New battles, same Menino

Firefighters Local 718, the firefighters union, has had an uncanny knack over the years for disrupting Mayor Thomas M. Menino's State of the City speech.

Tonight's will be no exception. It will be delivered against a backdrop of allegations that indifferent maintenance contributed to Friday's horrific tragedy that claimed the life of Lieutenant Kevin M. Kelley.

You can debate the dignity of leveling accusations before the poor man has even been put to rest, and the union's zealous performance has reeked of opportunism. That doesn't render its charges moot, however, a point underscored yesterday when one of the first pieces of equipment subject to inspection failed. Menino declined to talk about the specifics of the charges, arguing instead that they are in poor taste while Kelley's family, and the city, are in mourning. He instead affirmed his complete confidence in Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser Jr. and said a maintenance plan is in the works.

For almost anyone else, this would be a horrendous way to kick off a reelection campaign, which is essentially the mayor's task this evening. He is an all-but-announced candidate for reelection, while at least two city councilors who would love to knock him out ponder their options and chances.

The firetruck crash is not all that worries Menino these days - given his budget woes, a lot of pain looms for City Hall. Layoffs are a virtual certainty, and even previously untouchable departments are unlikely to be spared.

But if you had to be an incumbent politician in awful times, you would want to be the mayor of Boston. This is a city where sitting mayors never lose and challengers seldom get off the ground. The last time a mayor broke a sweat while seeking reelection was 34 years ago, when Joe Timilty nearly toppled Kevin H. White. In past reelection campaigns, Menino's token opposition has barely been able to raise enough money to print lawn signs.

Menino wasn't willing to share any details of tonight's speech, but no one should expect high drama. "It's a very difficult year ahead of us," he said. "We will have to make some courageous decisions."

Actually, he could recycle most of last year's promises. Last January's wish list included a vow to reinvent the "Boston Miracle"; a pledge to combine the resources of community centers and public libraries to boost school test scores and graduation rates; and a pledge to institute drug and alcohol testing in the Fire Department. All of those are battles that remain well worth waging.

Some of those efforts fell by the wayside, while others were trumped by new crises. In the case of the Fire Department, the scandal over disability scams pushed the drug testing issue onto the back burner.

But the issue of fire equipment that threatens the safety of firefighters and the public will not go away so quickly. Anecdotally, the argument that safety has been less than a priority rings true, and it will take more than a few cursory inspections to set the public at ease. There won't be much patience for finger-pointing, either, which is the default position of both the union and the administration. If there is a problem here, someone will have to take responsibility for fixing it - as opposed to grumbling that they can't fix it.

It is far too early to speculate on the electoral chances of Menino's undeclared opponents (who, by the way, really need to make up their minds). There is no doubt that the mayor is in: As he said recently, he doesn't really announce for reelection, he just starts running. Actually, he never really stops running.

So tonight begins the march for an unprecedented fifth term. Rather than wasting it on pledges he hopes everyone will soon forget, the mayor should use this campaign to talk about where he really wants to take the city in the time he has remaining in office. It shouldn't be enough to say we're in a tough economy. As Friday's tragedy demonstrated, some problems won't wait to be addressed.

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