Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is past the 100 day mark into her four-year term. GBH News Politics Editor Peter Kadzis joined Morning Edition hosts Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel to offer a broad perspective on Wu's performance so far. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
Paris Alston: You're one of those people who has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Boston politics. You were around for Mayor Wu's predecessors' tenures — Tom Menino, Marty Walsh, etc. How does her tenure, her first 100 days, compare to theirs? And of course, we know that COVID-19 is kind of tainting it.
Peter Kadzis: Well, yes, I mean, COVID-19 is an overarching reality. And the fact of the matter is Boston has been well-served by Marty Walsh and by acting Mayor Kim Janey. And I would say that Wu has a steady hand and is moving forward. You know, there's a lot of noise around the mandate for city workers to be vaccinated, or the now-rescinded proof of vaccination to go into a restaurant, or even the wearing of masks — but all that is really just noise. This is coming from people who still think the Earth is flat. They're making more noise than sense. And so Wu is doing a very good job on the COVID-19 front.
Jeremy Siegel: It is a lot of noise. Outside of Mayor Wu's home, there have been protesters. You mentioned the frustration from restaurants over the vaccine requirement. You hinted that this is a vocal minority here. But looking at the politics of it all, would you say the omicron surge has helped or hurt Mayor Wu politically? How would you rate this overall, the politics of it?
Kadzis: Oh, I would say, perversely, that all the negativity directed at Mayor Wu has been a plus, because even people who may have voted for her opponent, many of them, I think, are very sympathetic to her plight. The visceral reaction against her very sensible moves is all out of proportion, and I'm not even getting into the whole issue of the racism — online especially — that has been directed at her. So it's one of the perversity of politics that this is a plus for her.
Alston: As if dealing with a global pandemic wasn't enough, the city now has two vacant, very important positions. You know, when Wu was running for office, there was the issue of having to find a new police commissioner in Boston. And now that is being compounded by having to find a new superintendent for the Boston Public Schools. So how much of a high wire act is finding the right people for these two jobs at the same time?
Kadzis: It doesn't get any [more] treacherous for any mayor, whether you're running a big city or a small city, filling a police chief's job and filling a superintendent of schools job are a big, big task. I think the superintendent's job is more fraught with danger, but let me tell you why by explaining why the police commissioner isn't.
Now listen, finding the right person for the job is no easy task. But Wu, at least, has had the benefit of the vigorous public debate that took place in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. This forced an agonizing reappraisal on Marty Walsh. He ultimately named a police reform board, there's now in place a mechanism for true as opposed to fake civilian control of the police. In all of this means that the expectations for what a new commissioner will do were in place, and those expectations are twofold: one that the commissioner keep the populace safe, and two that the police department be reformed — that its relationship to the citizenry, especially people of color, needs redefinition. So there's a job description, if you will, already in place. I'm not sure that's true for the superintendent of schools.
Siegel: Why aren't you sure about that? What's unclear about the mission or what's needed for a new superintendent of schools?
Kadzis: Well, you'd think the superintendent's job would be deceptively simple: to improve the quality of Boston schools. That is true. But the fact remains that the two superintendents named by Marty Walsh have failed to do that. Now city voters are, I think, fed up with this, and they expressed their displeasure at the polls in November, when they voted overwhelmingly to change the mayoral appointed school committee to one that's elected by the general populace.
Mayor Wu is going to have to find a new superintendent, but in four years from now, that superintendent could be answering to a school board that may look at things differently. It's a very daunting and potentially confusing situation. In other words, the public debate about the schools hasn't taken place in the same way that the debate about the police commissioner has.
Alston: Peter, in just about 10 seconds or so, how do you wrap all those things together between COVID-19, the police and schools?
Kadzis: There is a through line, and that shows just how complicated Michelle Wu's job is, just how complicated any mayor's job is. Did I come in under 10 seconds?
Alston: Yes, you did. That's GBH News Politics Editor Peter Kadzis. Thanks so much for joining us.
Kadzis: Thank you for having me.
