The good folks over at the Globe apparently discovered late last week that — even though our mayor is no longer running for U.S. Senate — he’s, um, still ambitious.
How else can one explain the fact that Sunday’s print edition had not one, but two, articles today noting that Setti Warren is, well, still ambitious.
One of the Warren stories, by political writer Glen Johnson, notes that “slowly but surely… Warren has begun to reemerge beyond the confines of the Garden City.”
The other article, by Deirdre Fernandez in Globe West is essentially a longer version of Johnson’s story. In addition to a denial from our mayor that he’s being anything more than trying help reelect President Obama, Fernandez trots out former Mayor David Cohen to establish that (are you sitting down?) Cohen didn’t travel much but Warren does.
Fernandez also quotes John Stavros, owner of Bigelow Dry Cleaners in Newton Centre, who is disappointed that Warren doesn’t stop into chat — like former Mayor Ted Mann used to.
So now we know.
Twice.
There’s an implication in the article that people are upset that the mayor is still an aspiring politician even though he’s not running for Senate. In fact, it’s more than an implication — there’s a photo caption that says he’s responding to criticism. But where’s the criticism? Even Cohen doesn’t say that Warren should be in the city more; he just says that he — Cohen — never left.
I have to say though: This is the first political statement I’ve seen from former Mayor David Cohen in the more than two years he’s been out of office. And he says something that could make his successor look bad? Very poor taste.
I don’t really care if our mayor stops in to say hi. What I care about is that when I had a problem on my street and didn’t get a satisfactory response from calling City Hall, I sent an email and got a personal response from the mayor that evening, he emailed the people who needed to take care of it stating very clearly that what had happened was unsatisfactory and the problem needed to be addressed stat. The next day it was fixed, with a follow-up call from someone at City Hall to make sure I knew what was happening and check if things had been taken care of. That certainly never happened for me under the previous administration.
I think Mayor Warren did a good job before he decided to run for senate, and I think he’s done a good job since abandoning that campaign. He deserves credit for the job he’s done. But the senate campaign was a very self serving distraction, and he damaged his own credibility.
A lot of people think he’s taking the first train he sees to DC. I would agree with that assessment. If that turns out to be the case, Newton will have lost a good manager. But the one thing Warren lacks is the thing Newton needs the most… a genuine vision for our city and school system. So his departure would certainly open the door for someone who is more of a visionary. Of course it could also open the door for another career politician. Ha, I guess that’s the risk!
Those two photos are not the stereo pair – I tried – and the Mayor looked plain.
The quote from Matt Hills nails it:
“When you’re young and you’ve been successful when the wind is blowing in your face . . . of course other people are going to notice you,’’
Even when he was running for Senate, Warren was accessible and attended all the meetings related to teacher contract negotiations, Hills said.“If he’s driving the right policies, tackling the budget, making significant progress in putting together a five-year capital plan,’’ Hills said, “then he could spend his time on Cisco Beach in Nantucket. It’s better than being here 24 hours a day but making the wrong decision.’’
I have to comment about mayor Warren’s and ex-mayor cohen’s relationship. The best term I can use is that it’s strained at best. I have been around where the two of them were in the same room 3 different times. The first two times Mayor warren went out of his way to say hello and shake Mayor Cohen’s hand and Cohen flat out refused. The first time was at the democratic caucus when Mayor Cohen was still in office. The third time was at Fay Cohen’s funeral and I was between the two and Mayor Warren came by and said hello, stuck his hand out and before Cohen can take his hand back, Mayor Warren grabbed it. Very awkward for me to watch.
Cohen’s comments were sour grapes. I think he feels if mayor Warren didnt run, somehow he’d still be in office…despite the fact he previously resigned.
I don’t see the news hook in either story. And like Gail, I do not see David Cohen’s comments as critical of Setti — he is simply saying that he did the job differently.
More importantly, when did Matt Hills become the poet? I felt like I was reading Lord Byron there.
Tom –
Cohen didn’t resign. He chose not to run for reelection. Warren announced he was running for mayor while Cohen thought he was still a viable candidate for reelection. That right there was enough to make David Cohen resentful.
Bill – It’s not clear whether Cohen’s comments were critical of Setti.
I meant to delete that part about it not being clear whether Cohen’s comments were critical of Setti! It’s frustrating commenting on somebody else’s blog!
It seems about 20 years ago the City of Newton got into the spell of strange mayorship:
Mayor Thomas Concannon (1994-1997) displayed the attention deficit problem;
Mayor David Cohen (1998-2009) publicly, in front of TV camera, tore book apart seemingly not realizing who had done that in the past; and
Mayor Setti Warren (2009-now) proclaimed the City of Newton to be the beacon of progress in Massachusetts in the evening of the day in which morning the VIP of child pornography international ring and the Newton elementary school teacher was arrested.
Those were signs of mentality of the mayors.
What’s next?
“he’s, um, still ambitious”
So, just wondering, is being ambitious a negative trait in the private sector, or is that just the case for slovenly public employees? In fact, lacking ambition is seen as a negative in the private sector. My sons are hard working and ambitious, and I’m happy about that. They have goals, are taking steps to achieve them, and they have my full support. Go for it, Guys!
In my opinion, the Mayor has done a fantastic job. I can attest to the fact that it’s a totally different city to work for since 2009. He’s talented and and is a great leader – often in very quiet ways. I’d love to see him stay on as mayor for another term, but that’s his decision.
People often forget that, more often than not, it’s those who stay too long at the party who cause the problems.