On the campaign trail, two of Dorchester’s state reps threw their weight behind gubernatorial hopeful Martha Coakley last week after which the attorney general made sure to return the favor. Reps. Russell Holmes and Daniel Cullinane accompanied Coakley to a handful of businesses in Mattapan Square on Friday before delivering their endorsements at a podium set up outside Brothers Restaurant & Deli. Before Coakley thanked Cullinane and Holmes, she was quick to remark that she was endorsing her endorsers because also outside Brothers was Corey J. Allen, a candidate for the 12th Suffolk seat currently held by Cullinane.

Allen, a former journalist, told the Reporter that he hadn’t planned to attend the endorsement and hadn’t actually decided who he was going to support in the gubernatorial race, but was there because he had a meeting scheduled up the street and was at Brothers to grab a bite to eat. Cullinane previously worked under Coakley in the attorney general’s office and faces a four-way Democratic primary on Sept. 9 against Allen, Carlotta M. Williams, and Ruthella J. Legan-Cruz. Holmes is running uncontested for the 6th Suffolk seat.

The only other member of the Dorchester delegation to publicly back a gubernatorial candidate is state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, who endorsed health care executive Don Berwick before June’s Democratic convention.
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On Beacon Hill, state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry secured a handful of amendments to the Senate’s environmental bond bill, including $8 million for the development of a water-based transit hub at UMass Boston’s Fallon Pier that “will create greater access to the campus for the university community and its neighbors,” Dorcena Forry said in a statement. Other line items include $500,000 to construct a bathhouse at Savin Hill Beach and $2.5 million for Tenean Beach renovations that will address flooding issues, expand the beach/dunes, and relocate the playground.

“For too long, Tenean Beach has gone without critical infrastructure improvements that have caused this recreational asset to decline,” said the senator. “By including it in the bond bill, Tenean Beach has a chance to be redeveloped and allow families from all over Dorchester and beyond to once again enjoy this gem along Dorchester’s shoreline,” added Dorcena Forry, who is married to Reporter editor and publisher Bill Forry. Differences between the Senate and House environmental bond bills will now be ironed out in conference committee before the final version is sent to the governor.