BOSTON — Boston's most reliable rubber-stamp on the City Council is on Instagram tonight taking a victory lap.
District 8 Councilor Sharon Durkan — Mayor Michelle Wu's most loyal yes-vote — wants Bostonians to know how proud she is that the City of Boston has just announced a new partnership with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to keep firefighter cancer screenings going after federal grant money dried up.
"I'm proud to see the City of Boston announce a new partnership with Dana-Farber," Durkan posted on Instagram Tuesday evening. "When the federal grant funding ended, we could not afford to wait around for a solution."
She'd know. She's the one who made the council wait.
Last week, she killed the council's vote on the exact same thing
Last Wednesday, May 13, Councilor Erin Murphy stood up at City Hall and tried to file a late resolution to restore funding for the very firefighter cancer screenings Durkan is now celebrating. Before Murphy could finish, Durkan objected on procedural grounds — invoking Rule 33, the council rule that lets a single councilor block any same-meeting adoption.
The resolution died on the spot. No vote. No debate. No public hearing of what had been proposed.
The catch — as Mass Daily News reported at the time — is that Durkan had used the very same Rule 33 in July 2025 to fast-track her OWN late-file emergency: a resolution demanding Healey "protect access to life-saving GLP-1 medication" — Ozempic, Wegovy, the class of weight-loss drugs Durkan had personally written a Substack post praising for helping her drop 50 pounds.
Rule 33 was suspended for Sharon Durkan's diet drugs.
Rule 33 was NOT suspended for Boston firefighters' cancer screenings.
Now the fix is in — and Durkan wants the credit
The "Direct Connect for Firefighters" partnership Durkan is celebrating is a $150,000 contribution from Dana-Farber for specialized cancer screenings — a donation from the cancer hospital, not a council-funded budget line.
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The official announcement was made at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute by Boston Fire Commissioner Rodney Marshall, Mayor Wu, Dana-Farber doctors, elected union officials, and the Boston Fire Cancer Foundation, per the Boston Fire Department's own Twitter.
Sharon Durkan was not on the official press lineup. She inserted herself via Instagram afterward.
According to City Hall sources, Durkan called Boston Firefighters union official Sam Dillon in the days after MDN reported on her Rule 33 block — only after she was taking heat from the press for killing the council vote. The Dana-Farber announcement followed.
District 8 Councilor Sharon Durkan in the Boston City Council chamber. Durkan blocked the firefighter cancer-screening resolution on May 13 by invoking Rule 33. (Source: Boston City Council meeting video)
Six days ago, Sharon Durkan procedurally killed a council vote that would have done exactly that.
Her objection delayed the council. The Mayor's office and Dana-Farber found a workaround. The firefighters are getting their screenings.
And now Sharon Durkan would like the receipt to read: "with thanks to me."
The councilors who actually fought
Before the Dana-Farber workaround came together, Councilor Erin Murphy had already publicly called out what she watched Durkan do in the chamber.
"Personal feelings should never interfere with public business," Murphy wrote in her official Council statement after the Rule 33 block. "Talking over me while I am trying to file a matter, then smiling afterward like blocking public business is some kind of victory, is not leadership. It is immature and unprofessional."
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Murphy's caption on the Instagram post carrying that statement: "Mean-girl politics has no place in City Hall."
Councilor Ed Flynn — the chamber's only Navy veteran and a 24-year service member — has been the loudest voice on the council against Wu's budget priorities. Tuesday morning, hours before the Dana-Farber announcement, Flynn posted on X:
— Ed Flynn 愛德華費連 (@EdforBoston) May 19, 2026Boston has budget deficit of $70M after two years of 10+% tax increases. We were warned since 2024 up to $2.1B less tax revenue. We didn't exercise fiscal discipline. If we're cutting veterans budget 14% & Firefighter cancer screening, we have abandoned our values & lost our way!
Neither Murphy nor Flynn took a victory lap on Instagram Tuesday night.
They didn't have to. They had been fighting for the firefighters all along.
Mass Daily News reached out to Councilor Durkan's office for comment. The councilor did not immediately respond.
For the firefighters, today's news is a good day. They'll get the cancer screenings they need.
They just didn't get them because their City Councilor stood up for them in the chamber. She did the opposite.
She suspended Rule 33 for Ozempic. She enforced Rule 33 against the firefighters.
Tonight, she's on Instagram taking credit for the fix.
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