It was vintage Dick Greco. Even his formal, mayor-candidacy announcement had one-of-a kind trappings. He was introduced by a Monsignor (Higgins), which not so subtly implied celestial endorsement, and a poet laureate (James Tokley), which underscored that this was hardly a prosaic moment. And, yes, Tokley crafted a little something for the occasion: “The Quest.”
The InterContinental Hotel ballroom was packed with media as well as Greco supporters and family members who got the love-in they came for. Movers, shakers and cronies abounded. Here a John Sykes, there a Fernando Noriega.
Greco typically spoke without notes and delivered a message replete with City Hall reminiscences and references to the sorry state of contemporary politics. The twin themes: uber resume experience and hope from politics as usual.
Greco, the four-term mayor who is now 77, wrapped it up with a three-word phrase we’ll be hearing again as a campaign slogan: “Give me five.”
His opponents likely divine a different three-word take: “The Last Hurrah.”