The Globe (well, technically, a University of New Hampshire survey group hired by the Globe) is surveying Boston residents to try to discern who might put up a good fight against Tom Menino next year.

The list of potential challengers, as seen by Globe survey takers: City Councilor at Large Michael Flaherty, West Roxbury/JP City Councilor John Tobin, Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley, successful businessman and unsuccessful candidate Chris Gabrieli and, of course, 1-800 Joe 4 Oil Kennedy, who, by law, has to be included in every single poll taken in Suffolk County.

Among the basic questions are how satisfied residents are with everything from education and crime fighting to street cleanliness and the state of public transportation and taxi service in their neighborhoods (taxi service as a big issue next year?).

Terry Klein reports on an only-in-Boston case involving the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department successfully weaseling out of a 10-year, $7-million lease for some office space.

Seems the lease contained a clause that said it would only go into effect when the city auditor approved the contract. Fair enough, right? Except the auditor, God only knows why, added this to his imprimatur:

APPROVED AS TO AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATION OR
PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 12.2 OF THE GENERAL CONDITIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $0.00.

Which then called into play another section of the contract, reading:

"[w]hen the amount of the City Auditor's certification of available funds is less than the face amount of the Contract, the City shall not be liable for any claims or requests for payment by the Contractor which would cause total claims or payments under this Contract to exceed the amount so certified."

In other words, by signing the lease, Bradston Associates, LLC, agreed to release the sheriff's office from the lease with no penalty if the city auditor stamped it with some dumb clause and Andrea Cabral then decided to take her office needs elsewhere, according to the decision by the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Larry Davidson is watching Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral on "Greater Boston," when she claims that half of all Boston dropouts become criminals - based on inmate interviews that show half are dropouts. Davidson reports:

Barbara thinks I'm a geek because I exclaimed, "fallacy of the converse!" as soon as I heard Cabral's claim while we were watching her on TV. ...

He explains why the fact that half of inmates are dropouts doesn't mean that half of dropouts become inmates.

Carpundit casts a pox on both their houses:

... On one hand, Cabral is a two-faced, manipulative, probable criminal. On the other hand, the deputies are total hacks, feeding like sows at the public trough on totally unnecessary details. ...