By Scott Malone
BOSTON (Reuters) - The longest-serving mayor in Boston history plans to tell voters on Thursday that he will not seek a sixth term in office, setting the stage for the city's most competitive mayoral race in decades.
Mayor Tom Menino, 70, is expected to declare his intention not to seek reelection to the office he has held since 1993 at a Thursday afternoon event at Boston's historic Fanueil Hall, according to an official who asked not to be identified ahead of the event.
The decision comes after the mayor was hospitalized for a month last year with a virus and back pain that cut short a vacation in Italy. The Democrat told local media he was growing concerned about how much longer he would be able to keep up his grueling work schedule.
"I can work a mayor's schedule, but not a Menino schedule," the mayor told WBZ news radio on Thursday morning. "I like to work 18 hours a day."
Prior to today, only one other candidate had jumped into the race - fellow Democrat John Connolly, 39, a Boston city councilor who has focused his campaign on improving schools.
But observers expected more local leaders to enter the race now that they know they will not be facing a powerful incumbent.
"Boston mayors are rarely defeated for reelection, so if you are going to make a run for it, this is the time to do it," said Peter Ubertaccio, chairman of the political science department at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, south of Boston. "The city councilors are going to be jockeying for this position."
Menino had a formidable campaign organization that he has used both for himself and fellow Democrats - his supporters played a key role in Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's successful 2012 campaign to unseat Republican Scott Brown.
He has declined to endorse either of the Democratic Congressmen, Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch, currently vying to fill the Massachusetts seat in the U.S. Senate that became available when John Kerry was named Secretary of State.
Voters will go to the polls in that special election on June 25, a little more than four months before November's mayoral race, making for one of Boston's most lively political calendars in recent years.
On the national stage, Menino has stood out as an advocate for gun control and gay rights, often working alongside New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Menino became mayor in July 1993, after predecessor Raymond Flynn resigned to become U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.
His fellow politicians were quick to offer praise.
"Tom Menino said yes for 20 years to economic inclusion, immigrant entrepreneurship, social and economic justice for all," said state Treasurer Steven Grossman. "We will miss his leadership at City Hall."
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Paul Thomasch)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét