Mayoral challenger comes out swinging
By Kevin Rothstein, Boston Herald
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Mayoral challenger Maura Hennigan hit hard at Mayor
Thomas M. Menino and never stopped during a televised town hall
meeting last night, but he absorbed it all with a smile.
``If after 12 years this administration has not got it right,
do you really think in the next four years you'll get it right?''
Hennigan said in response to a question about basic city services.
A few verbal slips aside, Menino stuck close to a positive script.
He never even directly mentioned his opponent or her 24-year-record
as a city councilor.
Menino, appointed mayor in 1992 and elected three times since,
even boasted about sending four grandchildren to the Boston Public
Schools.
``So I have a little special interest there,'' he said with a
smile.
But Hennigan bashed away, saying not every family attends a school
as good as the Menino grandchildren's and calling for an elected
school committee to help stop the decades-long flight of students
out of the district.
Menino defended his schools record, saying he had pushed for more
of the popular K-8 schools and implemented full-day kindergarten
and universal preschool for all 4-year-olds.
However, he stumbled when talking about the latest release of
test scores, saying, ``Our SAT scores, which were released today,
went up.''
In fact, it was MCAS scores that were released, and despite the
rosy outlook, only two grades showed improvement in Boston while
more Hub students' scores took a turn for the worse. The failure
rate for 10th-grade math grew from 27 percent to 33 percent.
Menino dodged a question about what will happen to the tax rate
over the next mayoral term, instead rattling off the tax-saving
measures he's seeking in the State House. But Menino campaign manager
Beth Leonard later said it was impossible to say how much taxes
would go up because the rate would be based on future growth.
And Hennigan continued to hound Menino on the topic of more debates,
even violating the rules of the town meeting to ask him directly,
during her closing statement, ``I ask you tonight Mayor Menino,
will you have another debate? Tell the people.''
Menino afterward insisted that a planned hourlong appearance with
Hennigan on a WBZ 1030 AM talk show will constitute another debate.
``I'd rather have it where you have the public, they're the ones
who are going to make decisions who's coming back to city hall,''
he said.
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