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Menino's glass jaw feels the punch
By Virginia Buckingham, Boston Herald
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Watching mayoral contender Maura Hennigan eviscerate Mayor Tom
Menino with cutting, well-articulated criticism in last night's
Town Hall meeting on WGBH made me want to reach into the TV and
forcefully turn the two candidates to face each other.
It's so rare to see anyone in this city stand up to Menino, I
was practically drooling for more. And I'm surely not the only one.
How devastating would some of Hennigan's best lines have been if
she could have delivered them straight to the mayor's face?
Hennigan's best moment came in her closing statement when, after
addressing the viewing audience in Spanish, she turned to Menino
and asked for another debate.
We would have seen steam coming out of his ears if she had pulled
that stunt earlier in the evening and said, after some Menino mumbo
jumbo about this ``housing policy'' or that ``neighborhood partnership,''
``Mayor Menino, you've been here 12 years, you're part of the problem,
not part of the solution.''
It would have made for better TV and a much better debate but
more important, it would make for a far better city if more civic
and business leaders were willing to speak their mind to this mayor,
like Hennigan did.
Instead, a legacy of the mayor's 12 years in office that he doesn't
brag about is the culture of supplication, or should I say fear,
that exists across the spectrum of Boston leadership.
Sure, the real Bostonians, who don't need anything but basic city
services from this mayor, aren't afraid to ask the tough questions.
We saw that in virtually every question from the audience last night.
But I couldn't help envisioning that TV studio filled with some
of Boston's civic and business leaders finally freed from their
``let's not offend Tommy'' muzzles, comfortable that they're not
eternally on Menino's bad side if they speak their minds.
Take Paul Guzzi, for example. The chamber of commerce honcho has
to be dying to say, ``C'mon, Mr. Mayor, are you really serious about
taxing every telecom business in the city back to the Stone Age?
What is it about the terms `economic engine' and `critical infrastructure'
that you don't understand?''
Or Gloria Larson, who's shaking every tree in the country to fulfill
that vision Menino had for a grown-up convention center on Boston's
waterfront. Unconcerned about a Menino temper tantrum, wouldn't
she just say, ``Mayor, you're so smart, and you sure look handsome
in that suit, but just because you're not picking up the tab to
operate the Hynes Convention Center is no excuse to kowtow to the
Back Bay crowd on keeping it open.''
Craig Coy, Massport's executive director, has done a fine job staying
on Menino's good side, but what if he was able to ask this without
repercussion: ``Massport provides half of all the payments in lieu
of taxes the city gets, is it too much to expect in return that
the mayor wouldn't try to layer more taxes on every airport business
serving the millions of travelers Logan Airport brings to and from
his city?''
If Rev. Eugene Rivers could fearlessly say anything he wanted to
Menino and still get invited to the Parkman House, how about this:
``Mayor, every year church leaders in the community work with you
on a summer plan to keep our children safe. Forget the stopgap measures.
Where's your generational plan that will make Boston safe every
season, for every child?''
Turnpike boss Matt Amorello isn't shy with his opinions, as we found
out this week, at least so long as no one hears them. But in a city
where you could speak up and still get a phone call returned from
city hall the next day, wouldn't Amorello say, ``Mayor, do I really
have to run around in circles on the Greenway, consulting with every
Tom, Dick and Harry in City Hall, just so you don't get your nose
out of joint?''
Hennigan has a lot to lose by taking on Menino. She's doing it anyway.
Too bad she's the only one.
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