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HENNIGAN GETS FIRST BOSTON ENDORSEMENT
Feels like the first time
BY ADAM REILLY
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It was a long time coming, but mayoral hopeful Maura Hennigan finally received her first local endorsement. On July 10, the Boston chapter of Democracy for America (DFA), a progressive group originally founded by Howard Dean, gave the nod to Hennigan, the at-large Boston city councilor who’s waging an improbable battle to unseat Mayor Tom Menino. The DFA Boston press release praised Hennigan’s lengthy council tenure and her focus on public schools and economic development. But Menino’s responses to two particular items on the DFA questionnaire may have been just as important. While answering a question about the mayor’s relationship with the city council, Menino implied that the famously weak council actually has too much power: "Sometimes I get frustrated with the power of the Council to hold up programs that I feel are beneficial, such as funding for youth programs that has been bottled up by several councilors, but that is their right," he wrote. Menino’s take on the Boston Redevelopment Authority — which many critics see as dangerously powerful and opaque — couldn’t have helped, either. In fact, judging from the mayor’s response, he’s either unaware of these concerns or regards them as irrelevant. "While some developers have criticized the BRA for allowing too much neighborhood input, I disagree," Menino said in part. "The BRA has a balancing act to do, and for the most part, they do it." (The questionnaires of all candidates who participated in DFA Boston’s endorsement process are available online at www.dfaboston.org/Mass/responses.asp.) When DFA Boston head Brad Johnson was asked about the mayor’s comments, though, he diplomatically refused to pass judgment. "I hope Mr. Menino isn’t trying to say this," Johnson wrote in an e-mail, "and DFA Boston is ready to help host a debate to clear up these questions."
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