Menino exudes confidence as Flaherty works the city
Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty Jr., hoping to stop Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s march toward an unprecedented fifth term in office, crisscrossed the city yesterday seeking endorsements, leafleted outside city office buildings in an effort to eat into the mayor’s support from municipal workers, and took a poke at Menino for allegedly paying insufficient attention to rats in the North End.
Menino, ahead in the polls and projecting an air of confidence, adopted the classic Rose Garden strategy of an incumbent, celebrating a new company moving into Boston, continuing a daily stream of endorsement announcements, and using his large campaign war chest to finance a barrage of voter phone calls and television advertisements.
“I see the tracking polls, and I’m pretty satisfied with how my campaign is going,’’ the mayor said after touring the new downtown headquarters of First Wind, a wind energy company that relocated from Newton. Nevertheless, he said, “I’m working hard at it. I’m not feeling comfortable until election night.’’
Flaherty, with fewer financial resources, planned to launch radio ads this week and send out automated calls from, among others, former state representative Mel King and former mayor Raymond L. Flynn, the 1983 mayoral rivals who have endorsed his campaign. Flaherty’s campaign was also distributing letters outside city offices that seek to reassure workers who fear retribution from Menino if they vote for Flaherty Tuesday.
“Don’t let scare tactics about your own job dissuade you, and don’t let anyone discourage you from voting,’’ the letter states. “That is the kind of politics we are working hard to end forever.’’
Flaherty also sent mailings to thousands of undecided voters, urging them to join him for a live phone call on Saturday morning.
“There are so many undecided voters in this race, we need to continue to reach out to them . . . with our message of change,’’ Flaherty said after attending a routine City Council hearing yesterday.
Today, Flaherty is planning to attend a more pointed event, a rally organized by the Roxbury Builders Guild that will call on the Menino administration to enforce a city policy that requires Boston construction sites to fill jobs with 50 percent city residents, 25 percent members of minority groups, and 10 percent women.
The rally will begin at the Menino Pavilion, a new wing of Boston Medical Center named for the mayor that has exceeded the minority hiring requirement, at 26 percent, but fallen short on the other requirements, by hiring just 21 percent Boston residents and 4 percent women, according to city officials.
“This is about whether the working class will continue to exist in the 21st century or not,’’ said Kerrick Johnson, director of the Roxbury Builders Guild, which advocates for minorities in the construction trades.
Nick Martin, a spokesman for the Menino campaign, said that the mayor had just received an invitation to the rally yesterday and that it was not clear if he would attend.
Flaherty attended comparatively low-key events yesterday. He met with a veterans’ group at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, sought an endorsement from the Black Political Task Force, held a fund-raiser, and planned to greet patrons last night at a comedy show at Slade’s Bar & Grill in Roxbury.
Flaherty also sat through an hourlong City Council meeting, where he backed measures to name a room at the new Mattapan branch of the Boston Public Library for the mother of Councilor Charles C. Yancey and hold a hearing on the city’s bike-sharing program.
The only hint of mayoral politics came when Flaherty complained that the Menino administration had not responded promptly to his request for a list of all the calls pertaining to rats in the North End that had been placed to the mayor’s hot line and to the city’s Inspectional Services Department.
Flaherty filed a measure seeking the information last week, after Menino said earlier this month that he had not been alerted to the rodent problem.
“It’s interesting that the administration was able to delete e-mails,’’ Flaherty declared on the Council floor, but “isn’t as diligent’’ at providing information about rodents.
Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Menino, said city inspectors have been working closely with residents and business owners in the North End to rid the area of “these unwelcome guests.’’ She insisted the mayor was well aware of the problem.
Menino remained mostly above the fray yesterday. He joined
Meanwhile, his campaign rolled out another endorsement, from Service Employees International Union Local 888, which represents 2,000 city and state workers who live in Boston. Menino said his supporters have been calling thousands of voters this week, trying to persuade those who are undecided to vote for him and to make sure those who already back him get out to vote. The mayor also launched a series of print, television, and radio ads touting his familiarity with the city’s neighborhoods, and his administration’s investment in jobs and education.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 
