Menino lets loose: Mayor slams ‘incompetent’ Kerry camp
By David R. Guarino and Noelle Straub
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Mayor Thomas M. Menino unloaded a searing attack on fellow Democrat John F. Kerry [related, bio] yesterday, calling his presidential campaign ``small-minded'' and ``incompetent'' - laying bare a years-old rift weeks before the city plays host to Kerry's FleetCenter coronation.
Menino, in an exclusive Herald interview, let loose on the hometown senator two days after Kerry snubbed him by siding with union picketers outside a U.S. Conference of Mayors event.
``Maybe they should use some of their energies to get their message across to the American people instead of trying to destroy the integrity of someone who is on their team, to try to discredit someone on their team,'' Menino said. ``They have better things to do.''
But, in a move that might only intensify the public war of words, the Kerry campaign responded by suggesting Menino made the comments because of the ``pressure'' he's under as convention host.
Kerry and Menino ended up on opposite sides this weekend as Kerry debated skipping a scheduled speech to the mayors.
Kerry decided late Sunday night not to give the speech in deference to picketing cops, angering Menino - who quickly replaced him with Republican Gov. Mitt Romney [related, bio], in a reciprocal snub.
Menino said he was enraged to see a local newspaper item saying he hung up on Kerry Sunday. The mayor yesterday said Kerry's campaign floated the story, which he called untrue.
``I wasn't angry with him, that's a rumor they're spreading,'' Menino said. ``They are trying to balance out their decision by saying the mayor's angry. I had no harsh words with them.''
Menino called the alleged leak ``the failure of the campaign to communicate with the public,'' adding, ``They are trying to find scapegoats for their incompetency.''
A few hours earlier, the mayor stood with Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe at a press conference cheering Kerry as ``the next president of the United States.''
``We are all on the same team, I thought. Evidently, we're not,'' he said. ``This is typical of small-minded individuals who have to create controversy.''
Kerry's campaign refused to make the senator available for comment last night, but suggested Menino might be stressed out.
``The mayor is in the middle of running the city and helping prepare Boston for the national and international spotlight as the Democratic National Convention comes to John Kerry's hometown, where Kerry will accept his party's nomination for president,'' spokesman Michael Meehan wrote in an e-mail response. ``These are two very pressure packed jobs and the mayor understandably is working hard to be successful at both.''
Sources close to the Kerry campaign and the mayor say they worry about the rift continuing through the convention - already plagued with bad headlines - and into the general election.
Aides to Menino say the famously fickle mayor has never felt particularly close to Kerry and could well hold back some of his ground troops, which helped put Kerry over the top in critical primaries.
This would mean something bad if Kerry were to actually be nominated, I guess. He's not, so it's no biggie.
>>>>>Aides to Menino say the famously fickle mayor has never felt particularly close to Kerry and could well hold back some of his ground troops, which helped put Kerry over the top in critical primaries.
How big of a deal will a Boston mayor's ground troops be? Mass. is sown up, Kerry doens't have to worry about that, so how much of an effect can he have outside of the state?
What do you expect from Kerry? Loyality? Kerry will bite the hand that feeds him. Grateful? No, Kerry takes people for granted. It's a character flaw.
Of course it's all Menino's fault. Unless it's Bush's. Kerry, on the other hand, is a billion smackers above the hoi polloi.