William P. Linehan is an American politician who was a member and president of the Boston City Council in Massachusetts. He represented District 2, which includes Downtown Boston, the South End, South Boston and Chinatown.

## Early life

Linehan was born in Boston and is the oldest of eight children. He has been active in politics since his teenage years. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

## Early career

Before his election to the City Council, Linehan served as the Director of Operations for the City of Boston's Parks Department and later as the Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer of the City of Boston for six years.

## Boston City Council

Linehan was first elected to the City Council via a special election in May 2007, following the death of Councillor James M. Kelly. Linehan was reelected five times, until announcing in February 2017 that he would not run in the November 2017 election. Linehan was president of the City Council in 2014 and 2015.
Linehan's district included Downtown Boston, the South End, South Boston and Chinatown. In both his 2011 and 2013 elections, Linehan only narrowly defeated challenges from Suzanne Lee. These races against a female Asian American challenger from the Chinatown portion of his district were described by Benjamin Swasey of WBUR as having been viewed as contests pitting, "'old Boston' politics against a new, more diverse brand" as well as races that were, "representative of changes in the district itself."
Linehan faced criticism a proposal he made in his role in chairing the post-2010 United States Census redistricting process to divide Chinatown between two separate City Council electoral districts. He was accused by critics of attempting to help his own electoral fortunes in his influence on the process. His proposal would have removed from his district two Chinatown districts that had voted strongly against him in his elections. The map that Linehan proposed was adopted by the City Council, but vetoed by Mayor Thomas Menino. After a failed second attempt, the City Council later approved a third map with amendments by City Councilor Tito Jackson, which Mayor Menino approved.
In 2013, Linehan proposed a home rule petition that would have seen Boston ask the state legislature to allow it to impose a 6.25% sales tax on alcoholic beverage purchases at stores with licenses permitting "off-premise" consumption of alcohol sold. He argued that such a tax could fund programs to combat substance abuse. Also in 2013, Linehan proposed legislation to raise the citation given for public smoking of cannabis in city parks to $200. In December of that year, Linehan was the only member of the Boston City Council to vote against advancing a home rule petition authored by Councilor Ayanna Pressley requesting that the state cede its control over the number of liquor licenses in Boston to the Boston Licensing Board.
In 2013, Linehan was one of five Boston city councilors that voted against a successful City Council rule change that effectively allowed for the City Council to effectively discharge from committee a bill that was being stalled in committee.
In 2014, Linehan was elected by his fellow councilors to serve as Boston City Council president during his fifth term. At the time, Linehan was regarded to be the council's most conservative member. Linehan was regarded as representative of "old Boston" politics.
In 2014, Linehan and fellow city councilor Stephen J. Murphy authored an ordinance that would have significantly increase the salaries and pensions of members of the Boston City Council. Also in 2014, Linehan championed a proposal to rename South Boston's Branch Library for former Massachusetts Senate President William M. Bulger. Linehan also advocated for increased scrutiny and regulation of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft.
On October 18, 2017, Linehan made the surprise move of immediately retiring from the council two months before his term had been set to expire. He endorsed Ed Flynn's campaign to be elected his successor.

## Personal life

Linehan and his wife, Judy, have four children and six grandchildren.

## Electoral history

2007 Boston City Council 2nd district special election :
| Candidates | Primary | Primary | General election | General election |
| Candidates | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| Bill Linehan | 1,834 | 23.68% | 4,771 | 52.58% |
| Susan M. Passoni | 1,870 | 24.14% | 4,217 | 46.48% |
| Edward M. Flynn | 1,741 | 22.48% | 52† | 0.57% |
| Robert O'Shea | 831 | 10.73% | | |
| Brian R. Mahoney | 549 | 7.09% | | |
| Mary Cooney | 529 | 6.83% | | |
| Bob Ferrara | 384 | 4.96% | | |
| all others (write-in) | 7 | 0.09% | 33 | 0.36% |
| Total | 7,745 | 100% | 9,073 | 100% |
† write-in votes
2007 Boston City Council 2nd district election :
| Candidates | General election | General election |
| Candidates | Votes | % |
| Bill Linehan (incumbent) | 3,916 | 95.68% |
| all others (write-in) | 177 | 4.32% |
| Total | 4,093 | 100% |
2009 Boston City Council 2nd district election :
| Candidates | General election | General election |
| Candidates | Votes | % |
| Bill Linehan | 9278 | 95.68% |
| all others (write-in) | 252 | 4.32% |
| Total | 9,530 | 100% |
2011 Boston City Council 2nd district election :
| Candidates | Primary | Primary | General election | General election |
| Candidates | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| Bill Linehan | 2,334 | 35.02% | 5,078 | 50.28% |
| Suzanne Lee | 2,608 | 39.14% | 4,981 | 49.32% |
| Bob Ferrara | 1,689 | 25.35% | | |
| all others (write-in) | 33 | 0.50% | 41 | 0.41% |
| Total | 6,631 | 100% | 10,100 | 100% |
2013 Boston City Council 2nd district election :
| Candidates | General election | General election |
| Candidates | Votes | % |
| Bill Linehan | 9322 | 52.88% |
| Suzanne Lee | 8250 | 46.80% |
| all others (write-in) | 58 | 0.33% |
| Total | 17,630 | 100% |
2015 Boston City Council 2nd district election :
| Candidates | General Election | General Election |
| Candidates | Votes | % |
| Bill Linehan | 3594 | 89.25% |
| Suzanne Lee (write-in) | 26† | 0.65% |
| all others (write-in) | 407 | 10.11% |
| Total | 4,027 | 100% |