White Gives Political Lecture

He was the ghost of politics past telling a bunch of pols to change for elections to come.

In his first public speech on Boston politics in more than two years, former Mayor Kevin H. White last week told his old Democratic club that the city is on the verge of a new political era. But the man who virtually controlled Boston politics for more than two decades still defended his way of old way of doing political business.

White was mayor of Boston for 16 years until he decided to run for reelection in 1983. At the time, allegations were raised that he and his political organization unfairly influenced municipal employees to give his family gifts.

"Everyone criticized me for having the organization but what got me is when my people voted for the governor even when he wasn't doing things the city needed," said White, who was once considered for the Democratic vice presidential nomination.

"Now you guys don't have to go to city hall or to the organization you'll bump into top state officials in hall-ways and get what you need," White told the members of the Democratic Club Ward Five members. Ward Five is in the Beacon Hill area right near the state capitol building.

Another Era

Trim, in good shape, in his grey flannel suit, White hardly looked like the political boss that his ward-savvy rhetoric suggested. He said the politics of the Boston which he served were of an era gone by.

"There's been more change in this city in the past three years than there were in my entire 16 years," White said. He said Bostonians have a tremendous opportunities to shape the future of the city because there is currently a strong economy stimulating tremendous growth and change.

"It's an opportunity few cities have," White said.

But such shaping can not be done in the way of old boss politics, White said: "The new Boston requires a new spirit of plurality."