Love him or hate him, Phil Palmieri is the traditional “bring home the bacon” politician. The 14 years he spent on the City Council representing District 2 has to be considered the mother of all conflict-of-interest tenures, given that much of his energy was directed toward getting city money invested on and around Shrewsbury Street, where he owns property.

One of his last triumphs as a city councilor was the masterclass he gave in leading the charge to squeeze additional money out of CSX, when the company was looking to make the city its major New England hub. In 2015, he tried to parlay his District 2 cred into one of six citywide council positions, but finished a disappointing 11th place in that year’s preliminary election, which led him to drop out of the race.