By September of 1996, top state officials knew funding for the multi-billion-dollar Big Dig project in Boston was in trouble.

But that did not stop then-Gov. William Weld from tearing down a tollbooth at the West Newton exit on the turnpike.

The toll revenue was badly needed to help pay for the Big Dig, but Weld was running for U.S. Senate against John Kerry, and wanted to make a big splash.

He staged an event in which a backhoe demolished the toll booths for television cameras and reporters.

The event made for great theater and sent the Kerry camp into convolutions of protest over what it said was a purely political maneuver designed to impact the election. As it turned out, Kerry defeated Weld anyway.

Still, Weld's stunt was not the first, nor the last use of government for political advantage. It was only one of the most dramatic.

Less dramatic was mayoral challenger John Davis accusing Mayor Kevin Dumas of playing politics with a recent groundbreaking ceremony for a downtown beautification project.

Davis claimed the event was timed to influence the preliminary election on Tuesday, Sept. 18. It is an age-old complaint.

Timing issues

Challengers are forever charging their opponents with timing grant announcements or the start of projects for political advantage.

The complaints are made at all levels of government.

The granddaddy of all political stunts was just a rumor that never came to fruition.

During the 1980 presidential campaign, challenger Ronald Reagan kept warning voters of an "October Surprise."

His campaign claimed that President Jimmy Carter would secure the release of American hostages being held in Iran just before the November election. The Iranians, however, kept the hostages in captivity until moments after Carter's term ended, and he left the White House.

Closer to home, James McGovern was running for Congress in 1994, when U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy came to Attleboro to tout McGovern's role in getting the government to sell the post office on Park Street to the city for a bargain price.

The Kennedy visit and credit given to McGovern angered local supporters of U.S. Rep. Peter Blute. McGovern was running in a primary for the right to challenge Blute.

City Councilor William Bowles - a Blute backer at the time - accused the Democrats of misusing government property by conducting a public tour of the building.

Just last year, state conservation officials came to the city to announce funding for reconstruction of the Spatcher pool on North Avenue and - by the way - thank state Rep. John Lepper for getting the funding.

Lepper, R-Attleboro, was in a re-election fight at the time.

The Davis complaint about Dumas led one longtime observer of city politics to recall the legendary Mayor Kai Shang.

The observer noted that during non-election years Shang seemed to pave roads during the spring. During election years, he joked, Shang put the blacktop to the streets just before the fall election.

Memories of Shang could resurface in this year's election, as there is talk the city will name the old post office after him when it becomes the home for the local office of the Bristol County registry of deeds.

JIM HAND covers politics for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.