The City Council Shuffle: Parsing the Bulletin’s endorsement, and a sad farewell

Don't you know, I am the man?Upfront was less than surprised to see that the local daily endorsed former planning commissioner Don Leonard to fill the seat opened when Councilor and former Mayor Bill Friedman died Nov. 9 after undergoing back surgery. Leonard, who ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Jim Clinton in the Nov. 4 election, failed to gain the newspaper's endorsement in that race. But the paper suggested at the time that the Leonard would make a suitable councilor and that the city council ought to consider appointing him should a vacancy arise. No doubt the paper's editorial board was looking forward to the prospect that current councilor Chris Telfer would be leaving the city for the legislature, which in fact she is after defeating Democrat Maren Lundgren in the race for Senate District 27. Friedman's death, however, added another wrinkle, which allows the current "lame duck" council to appoint for Friedman's seat before Telfer vacates for the statehouse. That's important because three of the current council's members, Bruce Abernethy, Linda Johnson and Peter Gramlich, all part of the so-called progressive bloc, will be leaving office Jan. 1. Taking their places are Jeff Eager, Peter Greene and Kathie Eckman. All three of whom ran on a small government, pro-growth model and received significant contributions from the building and real estate industry. We can guess what kind of appointment they will make when they have control of the council in January.