hile George W. Bush debates whether to debate Al Gore in Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is trying to salvage the related talkfest he has planned. Menino has booked Faneuil Hall for the night before the scheduled Oct. 3 debate at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. And he has invited a cast of noted political journalists for a forum on the presidential debates. Included are Chris Matthews of CNBC, columnist Jack Germond of the Baltimore Sun, Globe columnist David Nyhan, CNN correspondent and former Globe writer Chris Black, and Rick Burke of the New York Times. All that talent will need something to talk about.
In a legal twist, Menino's action unites unlikely duo of Kelly, Turner
It's a rare day when City Council President James M. Kelly of South Boston and Councilor Chuck Turner of Roxbury agree on anything. Two weeks ago, Turner joined other minority activists and housing leaders when they announced their lawsuit against Kelly and other South Boston pols for allegedly conspiring to discriminate by cutting a deal with the Menino administration to divert waterfront development linkage funds to their neighborhood. So it was particularly interesting last week to see the two on the same side of a legal matter. Both want to hire a lawyer to investigate the way the mayor claimed City Hall Plaza for redevelopment.
And here's one for South Boston
Mayor Menino was in an ebullient mood last week as he took his first tour of the $13.9 billion Big Dig - 81/2 years after the project started. He and former Big Dig top dog James J. Kerasiotes didn't get along so well, but Menino and Turnpike chairman Andrew Natsios seem to hit it off.
As a Central Artery project van packed with the mayor and his staff passed a new concrete structure in South Boston, an aide noted, ''that's the new Transitway station'' for the MBTA. Asked whom, if anyone, it was going to be named for, Menino wryly recalled his ongoing battle with South Boston politicians over how many goodies the neighborhood will get to offset development there. ''It's going to be Betterment Station,'' he cracked.
Republican scenario is speculated: Swift goes national first, Cellucci later
Best unsubstantiated speculation of the week, making the rounds at a recent fund-raiser in Boston for a Republican candidate: If Bush is elected president, Governor Paul Cellucci will put off taking a federal post in a Bush administration, but embattled Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift will take a regional federal post. Cellucci would then serve the final two years of his term and take a federal job, throwing open both the governor's and lieutenant governor's jobs in the 2002 election. In Boston politics, the hot-stove league operates year-round.
Barrios, St. Fleur go to bat for Gore
Freshman state Representative Jarrett T. Barrios is moving up in political class. Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign is utilizing the Cambridge Democrat as a surrogate in the Spanish-speaking community, and Barrios has been doing radio and television interviews touting Gore's record and plans. During the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Barrios was recognized by Latino restaurant and hotel workers who had seen him on Univision and Telemundo, the two largest Spanish-language networks. Barrios, the Harvard-educated grandson of Cuban immigrants, also hopes to campaign in his native Florida on behalf of Gore. Another local freshman legislator, Haitian-born Representative Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester, will play a role in the Gore effort, reaching out to Haitian communities.
Democratic group overlooks Bay State in making a list of 100 pols to watch
The centrist Democratic Leadership Council is flying high these days. The group's main man is finishing two full terms in the White House - the first Democrat to do so since FDR - and the current Democratic ticket is a DLC twofer with Gore, a veteran DLC adherent at the top, and none other than the current DLC chairman, Joe Lieberman, as his running mate.
But the DLC upswing has been a decided downer for the Massachusetts brand of Democratic liberalism. Former governor Michael Dukakis's ill-fated 1988 presidential bid still gets prominent play as an example of wimpy liberalism to be avoided in national campaigns. And some think the state's indelible liberal stain hurt Senator John Kerry's chances in the recent veepstakes.
The latest indignity hits at the state's once-vaunted reputation as a proving ground for future Democratic stars. In conjunction with last month's Democratic National Convention, the DLC came up with a list of 100 rising Democratic state and local officials to watch. Making the grade are everyone from an Alaska state representative to the St. Louis city comptroller and a Nevada county commissioner. But in a total shutout, not a single Bay State Democrat landed on the DLC list.
Interesting question; let's move on
The Massachusetts Turnpike's consultant on restoring the Surface Artery had almost completed a smooth, two-hour presentation on the controversial subject last Thursday morning, when one questioner raised a most contentious issue: Should the legal restriction of 25 percent maximum development of the land to be reclaimed by burying the Central Artery be reconsidered? Evan S. Rose, a senior associate at SMWM of San Francisco, gulped and gave it a try, concluding: ''The balance we've been given works, allows us to create great space.'' Said political veteran James Rooney, Menino's chief of staff: ''Evan, you've had enough chowder now that you gave the perfect political answer.''
Stephanie Ebbert, Thomas C. Palmer Jr., and Brian Mooney of the Globe Staff, and Globe correspondent Michael Jonas contributed to this report.
