"I am definitly interested in a political career somewhere down the road," says Walter Jr., who believes his family has an obligation to help their fellow man and serve the community.
"It will be interesting to see whether in this era, political family strength can be handed down from one generation to the next," says Koocher.
David Sullivan disagrees with the mayor on some issues. "Walter tends to think more in terms of individual problems, while I think of people as a group. It is possible that when he helps one person, it could be at the expense of the group," he says.
"He has attempted to influence the housing inspection investigations by stopping inspection of individuals he wants to protect, and assisting others," says the city councilor. "This is an informal control that the mayor has acquired through personal contacts, and he has exercised it for better or for worse."
"Our approach to politics also differs," says David Sullivan. "He wants to kill rent control and he has been an opponent to linkage, which provides moderate low income housing. This may hurt people as a class."
"The mayor is a spokesman for business development in the city." says CCA President Jack Martinelli, who has numerous differences with Sullivan's policies.
"We take a far more conservative view on development in the community because there are areas in the city where zoning laws have permitted extremely high densities of construction," says Martinelli. "Members of the city see many negative impacts."
"The large high-rises on Mass. Ave. between Harvard and MIT have an extraordinary amount of traffic and noise, which greatly increases the demand for city services such as street improvement and police and fire protection," says CCA's president.
"This results in increased expenditures for the city which have to be borne by the neighborhoods around it in the form of higher taxes," Martinelli says.
"Some of his policies are debatable," says Martinelli. "But he has always been the largest vote-getter. The Sullivans are deeply involved in the city and county politics, and no one has had the length of influence as they have."