E-Mail This Article to a Friend The wrong stuff, continued

BEACON THRILL

Whether the governor’s powers are exercised by Governor Romney, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, or some combination of the two, Republican irrelevance will continue. Activists worry that Romney will veto much-needed legislation such as a bill that would set aside up to $25 million a year for crumbling cultural institutions (passed by both the House and the Senate) and one that would make it possible to purchase hypodermic needles without a prescription, a key anti-AIDS measure (passed by the House, now awaiting Senate approval). In both cases, though, it’s more than likely that the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature would easily override the governor’s veto.

The politics of same-sex marriage may play an outsize role in the governor’s race. Which is why Democrats ought to worry that their front-runner for the gubernatorial nomination, Attorney General Tom Reilly, is detested by many gay activists for his hostile maneuvers — pushing for civil unions in the teeth of a contrary decision by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, enforcing an ancient and obscure law to ban out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying here, and, more recently, approving an initiative petition for an anti-marriage constitutional amendment. (Two previous attorneys general, Scott Harshbarger and Jim Shannon, said he’d made the wrong call.)

Reilly’s Democratic opponent, former Clinton-administration official Deval Patrick, has made a favorable impression on the gay community. But though Patrick has stirred up some excitement in progressive circles, he remains a long shot.

All of which leaves the Republicans well positioned to win their fifth consecutive Bay State gubernatorial election. The untested Healey favors civil unions rather than gay marriage, which means her position isn’t all that different from Reilly’s. But she’s done little to anger gay activists, and there are hopes that she might prove more moderate with Romney out of the way. Businessman Christy Mihos, who might challenge Healey for the nomination, is a supporter of gay marriage.

In the end, same-sex marriage is probably not going to decide the gubernatorial election. But given the considerable appeal that the Republicans already have in terms of playing watchdog in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, it’s interesting that a progressive issue the Democrats ought to own could wind up cutting the other way.

TOMMY’S TUNE

As he enters his fourth — and possibly not his final — term as Boston’s mayor, Tom Menino continues to show that he can be both sublime and ridiculous.

An example of the former came recently, when he was honored at the annual Catholic Charities dinner, an occasion boycotted by Archbishop Seán O’Malley under pressure from conservative activists angered by Menino’s stances on gay marriage and abortion rights.

"What moves me about being a Christian is what Jesus taught us about being religious," Menino said, according to press accounts. "He did not give priority to piety. He didn’t make holiness the big thing. And he did not tell us to go around talking up God, either." An example of the latter: Menino’s announcement, as part of an anti-crime initiative, that he would push store owners to stop carrying T-shirts emblazoned with the words STOP SNITCHIN’. (The mayor later modified his stance on that.)

Menino faces enormous challenges, and elected officials in their fourth terms are rarely able to call on the same kind of talent that was available to them when they were fresh and new. In his State of the City address in January, Menino is expected to address Boston’s acute shortage of affordable housing, a hardy perennial. But the biggest crisis Menino faces is the rise in violent crime. And even though the 2000-member Boston Police Department is short by about 200 officers, there’s little evidence that the troubled force would be up to the task even if it had more resources.

But that doesn’t stop the mayor from keeping the spotlight on funding. "The federal government doesn’t care about what’s happening in the cities of America," Menino told the Washington Post last week. "They just walked away from us."

There’s a lot of truth in that. And the state hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with assistance, either. Which only makes it all the more imperative that the mayor demonstrate city government can solve its own problems.

One of Menino’s brightest success stories has been school superintendent Thomas Payzant, but Payzant is retiring at the end of June. Thus it’s crucial that Menino find a capable replacement.

A mixed part of the Menino legacy — the South Boston Waterfront — appears to be taking a turn for the better. The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, derided as a possible white elephant when it opened in 2004, is now doing well enough that Boston has been named the seventh-leading convention destination by Tradeshow Week magazine — the first time it’s made the top 10 in more than two decades. As hotels continue to be built in that area, the situation will only improve.

More than a dozen years into his mayoralty, Menino seems invigorated by his re-election victory this past November over city councilor Maura Hennigan. Whether that vigor can lead to new ideas, though, remains to be seen. His Honor has never been renowned for possessing much of a vision. That’s not likely to change.

Dan Kennedy can be reached at dkennedy[a]phx.com. Read his weblog, Media Nation, at medianation.blogspot.com.