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MENINO GRADES PATRICK’S FIRST YEAR ‘B’
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who endorsed Gov. Deval Patrick’s rival Thomas Reilly in last year’s Democratic primary before throwing his political organization behind the nominee and teaming up with Patrick on policy since, gave the governor an above-average mark for his first year. “I think he’s got a ‘B’,” Menino told NECN host Jim Braude last night. He added, “Deval, there’s a learning process for him, but I think he’s done a good job of communicating with people, reaching out to people. It’s a very difficult situation coming into politics, coming into government, you’ve never been there before, working the angles.” Asked about his judgment of the Legislature, Menino said, “Oh, the Legislature, it all depends. They’ve been good to the city of Boston.” When Braude pressed if he was happy with lawmakers, the mayor replied, “Yeah.” Menino, one of the nation’s longest-serving big-city mayors, delved into presidential politics, explaining his support for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the presidential campaign: “She’s not the person that people perceive in the media, that she’s a divider.” Menino said he’d enjoyed working with Clinton when he was president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “You have a lot of these folks who come to us as mayors and give us the hoo-hah,” he said. “She spoke freely about some of these issues, and that’s what I like about Hillary. She’s open about the issues.” But the Hyde Park Democrat had kind words for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama as well. “I think Obama has a lot of energy, he’s created a lot of excitement, we need him in the Democratic Party, I think he’s got a lot of ideas,” said Menino before brushing off concerns that Obama, a first-term senator, lacks experience. Under peppering from Braude, Menino dodged questions about whether he would run for an unprecedented fifth full term in 2009. The mayor said “I love my job” five times during the exchange.
BUMP SEES CORI LEGISLATION DRAFTED BY CHRISTMAS
Administration officials plan to have legislation reform access to criminal offender record information to Gov. Deval Patrick by Christmas. Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Suzanne Bump told the News Service Tuesday that administration officials are “preparing legislation” for the governor to make changes to the CORI system. In September administration officials launched a commission made up of legislators and public safety, labor and health and human service administration officials to review the CORI system, which enables employers to review criminal backgrounds of prospective employees. Gov. Deval Patrick, who has said CORI reform is an administration priority, has yet to set a specific date to file the bill, said Bump. “We need to vet it with the task force members and the legislative leadership,” said Bump. Reform supporters were buoyed by Patrick’s election and his call to address CORI laws. While the CORI system plays a key role in public safety efforts, ex-offenders say the record system is not adequately maintained and updated and claim the system prevents some law-abiding ex-offenders from obtaining jobs and putting their pasts behind them. Sen. Robert Creedon (D-Brockton), co-chairman of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, said in early December that a commission bill was unlikely this year and that he was unaware of any commission meetings planned for December.
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