Posted on 03/16/2013 8:10:38 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Yesterday Howie mentioned that Peter Lucas was told by Mayor White that he would run again; White was not nec. a fan of Lucas but he told him. And: (WBUR):”The front page of the next morning’s Herald blared: “White Will Run.”
Later that day, when local TV stations went live to the mayor for his much-anticipated announcement, White announced he wasn’t running. In the Herald newsroom, reporters saw Lucas turn gunmetal gray. He walked to his typewriter and banged out his letter of resignation.
“I was stunned,” he remembers. When he handed the resignation over, the publisher said, “Oh forget it. This is great for circulation.” http://www.wbur.org/2012/01/29/kevin-white-commentary
Carr: Hope burns eternal in open field
No clear front-runner
Friday, March 29, 2013
Howie Carr
Do you realize there have been more papal conclaves over the past 50 years than open-seat Boston mayoral elections?
Which means we have very little data to predict who’s going to come out on top in November. But let’s go back and study what we have learned from those three open elections — 1967, 1983 and 1993.
Remember, municipal fights are “nonpartisan.” You have a preliminary, which reduces the field to two candidates, and only two. No straw candidates in the final — you can put in people in the preliminary to drain off an opponent’s votes — but the final comes down to just two. No Tim Cahill, no Christy Mihos.
Sorry, Deval. Now you see why Mr. 49 Percent ran for governor and not mayor.
In those three earlier elections, unlike this year, there was an obvious early front-runner, someone who was assured of getting into the final. In 1967, it was Louise Day Hicks. In 1983, Mel King. In 1993, acting Mayor Mumbles Menino.
So the battle came down to who would finish second and get into the final. In 1967, it was Kevin White. The 1983 undercard was between David Finnegan and Ray Flynn. The winner became the Great White Hope and the next mayor.
In 1993, it was state Rep. Jim Brett of the Bulger gang vs. Sheriff Bob Rufo of the county mob. Brett prevailed in the semis and then was crushed by Menino.
As Mumbles says, “Hope burns eternal in Boston.”
So you always have marginal candidates, like the eggheads. In 1967 it was Ed Logue, in 1983, Bob Kiley, in 1993, Chris Lydon. Now Paul Grogan is being “mentioned.” I’m sure Paul Guzzi would vote for Grogan if he could, but he can’t. This tends to be a problem for whoever the egghead candidate is. His fellow bicycle enthusiasts don’t tend to live in the city.
This year, though, the rules have changed somewhat. Instead of one Mr. Big and everybody else, this election will be like the playoffs, with two conferences, the liberal/minority division and the white/conservative/native division.
Ayanna Pressley is seeded No. 1 in the moonbat conference. Another city councilor, Charles Yancey, says he’s running, but c’mon.
Let’s call the other bracket the Dapper conference. It may get a little confusing because the two top-seeded candidates are named (Dan) Conley and (John) Connolly. Sportswriters would describe state Rep. Marty Walsh as a potential “spoiler.”
Translation: He can’t win.
I forgot to mention the one wild card in the fight — the hacks at City Hall. They’re always on the same side, the winning side. They have to be, or they’re out on the street. Some things never change.
Carr: Mumbles’ greatest misses available
Sunday, March 31, 2013
by Howie Carr
Friends, it’s finally arrived — The Greatest Hits of Mumbles Menino. As seen on TV, this unforgettable collection is not available in stores, but only at bostonherald.com. All dialogue guaranteed verbatim. Listen for yourself.
Click here to listen to clips of Mayor Thomas Menino's greatest hits.
Thrill your friends with more than 30 glorious moments, such as the mayor’s inspirational PSA:
“Together, we can beat prostrate cancer.”
And his Churchillian epitaph, “I have did my duty.”
Or, “Hope burns eternal in Boston.”
It’s all here, a history of modern Boston in six minutes:
“I have given Commissioner O’Toole four priorities: guns, gangs and terrorism.”
“Nine-eleven if it’s an emergency. If it’s an emergency only, call nine-eleven.”
“There was an enormous call made to the FBI about four Chinese nationalists.”
Not nationals, nationalists. Like the guys who worked for Chiang Kai Shek. They must have been very, very old.
Hear the mayor wax philosophical about his differences with the media, especially over the use of anonymous, er, enormanous sources.
“I have a real issue with the issue of enormanous sources … I mean, some medias do not allow enormanous sources.”
Listen as Hizzoner turns the tables on the media(s), barking out instructions to an aide.
Mumbles: “They do sources, we’ll do sources.”
Aide: “Who do you want the source to be?”
Mumbles: “Give ’em … Mary Shuttacacke.”
Aide: “Mary Who?”
Mumbles. “Anybody. Make up the story! If they’re gonna go by sources, we’ll go by sources.”
Hear once more his touching tributes to the departed: “Talk to him and listen to him, you always knew he was splinkin’ from the heart … He was a man of great statue in our city.”
Someday the mayor’s dynamic management will be studied in business schools.
“I’ve asked the law department to look at this issue and increase the fines for legal dumping.”
Relive his spellbinding oration to the Democratic national convention last August, and his evocation of a Boston “where millions of students have come to study includin’ a great American named Martha Luther King Jr.”
A problem in the Public Garden? You are there, with Hizzoner:
“It doesn’t say people cannot walk to the Garden or run through the Garden. It means that people cannot conjugate on the Garden, you know, three or more people conjugatin’ on the Public Garden over the next few weeks will be banned.”
The mayor is Boston’s number-one sports fan. He organized “rovin’ rallies” complete with “potta-potties.” He “de-blighted” in the play of the Pats’ tight end Grabowski, er Gonk, er Gronk, not to mention Wes Wexler. And who can forget his memorable call of “Varitek splitting the uprights,” or his salute to Red Sox reliever “Papelbaum.”
Mumbles’ Greatest Hits — it’s a great gift for kids from 8 to 80. The years fly by, as the mayor welcomes “Home Deep-Co” to Boston and learns to love the Tex-Mex delicacy “guaca-mah-la.” Thrill once more to his populist denunciations of the “sky-rockin’” cost of fuel, and corporations that won’t do “diddly-dunk” for the city. Swell with pride as he tells the red-light-running spandex-clad bicyclists that he plans to make Boston “the best bik-ling city in our country.”
Everyone remembers where they were at the moment he announced the wonderful news about the Big Dig:
“Now if you’re coming from the western part of the state, say out in Newton, that area, you can get into the city of Boston within 10 minutes.”
One final thought on the city, post-Menino: “That’s what we want the future of America to be, a city that works for all our people, not just for some of it.”
Don’t be a knucklehead, order before midnight. Operators are standing by.
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