Menino lets loose: (boston) Mayor slams ‘incompetent’ Kerry camp

[sniffa]

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=33881

Mayor Thomas M. Menino unloaded a searing attack on fellow Democrat John F. Kerry yesterday, calling his presidential campaign ``small-minded'' and ``incompetent'' - laying bare a years-old rift weeks before the city plays host to Kerry's FleetCenter coronation.

Menino, in an exclusive Herald interview, let loose on the hometown senator two days after Kerry snubbed him by siding with union picketers outside a U.S. Conference of Mayors event.

``Maybe they should use some of their energies to get their message across to the American people instead of trying to destroy the integrity of someone who is on their team, to try to discredit someone on their team,'' Menino said. ``They have better things to do.''

But, in a move that might only intensify the public war of words, the Kerry campaign responded by suggesting Menino made the comments because of the ``pressure'' he's under as convention host.

[Justice]

1. I read this with great hesistation

The Boston Herald is a right wing rag newspaper. Worst of the worst. But they are quoting Menino. So...I am not sure how to read it, but I think the Mayor looks very small. I like Menino, but really think he needs to let this go. I do not see what the big fuss is about.

[sniffa]

4. i don't understand it either

i know it's the heraLd, but this was supposedLy from an interview with him. the heraLd is bLatantLy dishonest so i wouLdn't be surprised if menino cLaims "out of context".

i think the gLobe has a piece on this but i haven't gotten there yet.

[Justice]

8. Globe Has Same Quotes More or Less

[Demeter]

33. Menino Always Was Small

In a provincial state in a provincial part of the country, with an over-inflated sense of importance, Menino typifies everything that's wrong in Mass. I lived there 19 years--it's no exaggeration!

[rfranklin]

2. Hey Mennino, go "Cheney" yourself, bigtime!

Shut uuuuuuup!!!!

[MaineDem]

3. Arghhh...the Herald!

Menino lost face when Kerry honored the picket line. He comes across as whiny now.

I agree, it's time for him to let it go.

Edited for spelling. Sorry.

[bushisanidiot]

5. Why would he give the boston herald an exclusive interview

and give the repukes ammo?

Kind of makes you think..

[LynneSin]

6. Our loss in US Mayors Votes will be our gain in Union votes

And believe me, there are a hell of alot more union voters out there than US Mayors

[sniffa]

7. bingo

kerry made the right choice.

[louis c]

9. An inside look at the controversy

I'm a member of the Greater Boston Labor Council of the AFL-CIO. The group is comprised of just over 100 locals from Boston and the surrounding communities. We meet monthly at the IBEW Local 103 Union Hall.

The issue of the Boston Police, Firefighters, and Teachers has been an ongoing issue concerning our group for over a year now. It has, in many ways become personal among those individuals at the bargaining table, especially between the Police and the Mayor.

Tremendous efforts by strong labor personalities, including President Sweeney of the AFL-CIO, as well as former Senate President(now Labor Lawyer) Tom Birmingham have failed to break this stalemate.

This situation, because of the location of the convention, has caught the Kerry campaign in the middle. They had to make a decision about crossing a picket line, or snubbing the home town Mayor. Kerry's team made the correct choice.

Mennino is a politician, he should know better and understand. Kerry had to show solidarity with the Unions. Remember, the International Police Patrolman's Association, which endorsed Bush in 2000, just endorsed Kerry, with quite a lot of fanfare, this month. That's the parent organization of the Boston Police Union.

In addition, the Mass. AFL-CIO has taken an active role in support of the Police. I've been to many meetings in which Bob Haynes (President), and Rich Rogers (Exec. Director-GBLC) have called on our fellow Unions to stick together. If Kerry crossed, we would be divided as a group, which could have had a ripple affect.

I post this, so fellow DUers will understand that this is about more than the Boston Police. Kerry did the correct thing and the Mayor should not let his pride obscure the truly big picture. If he thinks his Friends are now Romney and Bush, he's more stubborn than I thought. Big cities, both in this state and across the country, are in financial crisis because of the Republican policies of intentionally starving the states and cities of financial resources.

[Francine Frensky]

10. Thanks for providing context.

I wonder what the mayor's big problem with the police is? Is he squeezed for money, also because of the national republicans?

I visited boston last summer, for the first time as an adult, and wow, what a beautiful city and a great place to visit (and I assume, live). You guys don't know how lucky you are just to be there!

[BayCityProgressive]

11. the mayor

seems to be a dick who is relatively anti-union and supports a racist school transport system. Im glad he doesnt like kerry.

[sniffa]

13. um, what?

are you speaking of our bussing system? if so, how is it racist?

[louis c]

12. Yes it is nice

The two personalities involved are quite stubborn. The police are represented by Tommy Nee. He's for his men and women. They expect a lot from him. Municipal employees can't strike, by law, so their only recourse is this type of informational picketing. The more high profile the event, the more effective it is.

Tommy Nee would be negligent as the leader of his Local if he didn't use these available opportunities to his advantage. He runs for office, too. He has his members to answer to.

As far as Menino talking of incompetence, how come these contracts haven't been settled in two years? What did he expect Kerry to do , risk his Union support nationwide, so he could make the Mayor happy. If he can't carry Boston, with or without the Mayor's support, he should drop out.

The Mayor is the big loser. If he runs for re-election, every Union will be against him. Now, he has added the President of the United States from his own party and home state to his adversaries.

The Mayor has burned his bridges. He might as well cave in on the contract and let his successor worry about the consequences.

[Zolok]

18. And besides that...

one of the few groups to stick with Kerry when he was twenty points behind and looking like burnt toast in New Hampshire were his police/firefighter supporters.
To cross that picket line quite literally would be to turn his back on people who stood by him in hard times.
Menino et al need to think about the future....get this damn contract squared away and let us move forward to the fall campaign.

www.chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com

[louis c]

20. You've Got It

That's it in a nutshell.

[dolstein]

27. Why hasn't Ted Kennedy gotten medieval on this guy's a**?

Obviously, John Kerry can't allow himself to get dragged into a petty catfight with the mayor of Boston. But Teddy can. And he should. He fought as much as anyone to bring the convention to Boston. And now that mad dog Menino has decided to take a giant dump in the backyard right before the Democratic family picnic, it should be up to Uncle Ted to clean up the mess and give the dog a few whacks with a rolled up newspaper.

[Andromeda]

28. Thanks for telling us the facts.

The mayor should just get over himself and become a team player.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sniffa]

32. nice foxnews taLking point there

i hope you enjoyed your short visit.

[curse10]

14. screw tommy menino!

he's just pissy cause Kerry made him look bad. Of course Kerry was going to side with the police officers, you dumb shit! And he made the right choice!

And the Herald is the biggest piece of trash I've ever seen. I don't see how they can be considered a real newspaper and not par with the National Enquirer. My neighbor works as a photographer for them, and she's embarrased to admit it!

[sniffa]

16. ewww

how can you Live next to someone Like that? :P

for the past month or so the heraLd has been reporting that they sky is faLLing over the DNC and that the whoLe state is pissed at kerry about it... but there's no there, there. they make bed sheets out of a frayed swatch of cLoth.

i wonder if my new theory on the thursday edition of the boston heraLd wiLL come to fruition - thursday is the most vicious and partisan edition of the week it seems.

[sendero]

15. I'm so tired....

... of immature, disloyal Dem politicians tearing each other down.

If this guy has a problem with Kerry, he should communicate it to HIM. Doesn't he understand the big picture here?

GROW UP PUNK!

[Quahog]

17. Drove past the picket lines Monday

I was visiting Boston, up from my home in RI. I didn't hear a single word on the street spoken against the picketers or Kerry. Menino, on the other hand, is coming across as a complete asshole. LOTS was said about him, and none of it positive. Locals seemed to be more or less embarrassed by their whining mayor.

[Raven]

19. What "Mumbles Menino" says about John Kerry will

not make one bit of difference to the voters of Massachusetts. They will vote for Kerry regardless of the petty City Hall politics. I know some of the folks who are organizing the DNC and it is a nightmare of turf wars, back stabbing and jockying for position. It will be a wonder if it comes off at all! Menino should thank Kerry for getting the deal he got with the unions...not to picket the convention...it has saved the Mayor alot of embarrassment on national TV.

[trof]

21. Many, many thanks to all the Bay Staters here

for explaining the situation to the rest of us.
I just returned from 2 weeks in Boston and caught the precursor of this on the local news.

I lived 45 minutes north of Boston (Merrimack, NH) for 16 years and have always had a soft spot for the city. Love their politics and pubs.

Now...can you explain why you elect repug governors?
Thanks.

[sniffa]

22. it's the weLd curse

i know everyone here probabLy hates the guy, but i thought he was a great guvnuh. the peopLe made the mistake of assuming that every pub down the road wouLd be simiLar.

[MallRat]

24. Weld was more liberal than most Southie Democrats.

Fiscally moderate, socially progressive- he's one Republican that I really did like. Jesse Helms singlehandedly torpedoed his career.

Since then, each subsequent governor has tiptoed further and further right. Cellucci was OK, but beholden to business interests. Then his Lt. Governor, Jane Swift, took over when Cellucci left to become Ambassador to Canada.

Swift was completely in over her head- a complete and utter failure, whose failings were laid bare in the wake of September 11th. Her political death sentence was her lukewarm response to the fact that two of the hijacked planes originated from Logan Airport.

After a month of dawdling around and letting her Massport chairwoman take all the heat, Swift tried hard to feign indignation in a press conference where she announced restructuring of Logan Airport management, cheerfully quipping into an open mike, "I'm in a firing mood."

Unfortunately for us, the GOP leadership didn't let Swift run in the 2002 elections. They quickly recruited Mitt Romney, coming fresh off his high-profile job as head of the Salt Lake City Olympics. Romney presented a facade which was socially conservative and fiscally moderate. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Shannon O'Brien, had received the kiss of death by being too tightly associated with the widely-despised Speaker of the House, Tom Finneran.

In the end, Romney corralled a lot of support from traditionally working-class Boston Democratic constituencies, and there just weren't enough progressives to vote for O'Brien.

To this day, there remain questions about whether Romney was even eligible to run in the 2002 election. Although he claimed Massachusetts residency, he had been living in Utah for 2 years.

Now, two years later, Romney's favorables are down. If a viable Democrat emerges in '06 independent of the Finneran machine, he or she would likely win in a landslide.

-MR

[sniffa]

31. romney & swift

romney actuaLLy cLaimed utah as his primary residence for severaL years so he couLd save money on taxes. (cheney expLetive) carpet bagger.

swift was a joke. i remember after 9-11 she was Living in the MEMA bunker in framingham whiLe constantLy giving pubLic addresses urging her constituents to go about their buisiness, go to work, and most importantLy, go shopping.... but she (cheney expLetive) hid out in the bunker for a whiLe.

[louis c]

23. The Dem. Primaries

are ferocious and divisive. There's never enough time to recover, so we always lose the close ones.

[radfringe]

25. many years ago

when Dukakis was governor -- I worked at a state hospital. Union contract (AFSME) was is negotiation. the state wouldn't bend, and was even looking to cut pay/benefits

we went on strike for a week. Contract was finalized. Dukakis was not re-elected that year. (he was subsequently elected on the next go around)

Menino better pack his bags -- he'll be out of office faster than a Bremer leaving Iraq

[Toucano]

26. For your plot in the political graveyard, Mr. Menino...

would you like a view of the sea or the forest?

Talk about stupid! How about you help Kerry get elected then let him give you the money to settle your labor dispute? Is that too far thinking for you?

Excellent response from the Kerry camp.

[0007]

29. This guy Menino is in left field -