By Jim O'Sullivan

With the leaflets nowhere in sight and the protests shushed for the time being, Maureen Feeney still stands unopposed for re-election as the District Three City Councillor.

A union flare-up last week over a Neponset Circle property sparked a flurry of controversy for the fifth-term Dorchester councilwoman, as the notion of a write-in candidate testing her in the November election first sizzled and then fizzled.

Feeney, who declined to comment for this article, has an "impeccable labor record," according to one City Hall staffer, which made the "informational picket" outside her fundraiser at The Venezia restaurant in Port Norfolk last Thursday that much more surprising. Local 369, a utilities union, held signs labeling Feeney anti-union, and charged her with meddling in an inter-union conflict. The night before, leaflets bearing similar messages appeared in Feeney's Cedar Grove neighborhood.

"Maureen Feeney's labor record stands for itself," said City Council President Michael Flaherty, noting that members of several local unions attended the fundraiser and offered encouraging words to Feeney. "She's always been a great friend to unions and to working families, and it was disheartening to think that folks at Local 369 would think otherwise."

Members of Local 369 and Maverick Construction, a communications construction company with which the utility workers of Local 369 are affiliated, alleged that Feeney had interceded in a territorial dispute between Local 369 on one side and Local 103, the Dorchester-based electrical workers union, and Local 223 building trades union, by blocking Maverick's intended purchase of an Oakman St. property now home to EAS Ambulance.

"If the community didn't want [Maverick Construction] in there, then so be it, but she didn't even allow it to go to her constituents," said Gary Sullivan, president of Local 369, last Thursday. Sullivan and John Riley, business agent of the union, accused Feeney of siding with Locals 103 and 223 in a dispute they said should have been settled by the AFL-CIO, the centralized governing body of organized labor.

Joseph Nigro, general agent for the Boston Building Trades Council, placed the blame for the conflict with Maverick, and said 369 was "excessive with their charges."

"369 should worry more about privatization of the electrical company than about a maverick contractor," Nigro said.

Flaherty stepped in to smooth the dispute last Friday, drawing a promise from Sullivan that there would be no more demonstrations or actions against Feeney until the parties had met. The at-large councillor said a meeting would take place in the next few weeks.

Officials for Local 103 and Maverick Construction did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Seeking retribution against Feeney, union organizers affiliated with Local 369 fished for a candidate last week, trying to tap a district fertile with community activists and political enthusiasts. When the Reporter went to press on Wednesday, Feeney was unopposed, but Sullivan would not rule out the possibility of a renewed effort if the meeting with Feeney does not go well.

"It's not just about Maureen, it's about all elected officials," Sullivan said Wednesday. "Fights happen all the time in the labor movement and [elected officials] just got to stay out of it."

Sullivan said the demonstration, the leaflets, and the threat of an election opponent were designed to "send a message."

"I think the message is going to be that they can't stick their noses in our business anymore."

Flaherty, calling the Venezia demonstration "tasteless and juvenile" and "amateur night," said Local 369 owed Feeney an apology.

"Obviously, clearly, 369 is going to have to make amends on their end and go back into the neighborhoods that they leafleted distorted views of Maureen's labor record and set the record straight," Flaherty told the Reporter on Wednesday.

Michael Mackan was one of the candidates solicited by labor organizers.

Mackan said he was contacted last week by a union member asking him to run a write-in campaign against Feeney. Calling himself "supportive" of Feeney, Mackan withheld judgment, reasoning, "You never say 'no' right off the bat."

But, Mackan said, "I'm not 100 percent sure that this is the venue to take to run for City Council."

Mackan said he had spoken with Feeney and told her of his communication with her opponents, and that, while he found the overture "kind of flattering," he likely would not spoil her first unopposed campaign.

"I believe that there's a time when loyalty takes effect," said Mackan. "They're looking for vengeance, they're not looking for a candidate. And I don't have any vengeance against her."

Other community activists expressed support for Feeney, saying the Oakman St. location was an inappropriate one for a company relying on trucks that would have had to pull out onto Morrissey Boulevard near Neponset Circle.

Maverick Construction, now headquartered in Hyde Park near Clery Square, is planning to move to a more expensive building in Readville, Riley said.