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Hennigan to propose mayoral term limit
Michael Jonas, Globe Correspondent
Friday, March 25, 2005
If Maura Hennigan has her way, a face-off with Mayor Thomas M.
Menino won't be the only choice she would bring to Boston voters
this November. She also wants them to decide whether to limit the
tenure of mayors to two four-year terms.
Hennigan, who is running against the veteran mayor, insisted that
her term-limit proposal is not aimed at Menino, who would be the
longest-serving mayor in Boston history if he is elected to and
completes a fourth term.
''It's not about him," Hennigan said.
Others, including Menino, are skeptical.
''What about term limits on city councilors?" Menino shot back
when told of Hennigan's proposal, which applies only to the mayor's
office.
''This is political posturing," said Councilor John M. Tobin Jr.
of West Roxbury.
Hennigan, an at-large councilor first elected in 1981, plans to
file legislation next week that would limit Boston mayors to two
four-year terms.
The proposal will be in the form of a home-rule petition that
would need the approval of the City Council and mayor as well as the
Legislature, after which it would go before city voters. If it gets
to the November ballot and is approved by voters, the proposal would
not apply retroactively. If Menino were reelected this fall, he
would be allowed to complete the term ending this year plus serve
one more four-year term, beginning next January.
Though it would not affect Menino immediately, the term-limit
proposal gives Hennigan an opportunity to emphasize one of the
advantages she sees in her uphill race against the veteran mayor --
his longevity.
''When you're there an awfully long time, you can forget why
you're there and it becomes more about you than why you're there and
the job you are supposed to do," said Hennigan. ''When you get
beyond two terms, I really believe it leads not to the best product
for the city."
Menino said he is ''not a big fan of term limits," citing the
loss of ''institutional memory" that comes with forced turnover of
officeholders. Mayoral term limits are in place in New York, Los
Angeles, and Philadelphia.
Hennigan, who hails from a long line of Boston politicians, says
the term-limit proposal is an opportunity to revisit a piece of
family history. In 1938, her grandfather, James W. Hennigan Sr., a
state senator from Mission Hill, sponsored legislation that removed
a ban on Boston mayors serving successive terms. His proposal was a
favor to then-mayor Maurice Tobin, an ally and fellow Mission Hill
resident.
Hennigan says her grandfather had the right idea in removing the
prohibition on successive terms, but failed to see the downside of
mayors serving not only a successive term, but third and fourth
terms as well. ''I think if he was looking down and saw me, he would
say, 'I should have thought of that,' " she said.
Hennigan, who is the council's longest-serving member, said the
dangers of unchecked power come from the executive side under
Boston's strong-mayor form of government, not the relatively weak
City Council.
Although there has been no movement for term limits here, even
some councilors who oppose the idea sound open to letting voters
weigh in on the proposal. ''I have no problem with putting that on
the ballot and letting the voters decide," said Councilor James M.
Kelly of South Boston.
When he was elected in 1993, Menino vowed to serve only two
terms. In seeking a third term in 2001, Menino updated his pledge,
offering the tongue-in-cheek clarification that he meant no more
than ''two terms per century." Does that mean if he wins reelection
this fall that a fourth term -- the second one this century -- would
definitely be his last?
''I'm enjoying myself," the mayor replied with a grin.
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