Political Circuit: Bump looking to jump?

On Monday, the governor strode to DeNucci's office, unannounced, to try to smooth things over. "The auditor is planning to run for re-election," was all his spokesman, Glenn Briere, would say.

Hoping to tamp down the controversy, Bump issued a statement saying, "I believe strongly in the work that Governor Patrick is doing and the work that I am doing on his behalf and will not be a candidate for state auditor."

Bump hinted earlier this month, when Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill announced he was eyeing a gubernatorial run, that she might run for statewide office. Patrick's office denied categorically she had any interest in the treasurer's job, but she refused to issue any such denial.

The dust-up comes as the governor is facing not the best of weeks politically, with sagging poll numbers and a Republican Party re-invigorated by its newest gubernatorial candidate, Charles D. Baker.

-- ANDREA ESTES

Challenging the challengers

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino may not be wild about debates, but apparently his deputies aren't shy about unscripted exchanges with rivals.

At a public forum hosted by challenger Sam Yoon at Mattapan's Foley senior residences on Tuesday, members of Menino's administration cut in from the audience to interrupt Yoon -- to the surprise of Yoon's campaign.

Yoon was talking about the city's Elderly Commission when Menino's chief of staff, Judith Kurland, took offense with his characterization of the commission as a political arm for Menino, the Dorchester Reporter reported. (The handbags and literature doled out by the commission are emblazoned with the mayor's name, as well as the city seal.)

"I take personal offense," Kurland cut in, trying to interrupt Yoon to tout Menino's work for seniors. Later, when the crowd asked where Menino was, Kurland yelled back, "How often have you seen Councilor Yoon in Mattapan?" according to the Reporter. At another point, Menino's chief of human services, J. Larry Mayes, interrupted an audience question that he thought unfairly criticized the lack of diversity in Menino's administration.

Dot Joyce, Menino's spokeswoman, said Kurland and Mayes attended not as political operatives but as City Hall ambassadors -- "doing their job and going to community meetings and interacting with the community." Joyce suggested that city officials might attend future gatherings organized by opposing campaigns, to "promote the hard work of all of our agencies and departments" and ensure that it is not lost or distorted amid "political rhetoric."

-- ERIC MOSKOWITZ

Looking south, not north, to avoid taxes

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos complains that the boost in the state sales tax, which takes effect Saturday, will drive Massachusetts residents to New Hampshire to buy their merchandise. His own choice of state, though, when it came to side-stepping taxes? That would be Rhode Island.

When Mihos last ran for governor, in 2006, the Globe reported that he had escaped $23,000 in Massachusetts sales taxes when he bought a 38-foot luxury yacht in Rhode Island, which exempts boats from its sales tax. He created a Rhode Island corporation, of which he is the sole officer, to buy the $475,000 boat in 1999. He used the address of his Newport lawyer to register it with the Coast Guard, but acknowledged he kept the yacht off his West Yarmouth home.

Mihos said at the time that he stored the boat in Rhode Island for six months in the off-season, which he said exempted him from the sales tax. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue reviewed the case, but it has a policy of not commenting on its findings or actions.

Mihos said Friday that he paid $42,000 in 2007 to "resolve all issues" related to the taxes on his yacht. Mihos maintains that he was not seeking to evade taxes, but said he wanted to stop paying legal costs in the case.

"At some point, you gotta just say it's not worth it," he said.

-- FRANK PHILLIPS

Baker to build campaign slowly

He entered the race with fanfare, and he embodies the hopes of many Republicans across the state seeking to reclaim the corner office. But don't look for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charles Baker to ramp up right away with all the bells and whistles of a political campaign.

Baker's advisers say the candidate will probably not have a campaign manager or a significant staff in place until late in the year. The emphasis for the rest of the summer and the fall will be fund-raising, particularly given that he is starting from scratch and has said he will not dip into any personal funds to run his campaign.

There is one major exception, though, to Baker's decision to keep things bare-bones. He has hired a finance director, John Cook, a Massachusetts native who has been a long-time GOP fund-raiser for campaigns around the country.

-- FRANK PHILLIPS