From The Boston Globe

Less than three weeks after Boston residents voted to give Mayor Thomas M. Menino an unprecedented fifth term in office, one of his vanquished challengers is still campaigning against him, in a fashion.

City Councilor At Large Sam Yoon is pushing mayoral term limits, sending a message via Twitter on Friday that “Term limits encourage incumbents to use, not hoard, political capital.’’

The Tweet followed an e-mail to supporters Thursday, informing them that a proposed ordinance that would put term limits in place has been sitting in a council committee for months and probably will die unless his fellow councilors act now.

The ordinance would not affect Menino, whose tenure will reach 20 years if he serves out a full fifth term, but would limit future mayors to two four-year terms.

“If eight years is good enough for President of the United States, then it ought to be good enough for Mayor of Boston,’’ Yoon said in a statement. “Term limits are a basic check and balance on the executive branch.’’

Some of his fellow councilors, however, are less than exuberant about Yoon’s push, particularly since voters just returned Menino for another term. Councilor Maureen Feeney, who chairs the government operations committee where Yoon’s initiative is sitting, said elections are held every four years, at which time voters can remove any officeholder.

“We have term limits,’’ she said, referring to the elections process.

Councilor John Tobin, a government operations committee member who watched his own mayoral term limits legislation die a few years ago, said his office has received tons of e-mails and phone calls from Yoon supporters but he, too, is reluctant to support the initiative.

“They’re a little late for the party,’’ he said.

DONOVAN SLACK

Cascading consequences
The possibility of a Martha Coakley victory in the US Senate race has politicians giddy at the prospect of an open attorney general’s seat.

But the rare open statewide post is creating its own potential domino effect. With several elected officials eyeing Coakley’s job, others are now lining up to run for the jobs held by the candidates for attorney general.

Among them is State Senator Michael Morrissey, of Quincy, who says he will run for Norfolk district attorney if Coakley wins and if the district attorney, William Keating, runs for the seat.

“I’ve been a trial attorney for 25 years, and am a founding and managing partner of a good-sized law firm,’’ said Morrissey. “I’d get to use both my trial background and management skills in running what is the largest law firm in Norfolk County.’’

Of course, Morrissey, like any politician in Massachusetts who moves up the political ladder, would see a tangible benefit, too. His new pay, $148,000, would be nearly double his current salary of $75,000, and would guarantee him a much higher pension when he retires.

ANDREA ESTES

Campaign corrections, Pt. I
Endorsements have been flying in the US Senate race, so much so that it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with them all.

Apparently, it’s too much for the campaigns to keep up with, too.

US Representative Michael E. Capuano on Wednesday sent out a press release touting the endorsement of 20 Massachusetts mayors.

Among them was Mayor Scott W. Lang of New Bedford.

One problem: Lang says he didn’t give his endorsement.

“While the mayor holds the candidates for Senate in the highest regard, he has not made any endorsements,’’ a mayoral aide, Catherine Rollins, told Jack Spillane of the New Bedford Standard-Times.

Within six hours, Capuano’s campaign sent out a “correction’’ version of its mayoral endorsement list that dropped Lang’s name.

But he still had 20 mayors endorsing him. The new mayor, who had apparently given his consent within those six hours? Mayor-elect Richard Cohen of Agawam.

MATT VISER

Coakley’s new partner
Also on the endorsement front: Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Senate bid was endorsed last week by several business leaders, among them Jack Connors Jr.

Connors is listed in Coakley’s press release as chairman emeritus and former chief executive of Hill Holliday. What’s not listed is that Connors is also the chairman of Partners HealthCare.

The Globe in January reported that Coakley had launched an investigation into whether Partners had illegally colluded with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts to increase the price of health insurance. No court action has been taken.

“Jack Connors support for Martha Coakley’s candidacy for US Senate has no impact on her decisions as Attorney General,’’ Alex Zaroulis, a campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Another twist to the Connors-Coakley endorsement: earlier this year, Connors had formed a partnership with businessman Stephen Pagliuca to explore a possible effort to purchase The Boston Globe. Pagliuca, of course, is now one of Coakley’s rivals.

Adding further intrigue into the endorsement: Connors had teamed up in an unsuccessful effort to buy the Globe and create a nonprofit foundation that would have had a stake in the newspaper.

MATT VISER

Corrections, Pt. II
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s campaign for US Senate has been bedeviled by the details at times in the special primary race for the seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy.

The Medford Democrat has acknowledged she misunderstood the instructions on her financial disclosure statement and failed to report some assets. There was a blooper in the mandatory disclaimer on her first television ad – the words on the bottom of the screen said “Paid for Martha Coakley for Senate,’’ omitting the word “by’’ after “paid.’’

And last month, the campaign had an unfortunate error on the invitations it sent for fund-raising events for Coakley in Washington.

“Martha Coakley for Senate will not accept contributions from currently registered federal lobbyists, registered foreign agents, political action committees, or minors under the age of 16 for this event,’’ said the invitation.

A noble sentiment, arguably, but not one espoused by the candidate, who, unlike some of her primary rivals, accepts contributions from registered lobbyists and political action committees. And, in fact, these particular fund-raisers were hosted and sponsored, in part, by multiple registered lobbyists.

“Those invitations were sent in error,’’ said Alex Zaroulis, spokeswoman for Coakley’s campaign. “As soon as we discovered the error, we rectified it and re-sent the corrected invitations,’’ without the prohibition on lobbyist and political action committee donations.

BRIAN C. MOONEY

About those earmarks
Democratic US Senate candidate Alan Khazei has been a harsh critic of congressional earmarking – funding for pet projects tucked into spending bills by lawmakers, often to the benefit of the clients of lobbyists who raise campaign funds. In one debate, Khazei, the cofounder of City Year, said: “These things should be put to an up-or-down vote. It’s a pay-for-play system in Washington.’’ He was also critical of thousands of earmarks in the economic stimulus bill.

But City Year, the prototype for AmeriCorps, was a modest beneficiary of earmarks, receiving five for almost $1.4 million from fiscal years 2004 to 2008. They included $750,000 for design and construction and later renovation of its headquarters, $425,000 for truancy and dropout prevention programs in Philadelphia, and $200,000 to expand the Young Heroes program in New Hampshire.

“Alan is for a transparent process,’’ said Michael Meehan, senior adviser to Khazei’s campaign. “City Year asked for and received federal funds. Alan is against the pay-to-play earmark process that has dominated Washington,’’ he said, referring to the fund-raising links to many earmarks. “City Year didn’t participate in pay to play . . . and didn’t hire a lobbyist to get federal funds.’’

BRIAN C. MOONEY

Robinson’s finances
Jack E. Robinson, Republican candidate for US Senate, was paid $694,862 in salary and legal fees as vice president of Benistar, a Simsbury, Conn.-based insurance and health benefits management company, and has business interests and other assets worth $6.3 million to $27.8 million.

In his financial disclosure form, Robinson reported a half-interest worth $5 million to $25 million in Nat Tel LLC of Stamford, Conn., a holding company that owns Bahamas-based Oceanic Digital Communications, a cellular telecommunications company in the Caribbean. He also reported a joint interest in two rental properties in Naples, Fla., and one in Houston, with a combined worth of $600,000 to $1.25 million and which generated annual income $11,000 to $32,500.

Robinson also reported a bank checking/savings account with a balance of $250,000 to $500,000 and a Fidelity Cash Reserves account of $500,000 to $1 million. Among liabilities, he listed mortgages on the rental properties totaling $165,000 to $380,000 and credit card debt of $15,000 to $50,000.

Under “agreements and arrangements,’’ the Duxbury businessman reported he will take leaves of absence from his positions at three companies “if elected.’’

BRIAN C. MOONEY

From Daily Free Press

As Boston Mayor Thomas Menino tries for his fifth term in office, many Boston University students said they support councilors Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon’s platform to impose two four-year term limits on the position of mayor .

“I’ve heard people joke about Menino’s dynasty,” BU graduate student Candace Cheatham said. “I think change is definitely necessary, especially at times like this.”

Flaherty adopted Yoon’s stance on term limits after the primaries in September when Yoon signed on the Flaherty ticket as prospective deputy mayor. Flaherty promises to bring the issue to vote before the City Council within his first 100 days of office.

Flaherty’s campaign spokeswoman Natasha Perez said Flaherty believes the mayor becomes too intent on reelection without term limits.

“It creates a situation where the focus is on maintaining power and not on serving and getting things done,” she said. “There has to be a check and balance of power in the mayor’s office.”

Yoon campaign spokesman Jordan Newman said Yoon believes term limits would make elections competitive and would inspire civic dialogue.

“A conversation hasn’t happened like this in 16 years,” he said.

Newman said Boston should follow the examples of New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco, all of which have mayoral term limits.

“We are behind the times,” he said.

But Suffolk University history professor Robert Allison, author of “A Short History of Boston,” said he is weary of politicians who seek to restructure the system of government.

The pattern of victorious incumbents began in the late 1949 when state legislature changed the charter to weaken the power of city councilors and prevent the reelection of incumbent James Curley, a four-time mayor who had managed to regain office repeatedly despite legal troubles. Curley was the last incumbent Boston mayor to lose an election.

“Folks who talk about amending the city charter aren’t sitting and thinking abstractly about what would be the best reform of government,” Allison said. “They are thinking either, How can I get out this guy who is in,’ or, ‘How can I engineer the system so that people like me can get in.’”

Allison said he is in favor amending the city charter to give city councilors more power to check the mayor, but said the platform that Flaherty has adopted is “shortsighted.”

Menino reelection campaign spokesman Nick Martin said voters may get too caught up with the national political theme of change.

“To advocate change for the sake of change, I don’t think is productive,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the kind of spirit that moves Boston.”

Menino said in a statement that term limits infringe the choice of the voter to pick the mayoral candidate they like best.

­­“The people of Boston decide on term limits every four years.” the statement said. “If they don’t want me to be the mayor, they’ll make that decision on Election Day. It’s not up to me, it’s up to the residents of our city.”

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Francis Mullen-Neem said he agrees with Menino’s argument.

“The voters can decide whether we want this mayor or whether we don’t want this mayor,” he said.

But many students said they are not convinced the decision is completely left up to the people of Boston without term limits.

“It’s hard to say if the people of Boston are really deciding or if he just has a lot of power and he does a lot for certain groups of people,” College of Communication senior Renee Kimmel said.

College of Fine Arts junior Jacob Leidolf, a Jamaica Plain native, said he has had Menino as mayor “for most of [his] conscious life” and has been disappointed with the administration.

“I think there is definitely a problem with mayors who can hold on to power upwards of 16, 20 years,” he said. “If you give people too much time they don’t use their time wisely.”

CAS senior and Jamaica Plain native Devin O’Leary said though he can sympathize with both sides of the debate, he supports the term limits platform if it will remove Mayor Menino from office.

“If this is what gets him out, then this is what gets him out,” he said.

From Metro International

They say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I’m running because the way we do business in City Hall is broken, and we need to change it. Right now all the power of city government is concentrated in the office of the mayor. And we have a mayor who has been there for 16 years. This makes City Hall a place where innovative ideas go to die.

Cities worldwide are introducing innovations in city government — like 311 systems for non-emergency calls — that are attracting businesses and making life easier for their residents. But Boston is getting left behind.

As mayor, I would undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the way the city does business by creating a series of checks and balances, establishing terms limits, initiating campaign finance reform, and opening up community planning.

The last time the city’s constitution, or “charter,” was changed in a major way was 1909. It has literally been 100 years since the balance of power in City Hall has been evaluated. We need to have more power sharing to create a better system of checks and balances.

To ensure that new ideas flourish in city government, we need to institute term limits on the mayor’s office. If eight years is good enough for the president of the United States, it’s good enough for the mayor of Boston. And it will ensure that an open seat for mayor appears more often than Haley’s comet.

In order to have fair and competitive elections, we need campaign finance reform. Fifteen cities across the country have changed their finance laws to make elections more fundamentally fair. I will work to limit the campaign funds elected officials can carry over from one campaign to the next, and cap donations from city workers and individuals who do business with the city. These reforms will end the pay-to-play culture of City Hall and help to stop incumbents from amassing huge war chests.

And we must eliminate the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). We need a comprehensive city-planning agency that is accountable to the public, not just the developers and the mayor.

In this mayoral election, it’s not enough to change the mayor. We need a mayor who will change the system. That is why I am asking for your vote on Sept. 22.

– Sam Yoon is an at-large City Councilor and a mayoral candidate for the city off Boston