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Silence of the Sam

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DÉJÀ VU: Twenty-five years ago, seemingly unbeatable Mayor Kevin White (right) was going for a fifth term, then dropped out of the race under pressure of a corruption investigation. Will Tom Menino (left) succumb to the same circumstances?

Obstacles and obstinacy The current fire-department disability-claims investigation was prompted by reporting in the Boston Globe, which has recently looked at Mayor Menino's ties to the Boston Licensing Board at the center of the Dianne Wilkerson scandal, and at the troubled Columbus Center project backed by both Menino and Wilkerson. Deval Patrick   Elections and Voting   Michael Kineavy   more >> In fact, some within the Menino camp tell the Phoenix they are increasingly convinced that the Globe is determined to bring down the mayor. Nevertheless, all signs indicate that Menino has every intention of running again, and winning, despite anything that US Attorney Michael Sullivan or the Globe might throw at him. In fact, some long-time Menino observers say that the more enemies he perceives, the more determined he will be to prevail.

Back in 1983, it was long assumed that then-Mayor White was unbeatable in his quest to extend his 15-year hold on the office. But complicating the incumbent's path to re-election, White was increasingly under scrutiny from Massachusetts' ambitious Republican US attorney — a go-getter by the name of William Weld, who was determined to expose corruption in the White administration.

Weld ultimately indicted more than a half-dozen City Hall aides in his attempt to build a case against White. He never succeeded. But he did create enough pressure that White made the surprise announcement, in June 1983, that he was withdrawing from the mayoral race. White's last-minute withdrawal opened the door for a frenzied free-for-all election.

Few are expecting 2009 to bring a similar scrum — but they forget that the same assumption prevailed at this stage in 1982. Menino, who took office in 1993, is considered equally as formidable as was White before he withdrew from the race for his fifth term. Today, of course, Boston is being rocked by a corruption investigation that has thus far led to the arrests of State Senator Dianne Wilkerson and City Councilor Chuck Turner. Menino himself has not been implicated. But Republican US Attorney Michael Sullivan — considered a likely candidate for US Senate — has demonstrated in the past his own eagerness to pursue high-profile Boston Democrats. (Just ask former House Speaker Tom Finneran and Sheriff Andrea Cabral.)

And, as White's case demonstrated, it is not necessary to convict a mayor to drive him out of a race. Sullivan's office has already reportedly subpoenaed Menino's right-hand man, Michael Kineavy, for the investigation. If the scope of the investigation widens into projects supported by both Wilkerson and Menino — Columbus Center, for example — the role of the mayor and his staff will get more scrutiny.

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