Boston needs a real race for mayor

Since Tom Menino first won the job back in 1993, the subsequent mayoral contests have been almost an afterthought.

A Silas Marner perched atop a bulging campaign warchest, Menino has hoarded his political capital and preserved his polling numbers, discouraging opposition from any but long shots.

But that same modus operandi has spelled a cautious, incremental style of governing - and a mayor more reactive than proactive on thorny issues.

Now, a gambling man would bet that Bostonians will stick with Menino come November, since reelecting incumbents is in our civic DNA. After Menino's State of the City speech on Tuesday, I ran into that encyclopedia of Boston political lore named Larry DiCara, who imparted this fact: The last mayor to lose a reelection bid was James Michael Curley, who had spent part of his previous term in jail. The year? It was 1949.

Although there is no formidable challenger this year, two credible city councilors are eyeing a run: Michael Flaherty of South Boston, who leans toward the old Boston, and Sam Yoon of Dorchester, a figure of the new.

A competitive campaign would be a healthy development for the city.

Watching the mayor on Tuesday, one was reminded again of his everyman appeal. Fifteen years into the job, Menino still works hard. He's paid laudable attention to basics like street sweeping, trash pickup, snow removal, and parks. And he generally finds good people for big appointments like police commissioner and school superintendent.

Yet the city suffers from a host of problems that could have benefited from bolder, more determined leadership.

And Menino now owns those problems.

Start with the schools. Yes, the system has moved forward under this mayor, and yes, it compares well to many other urban districts. Still, that progress has been frustratingly slow. A November study found that about two-thirds of city high-school graduates who had gone on to college had failed to earn a degree after seven years, raising real questions about their readiness. The mayor has opposed charter schools, despite their promise, while showing far too much tolerance for the Boston Teachers Union's footdragging on pilot schools, his preferred alternative.

The Boston Fire Department has long been a costly, poorly managed organization. Incredibly, we still read about abuses identified years ago. There is, for example, the expensive game of musical chairs that results in several different firefighters filling in at higher pay or overtime when one calls in sick. Last year, nearly a decade after the Globe first pointed out the problem, the paper again documented a disturbing pattern of apparent pension abuse: In the previous six years, 102 firefighters had claimed career-ending injuries while filling in for superiors, allowing them to boost disability pensions that are already tax-free. In 2007, 72 percent of firefighters who retired did so on disability, with 53 percent of that group claiming disabling injuries while filling in at a higher pay grade, according to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

The mayor's tentativeness in the face of union resistance was evident in 2007, when the city rejected offers to have the State Police help in Boston's high-crime neighborhoods. "You have different unions here," Menino said, as though union opposition was a sufficient reason to turn down State Police help.

Meanwhile, prompted by its poor performance in 2006, Secretary of State William F. Galvin has been supervising Boston's Election Commission.

On Tuesday, Menino talked about the painful budget decisions that lie ahead. Yet despite the prediction of savings by the research bureau, the city has forgone opportunities to let private firms bid to deliver some city services.

And then there's the mayor's temperamental style. It's a sad state of affairs when business and civic leaders are unwilling to voice their opinions for fear of earning the mayor's ire, but that's too often the reality.

It remains to be seen whether either Flaherty or Yoon would be better, bolder, or more entrepreneurial. But in these difficult times, the city badly needs a real mayoral campaign - and not one of the low-key duck-and-dodge affairs Menino will conduct if we let him.

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.