Hennigan ad takes 'quack' at Menino for ducking
issues
Commercial based on children's book
By Lisa Wangsness, Boston Globe
October 16, 2005
In her first batch of television commercials, mayoral candidate
Maura Hennigan has found a way to cloak a sharp attack ad in the
guise of a beloved Boston-based children's book.
''Make Way for Menino," which is scheduled
to begin airing tomorrow on cable stations, features a series
of playful illustrations of Mayor Thomas M. Menino on a desperate
dash around Beacon Hill, done in the familiar chalk-drawing style
of Robert McCloskey's children's classic ''Make Way for Ducklings."
''Make way for Tom Menino," croaks a puppet-voiced
narrator. ''He's ducking the issues again."
Intercutting illustrations of the Menino character running down
Charles Street and a duck quacking, the narrator scolds Menino
for ignoring Hennigan's pleas for a formal debate.
''On soaring property taxes ('Quack!') rising homicides
('Quack!') and failed city services ('Quack!'), Menino just won't
be held accountable," the narrator says.
The number of homicides in Boston was 98 in 1993,
the year Menino first took office, dropped to 31 in 1999, and
rose to 64 last year. Property taxes on single-family homes and
condominiums rose by an average of 12 percent this year mostly
because residential values continued to increase faster than commercial
values. Last year, Menino persuaded the Legislature to temporarily
shift some of the burden to businesses, but that adjustment is
being phased out.
The ad is the first to air on television in this year's mayoral
race, which pits Hennigan, a 24-year city councilor who has labored
with limited success to raise money and to gain traction on the
issues, against a 12-year incumbent with deep pockets. Hennigan
started airing a similar radio ad last week that accuses Menino
of avoiding a debate on the issues.
In the three forums she has had with Menino, Hennigan
has spent much of her time attacking Menino on everything from
street cleaning to the economy, and on the council she is known
as the mayor's most tireless critic. In the new ad, she tries
to push her argument for voters to replace the mayor Nov. 8 --
but pleasantly, even charmingly. ''You want your candidate's positives
to go up and your opponent's negatives to go up," said Rob
Stegman, owner of BlueStar Media, Hennigan's Needham-based media
consultant. ''We wanted to be clever, disarming, and do the kind
of ad that catches people off-guard and gets people's attention."
Hennigan has accused the mayor of spending more
of his time seeking photo opportunities and cutting ribbons than
pursuing new ideas. The mayor usually appears at a Mother's Day
children's parade in the Public Garden during which park rangers
read parts of ''Make Way for Ducklings."
''It's one of his main backdrops, so this gave us the opportunity
to use that to our advantage," Stegman said
Menino defends his record and has disputed Hennigan's
characterization of his administration as only superficially engaged.
He has repeatedly pledged to inject as much vigor into a fourth
term as he has in his previous three.
''On education, on parks, on the economy, on housing,
we have an administration that is moving forward, I want to continue
to move this city forward," Menino said during a forum Friday
night on WBZ radio.
Stegman said Hennigan's campaign paid $26,000 for
950 spots on a range of cable stations. The buy was relatively
small, considering that Hennigan has said she is prepared to spend
more than $900,000. She has pumped $425,000 into her campaign
account by borrowing against her Jamaica Plain home, and she has
said she is willing to put up another $490,000 in loans against
two other properties she owns.
But Stegman said the ad buy was large enough to
get its message across while still being financially prudent.
The ads on Comcast are less expensive than spots on network affiliates,
though he added that Hennigan plans to buy ads on those stations
before the campaign is over.
''When you're running a campaign that has been characterized as
an uphill battle, you've got to be smart with your dollars,"
he said.
Hennigan spent $27,000 on the radio ads last week.
McCloskey died in 2003. Neither the Hennigan campaign nor its
consultants obtained copyright permission to use his famous story.
Stegman said it wasn't necessary.
Thomas F. Holt Jr., an intellectual property lawyer
with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart in Boston, agreed. Courts have
established that small portions of a text can be quoted for illustrative
or instructional purposes, and that parodies can borrow portions
of a protected work, he said. And because Hennigan's use of the
material is for political purposes, Holt said he believes it would
also be protected speech under the First Amendment.
Whether the ad will help Hennigan win is another
question. Former city councilor Michael McCormack, who hadn't
seen the ad, said Hennigan was better off running positive ads
about herself.
''What she needs to do from here on out is tell
the voters how she is going to be a better mayor than Tom Menino,"
he said