The political posturing has already started on the Fresno City Council, as the candidates for mayor, Board of Supervisors and City City Council jockey for media exposure. So how much city business will get done with five of the seven council members running for something?
I look at the challenges this poses in my Sunday column, which you can read by clicking here.
So here's your City Council election program for 2008:
-- Mayoral candidates: Council Members Jerry Duncan, Henry T. Perea and Mike Dages.
-- Fresno County Board of Supervisors candidate: Council Member Brian Calhoun.
-- City Council re-election candidate: Council Member Larry Westerlund.
Only Council Members Cynthia Sterling and Blong Xiong won't be running in 2008.
Here's an excerpt from my column:
Council business gets even more complicated when you consider that Mayor Alan Autry is a lame duck after two terms. He has much less sway with the council than he has had at anytime during his tenure. We're left with a mayor with much less clout and a council unwilling to do anything too controversial for fear of upsetting voters.That means the high-profile stuff -- creating a municipal utility district or risking taxpayer funds on a controversial project with billionaire developer Donald Trump -- will have a difficult time getting passed. But they'll be all over the easy issues, such as protecting public safety.
Mayor Alan Autry complained last week that next year's election is already hurting city initiatives. He cited the proposal to put a municipal utility district on next year's ballot as an issue that may be too controversial for the council to handle.
A vote on forming the district was delayed by the council on Tuesday. That may have been more about city staff not answering all the council's questions than ducking the issue. But Autry thinks political considerations were at work on Tuesday.
Nothing will get done at City Hall with the infantile bickering among the council members. They all need to step aside and let new faces that truly have the cities best interest at heart get in there like the people that the decisions effect. But they are there to show they are gearing up to be nasty politicians eventually making decisions for our state. They just need to grow up.They needc a mediator to keep them on task like a jury foreman does. They don't have to like each other just get the job done.