Tomorrow is Election Day and for the first time in 40 years Tom Menino won’t be counting votes as the mayor, city councilor, or campaign operative, but he will always have a presence at our polls.
He did, every day for decades, what most other candidates talk about doing, and then don’t. Those other politicians could learn so much from the Mayor about how to be a “real person.” A person voters saw as an equal.
Think of this campaign, and then think of Mayor Menino. He never needed negative ads, or personal attacks, or Super PACs to make his points. He made his points by how he performed, and by his values. That was the Menino way of earning political power.
And as we celebrate his decades of service, please don’t forget he was–at first–an accidental mayor, inheriting the office before he won it on his own. But I’m positive that non of the respect–even love–we’re feeling for the mayor today is accidental.
It’s on purpose.