Mayoral hopeful Maura Hennigan verbally attacked Mayor Thomas Menino in a radio discussion on Friday night, calling him insensitive and claiming his administration has failed at cooperating with city employees and providing security for Boston.
Hennigan criticized Menino’s actions during the Red Sox riots last October and Patriots riots last February. She blamed the death of Victoria Snelgrove during the riots on the mayor’s inability to collaborate with city officials.
“Mr. Mayor,” she said, “it shows your insensitivity that you were more interested with the brand new police commissioner, more busy packing your bags for St. Louis and going to the game than you were that making sure police commissioner O’Toole and you reviewed the plan [the night of Snelgrove’s death].”
Hennigan also said the mayor should have been at the scene of the riots, helping coordinate the police effort. But Menino countered.
“The mayor of Boston doesn’t sit at a scene,” he said. “He’s at his office, where I was, in contact with police officers during the course of the evening. I’m not on the front lines, I shouldn’t be there. That’s a police job.”
Menino chastised Hennigan for bringing up the Snelgrove case in a political arena.
Hennigan criticized Menino further on public safety and the police department. She said Menino is not complying with a law that regulates the number of police officers in Boston. She added that Menino is preparing police commissioner Kathleen O’Toole for failure because he is not providing her with enough resources.
Menino said the problem with the police department is a lack of funding from the federal government. He claimed that the city of Boston has lost tens of millions of dollars of federal funding since the Clinton administration. Menino added that he does not involve himself with police department politics, but he is doing the best job possible.
“I’m not going to put this city into bankruptcy,” Menino said, adding that he sends as many new officers to the police academy as the city can afford.
Menino said his administration is working to build cooperation between the community and the police through community groups and public works. He said crime in Boston is down since last year. Hennigan said the mayor should make use of a $200 million surplus to deal with the critical issues facing Boston.
“There are not enough police officers on the street,” Hennigan said. “Ask the people in the Boston housing developments that in one month this summer had more murders than all last year. When Tom Menino says that crime is down, he’s not talking about murders. He’s talking about people that break into your car. That skews the figures.”
Menino said Hennigan does not understand budgets because it is not prudent to use the money the city has in reserve funds.
But Hennigan, who has weighed in on two dozen budgets in her days on the council, disagreed.
“It is pouring in the city of Boston – we need some use of that rainy day fund,” Hennigan said.
Hennigan said the main reason Menino should be voted out is because he has been mayor for too long and has become “stagnant.”
Menino said he should be reelected because his administration has a good record in dealing with Boston’s needs. He added that if reelected, he would continue to move the city forward.
“I want to finish the job I started,” he said.