< Back to front page Text size – +

Adrian Walker: On the move with Menino

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 3, 2009 05:20 PM

By Adrian Walker, Globe Staff

Shortly before 7 a.m today, Mayor Thomas M. Menino was on the phone in his kitchen, head bowed, strangely silent.

Reverend Ray Hammond of Bethel AME Church has called to offer an Election Day benediction that seemed likely to furnish the only quiet moment of the day.

The mayor had already been up for hours, reading the papers with his wife Angela and checking in with the aides who would coordinate the troops on the ground.

Menino's attention to detail at such moments is well-documented, as is the anxiety he often feels as voters begin to render their verdict. Yet he seemed surprisingly relaxed, at ease, almost at peace.

Before long he was doing what he is best known for: moving. He would spend the next few hours voting in Hyde Park and meeting voters in West Roxbury and Roslindale as he made his way across the city.

His granddaughters went to the polls with him at the Roosevelt School, where he was greeted outside by a throng of reporters and photographers. He paused on the way in to complain to one television reporter that he had been forced to run against three opponents -- Michael Flaherty, Sam Yoon, and Local 718, the firefighter's union.

From there he headed to Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury, home to one of the liveliest precincts in the city. There, he ran into former mayor Raymond L. Flynn, an outspoken supporter and advisor to challenger Michael Flaherty. The once-warm relationship between Menino and Flynn long ago turned to ice, and they mostly avoid one another.

Here, however, they were tense but civil. They stuck to the safest topic imaginable: their combined 23 grandchildren. And they resolutely avoided discussing the election.

Menino lingered for a long time at Holy Name, basking in the company of old friends and neighbors and a host of other politicians.

Earlier this morning, Menino declined to ponder his legacy as the city's longest-serving mayor. What does he think about possibly becoming the first Boston mayor to win a fifth term? Nothing.

"Honestly, the years in office don't mean anything to me," he said. "You shouldn't just be there to occupy the seat. It's all about moving the city forward."

He spoke only vaguely about his plans for a possible fifth term, saying only that he would be rolling out some new ideas soon. He said the most difficult part of the campaign had been addressing criticism from his opponents, and the way he said it he mostly seemed frustrated by his own inability to respond more articulately in debates.

"I've never been the silver tongue," he allowed.

After his stops in Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Roslindale, the caravan was poised to move on. Menino was on his way to Copley Square, site of his campaign party tonight.

The crowded itinerary was both telling and a Menino trademark: He has succeeded largely by substituting energy for imagination or introspection. He is not incapable of reflection, he just doesn't believe in it. His main strategy has always been to just keep moving, keep working.

Martin O'Malley, the governor of Maryland and former mayor of Baltimore, has a favorite Menino story. When he was a newly elected mayor he attended a workshop at the Kennedy School at Harvard, and while he was in town he dropped by Boston City Hall to meet Menino for the first time.

The two of them were alone in Menino's huge office overlooking Faneuil Hall as dusk started to descend. O'Malley asked Menino if he had any advice, thinking Menino might impart wisdom about fund-raising. or perhaps how to subdue a rebellious City Council.

Instead he heard this: "Never sit in the office by yourself." The startled O'Malley wondered why not. Menino said, "Because you start to think too much."

Menino has managed to make a style out of keeping busy and not thinking too much. Perpetual motion long ago became his hallmark.

Whether that is enough will be up to the voters.

---------

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.