This week will be Maura Hennigan’s busiest.
On Nov. 9, Boston voters will decide if her opponent, Mayor Thomas Menino, deserves his fourth term or if this City Councilor-at-Large should become the city’s first female mayor.
She has a long way to go if she hopes to win next Tuesday. An Oct. 20 Boston Globe-CBS 4 poll put her 39 points behind Menino, who has been mayor for the past 12 years.
But she is not letting the Mayor’s lead get her down.
Hennigan has thrown the campaign into overdrive, marching across Boston to get her name and her message out to voters.
Since launching her campaign last March, she has attracted scores of volunteers and advisors. But there is no question who’s in charge.
“She calls the shots,” said Dan, Hennigan’s driver for the day. “She might be a bit frazzled, and she might be doing her makeup or fixing her hair. But she’s in charge.”
As he pulled the car into the candidate’s driveway, the morning’s first snow flakes fluttered from the cloudy sky. Hennigan stepped out of her two-story Jamaica Plain home and walked to the green station wagon. She buttoned the front of her khaki overcoat, obscuring her matching khaki pantsuit and turquoise sweater. She got in, put on a “Maura Hennigan for Mayor” sticker and got down to business.
“Hi Dan,” she said energetically. “Do you know where we’re going? Where are we going?”
She took the schedule from him and carefully examined it.
Pausing for a moment, she took a few deep breaths to collect herself. Then, with an exasperated sigh, she launched into the first issue of the day.
“Menino called a press conference,” she said. “We have to stop and pick up a paper.”
Since 2000, The Globe reported on three dogs being electrocuted to death when they walked over electric boxes powering a Boston streetlights. In one case, the box lacked the insulation that blocks the wires from touching the metal plate cover. When the dog stepped on the box, the electricity to flowed through plate and into the year-old Boxer, killing it.
Hennigan said this problem of “stray voltage” has become one of her core causes. The city councilor said that for years she has asked the city to address the problem in vain.
But on Friday, Menino gave a press conference to announce his new plan to combat “stray voltage” by testing all the streetlight boxes in Boston on a three year rotating schedule.
“Coincidentally, he does this a week before the election,” she said. “Needless to say, it hasn’t been much of a priority [before].”
Arriving late, Hennigan’s station wagon parked near of the Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester. City councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester) called a forum to address the AIDS “state of emergency” he announced in Boston. Yancey said AIDS in the African-American community has reached emergency levels and must be dealt with immediately.
On March 30, Yancey offered a declaration about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Boston’s “communities of color.” The declaration was accepted by the city council unanimously.
Walking under drawing and photographs of loved ones afflicted with AIDS, Hennigan arrived in the middle of Rev. Franklin Hobbs speech on the community’s struggle against AIDS. When Hobbs saw Hennigan, he called to her. The two met in the aisle of the church and hugged.
The 50-member audience gave her loud applause. Hennigan walked to the back of the church quietly spoke with Yancey for a few minutes.
Hennigan and Yancey have been close during their years on the council. Yancey has been on the city council for 22 years, two fewer than Hennigan. The two share a similar vision for Boston’s future and agree on how to get there.
Hobbs called Yancey up to speak about the state of emergency he initiated. Yancey asked Hennigan to join him. He lauded her work on the council.
“Councilor Hennigan has been serving for 24 years,” Yancey said. “Quietly, and still fastly.”
Thanking Yancey, Hennigan took the microphone and asked for the votes of those in attendance.
“Local government is the government that’s closest to you – the people,” she said. “It’s the obligation of local government to step up to the plate and create a line item budget in the City of Boston to combat HIV/AIDS. As mayor, I will.”
The people in the church erupted into applause and gave a standing ovation.
Hennigan said Menino has not made HIV/AIDS a priority in his administration, and that she would fight to get HIV/AIDS funding in the budget. She reminded the audience that she voted for Yancey’s proclamation and asked for money to be specifically set aside for Healing Our Land, a Dorchester faith-based group combating HIV/AIDS in the Boston black community.
“A mayor should make sure that his – or her – budget reflects the priorities [of the city],” she said. “Please send me there to work for you.”
BOSTON UNDERGROUND
Back on the road, the councilor spoke with a colleague on the phone about the stray voltage issue. Hennigan said she doubted the mayor’s commitment to testing streetlight boxes and installing insulation.
“They’re not going to test after the election,” she said angrily on the phone. “They’re just doing this for show.”
The councilor has been criticized for attacking the mayor too often. Hennigan does little to hide that she thinks Menino is afraid to debate her publicly. At times, her campaign seems more focused on pointing out what Menino is doing wrong than what she would do right – a move that has drawn disapproval from some outside the campaign.
Before reaching the zoo, Hennigan told Dan to pull over the car. Stepping onto Geneva Avenue, in Dorchester, she kneeled before a streetlight box. On an earlier inspection, Hennigan found this box lacked proper insulation and logged it onto her “pothole website.” Launched in October 2003 after Hennigan broke her ankle tripping in a pothole during a parade, her website allows Boston residents to document problems with potholes and other failures in city services. They can then follow up on their requests and see if and how the city has acted.
Prying the open the protective plate with a key, she peered inside and found that the city added insulation to that box.
“It’s our pothole website working in action,” she said. “It’s not just for potholes.”
Placing the cover back on the box, she said the city should install insulation in all streetlight boxes and screw the lids shut.
“See, it’s not screwed in here,” she said, pointing to the holes where screws would be. “Someone can just open it and take out the insulation or hide drugs down there.”
Hennigan said after stray voltage became an issue, the city began fixing the streetlight boxes but stopped when preparations for the Democratic National Convention took too much time.
“The [Menino] administration can’t walk and chew gum at the same time,” Hennigan said.
Next, Hennigan followed the campaign trail toward a Halloween party at Franklin Zoo. En route, she found time to bundle up again and review her evening schedule, which included another Halloween party at a Jamaica Plain elementary school.
Hennigan stood near entrance of the zoo for about half an hour, greeting families before they entered the party.
She introduced herself to a group of four elementary school girls. The quartet asked her to get rid of the uniform policy at their school. After speaking to them for several minutes she said “goodbye” and walked away as they chanted, “vote for Maura Hennigan!”
Hennigan smiled and waved to the girls, calling “thank you!”
Back in the car again, Hennigan headed home for a few hours rest but she would be back at work later in the evening.
She’s got a lot of ground to cover before Tuesday.