BOSTON POLITICAL WATCHERS are breathlessly anticipating the final week of the mayoral showdown. Tomorrow is the last of three televised debates between John Connolly and Marty Walsh. The candidates will work themselves to utter exhaustion by next Tuesday. Thousands of dollars will be spent on their ground games and airwave ads, in a race where a massive infusion of out-of-state spending, driven by labor interests backing Walsh, is setting a new standard for the role of outside, unaccountable expenditures in US mayoral politics.
There surely is much at stake in the outcome of the race, and there are differences in the candidates’ backgrounds and visions, despite the considerable overlap in broad outlook. With all of that said, it’s also worth keeping in mind a counterveiling take on the race: The outcome may matter less than you think.
As Zachary Karabell writes in the Atlantic, “The transformation of New York and a plethora of American cities into thriving and relatively affluent hubs in the past 20 years is not, as is widely believed, the product of astute mayors and innovative policing. Rather, cities have been transformed because their residents and industries have transformed them.”
Under the headline “The Golden Age of American Cities — and What’s Really Behind It,” Karabell, an economist and money manager with River Twice Research, writes that cities have thrived — or faltered — based mainly on factors other than the policies pursued by their city hall leaders. Along with New York under Michael Bloomberg, he writes that a number of US cities, including Boston under Tom Menino, Denver under John Hickenlooper, and San Francisco under Gavin Newsom, have had very good runs in recent years. But Karabell says “you would be hard pressed to find too many commonalities in these mayors.” Some adopted similar policies, he writes. But so did leaders of other cities, like Rochester, New York, and Wichita, Kansas, that have not fared nearly as well.
Having assets well-suited to the emerging knowledge economy, which work as a virtuous cycle, drawing new residents and businesses, which in turn fuel a city’s rise — and can contribute to crime’s decline — are the common thread Karabell sees in the country’s thriving metropolises. On the other side of the ledger, he says, “even with a better local government, Detroit would have been hard pressed to stave off the immense pressure caused by the rapid changes in the auto industry, which had been the region’s lifeblood.” That’s a reality-check that earlier this year seemed lost on Menino, whose sheer good luck at presiding over a knowledge-economy rich city during this era sometimes seems to have gone to his head.
None of this is to say it doesn’t matter who’s mayor or what policies they pursue. Indeed, we’ve devoted a lot of energy at CommonWealth to the Boston mayor’s race, believing it marks a crucial transition for the city and the entire region. And we’re not done yet. We’ll post several essays this week, in addition to one posted last week, by leading figures who have important perspectives on why it matters what the next mayor does.
But there’s nothing wrong with maintaining a healthy perspective on the various forces that shape a city’s trajectory, especially as we enter the frenzied final count-down to election day.
–MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL
Problems with state computer contractors are the focus of a legislative hearing slated for today.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Lawrence’s state fiscal overseer says Isabel Melendez must sign a lease agreement with the city if she wants her social service agency to remain in a city building, the Eagle-Tribune reports. Melendez, who is running Mayor William Lantigua’s reelection campaign, pays no rent currently. CommonWealth’s Gabrielle Gurley interviewed Melendez at the Escuela General Donovan in her report on the mayor’s reelection prospects.
A proposal to raise a variety of licensing fees in Middleboro was withdrawn after selectmen opposed the measure by the town manager saying it would be bad for business.
The Christian Science Monitor looks at the legacies of three long time US mayors, including Boston’s own Tom Menino.
MARATHON BOMBING
Given the stonewalling by the FBI, The MetroWest Daily News argues that it is time for Massachusetts to launch an independent investigation into the Waltham murders that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was allegedly involved in.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The Globe looks at the divide between President Obama and congressional liberals, including many in the Massachusetts delegation, over changes to Social Security and other budget issues. The proposed change to Social Security, known as “chained CPI,” was the focus of CommonWealth‘s Washington Notebook report in the Summer issue.
The US House finally gets something done and passes a bill regarding water projects with overwhelming bipartisan support.
A North Carolina Republican official resigns his position after making comments about “lazy” African Americans and the state’s voting law on The Daily Show, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
ELECTIONS
The Herald traces Boston Mayor Tom Menino‘s icy treatment of Marty Walsh to a decades-old feud between Walsh and Menino’s son-in-law, Bill Fenton. “It’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys,” one Boston politician tells the paper. Of the relationship between Walsh and Menino’s daughter, an unnamed City Hall insider tells the paper, “She hates him. She despises him.”
The Globe takes a look at John Connolly‘s legal work and Marty Walsh‘s union leadership roles.
Democrats for Education Reform ups its ad buy significantly for John Connolly, WBUR reports.
The Herald endorses Ayanna Pressley, Michelle Wu, and Michael Flaherty for Boston City Council, while un-endorsing Steve Murphy, whom the paper had backed in September’s preliminary. The Herald also goes with Suzanne Lee over Southie councilor Bill Linehan.
City Councilor and failed mayoral candidate Mike Ross, in a Globe op-ed, says the next mayor must tackle the city’s inconsistent high-end Internet connectivity as part of Boston’s economic competitiveness challenge.
New York magazine profiles Bill de Blasio, saying the great appeal of New York‘s prohibitive mayoral favorite, his lefty idealism, is also his greatest liability.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
A new report says that millennials could be forced to work into their 70s because of their crushing student debt burden.
Municipal budgets have been far slower to see improvements than those of businesses.
EDUCATION
UMass Lowell to offer graduate degrees in pharmaceutical sciences next fall, the Sun reports.
Massachusetts ranks first in the United States in a global education study, Associated Press reports.
HEALTH CARE
Paul Levy wonders how the Affordable Care Act is reducing costs, claiming his health plan, purchased through the Massachusetts Connector, is going up 40 percent a month under Obamacare in premiums and co-pays. The Wall Street Journal digs into the bureaucratic morass behind the health care law’s rollout. The latest computer glitch halts online enrollment across the country, Governing reports.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Union officials say about 40 workers at the Brayton Point power plant in Somerset have been notified they will be laid off in mid-November, just weeks after the plant’s owners said they will close the facility in 2017.
The Cape Cod Times looks at the Plymouth Station nuclear plant in a two-part series.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Impaired drivers at a Hingham checkpoint over the weekend were offered rides home and hotel rooms instead of arrest as part of a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The State Police subpoena a member of the Miami Dolphins in connection to the Aaron Hernandez murder investigation.
The two stolen Hilltop Steak House fiberglass calves have been recovered, the Item reports.
MEDIA
Red Sox principal owner John Henry, in a long article in the opinion section of Sunday’s Globe, explains why he bought the newspaper but says nothing about what he plans to do with it. The Beat the Press panel takes the Globe to task for an “over the top” story connecting the Red Sox success to the region’s recovering from the Boston Marathon bombings without mentioning the paper and the team now share owners.
Bill Keller and Glenn Greenwald debate journalistic neutrality.
Gawker runs a story mentioning the sexual orientation of Fox News anchor Shepard Smith and no one cares, David Carr of the New York Times reports.
Rock legend Lou Reed is dead at 71, Rolling Stone reports.
