As Mayor Thomas Menino fights to secure a fifth term in office, his opposing candidate City Councilor-At-Large Michael Flaherty crusades with a campaign promise of instituting mayoral term limits during his first 100 days in office. The two represent a dichotomy of ideas that has plagued the city of Boston for years, and behind them are thousands of Boston residents, also divided over the issue. While Menino’s camp holds water, claiming if the citizens continue to choose Menino they should be allowed to without being barred by the city charter, the challengers bring up an equally cogent point. The longer someone holds a position of power, the more power they acquire, resulting in a mayor with more skills to intimidate, persuade and control the constituency.
Democracy thrives on the central tenet of the citizen’s right to choose his or her preference out of a selection of viable, diverse candidates. But when a particular office holder becomes too powerful and wins election after election ‘- some of them even unopposed ‘- his citizenry may resign itself to him. Perhaps it’s a lack of political efficacy, or a lack of trust in the integrity of the campaigning process or a nod to the cyclic nature of power and influence. Whatever the reason, without term limits, this cycle will only continue unbridled as it spirals out of the realm of democracy.
So long as Flaherty does his homework and makes very careful decisions about how many term limits will be allowed and how long they may be, creating this amendment to the city charter will be a welcomed change. For the first time in years, Menino has actual competition, and may possibly be replaced. Flaherty’s votes in last month’s primary election, when combined with City Councilor-At-Large and aspiring Deputy Mayor Sam Yoon’s primary votes, nearly matched Menino’s 50 percent. But even if it wasn’t a matter of Menino versus Flaherty, a fifth term for anyone would be exhausting.
Political ideals are always evolving, as are the minds and ambitions of the constituency. Without a restriction on mayoral term limits, however, the mayor’s power grows to an unhealthy level and voters lose their esteem for change. Now rounding out his fourth term, Menino has garnered the nickname ‘Mayor for Life.’ Some business endeavors are meant to be lifelong ‘- but being the mayor of a bustling, progressive urban hub isn’t doesn’t quite fall into that category.’
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
