Tommy and The Jakes

The city of Boston and the men who fill the ranks of the Boston Fire Department simply can't get along. Contract disputes have long since gone nuclear and now any controversy turns into a five-alarm blaze of rhetoric and posturing perfectly designed for the city's competitive media outlets.

The past few weeks brought everything together so Mayor Tom Menino and Boston Firefighters Local 718 could embarrass themselves all over again, which they naturally did. On June 8, WBZ reported the city planned to institute "brown-outs" at Boston fire stations to curb overtime expenses that already exceeded the yearly budget for those costs. Beginning on Wednesday, firefighters volunteered to staff shuttered stations against BFD orders that said working without pay is illegal for firefighters.

Menino also correctly advocated recently that Massachusetts should require all public safety officials be subject to random drug and alcohol testing. Robert B. McCarthy, president of 11,000-member Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts union actually said Menino's call for drug testing is "about hurting my firefighters," which is about the dumbest thing ever said especially since Boston spends more on emergency services than any other city except San Fancisco. Drug testing has been a sensitive issue since two firefighters who died in a 2007 fire were found to have drugs and alcohol in their systems at the time of heir deaths.

Pensions are also in play as 29 firefighters sprinted into retirement in order to cash in on an oddly generous loophole that is about to close and will cost firefighters that may or may not deserve.

It might be time to separate Menino and the city's firemen. Boston's citizenry could vote Menino out of office. Mayoral candidates Michael Flaherty, endorsed by the Boston firefighters union, and Sam Yoon both marked their turf on the brown-outs controversy. Bostonist suggests possibly having an independent mediator to settle their disputes. Think of your parents when you didn't share with your kid brother. We have suggestions:

• Jack Connors - Isn't it a state law that Connors be involved in every important issue in Boston?

• Mike Dukakis - Former Governor and 1988 Democratic Presidential Nominee. He looked bad in the tank but give him an axe and hose...

• Mitt Romney - Former Governor/presidential candidate who can relate to Menino as a government executive. He also rescued a family on his jet ski and must think that makes him qualified to relate to first responders.

• Daisuke Matsuzaka - He is available, right? The communication is so bad between the Mayor and the union that they appear to be speaking different languages already so adding a third laguage to th mix couldn't hurt.

Bostonist hates this fight because while we respect the heroism of firefighters the union is totally unreasonable in their demands, especially on drug testing. It's hard to support a union that exploits the memory of firefighters, cops, soldiers and civilians on 9/11 over an agenda that is hard to defend. And that is what the union's website does.