News-fix on Neponset Ave. : Mayor Tom Menino gets his weekly dose of the Reporter at the Mud House, Neponset Ave., 2007. Photo courtesy Mayor's OfficeDiligence, hard-work, and mastering the art of being underestimated were the tools Tom Menino used to establish himself in Boston politics: first as a driver, aide, and campaign manager to others; then as district city councilor for Hyde Park; and finally as mayor.
Lacking Kevin White’s polish and Ray Flynn’s emotional intensity, Menino majored in survival. Nobody ever voted Tom off the island. He enters history as Boston’s longest serving mayor. With five consecutive terms under his belt, he is the Ted Williams of Boston politics – the first, and maybe the last, of the city’s 1.000 political hitters with five straight mayoral campaign hits in five at bats.
Menino’s essential guise of being a regular guy – nose to the grindstone trying to do the right thing – proved a potent act. Make no mistake: It was an act. No one without burning ambition, laser-like focus, and the ability to maximize luck when fate broke his way, could rise and flourish as Menino did.