Dave Piehl writes: > Further, I hope Paul Ostrow learned something. As I see it, he tried to > persuade council members to sign on to his "list" through promises and > probably > some strong arm tactics, peer pressure, etc. I do not approve of a "herd > mentalitiy", and that's what this feels like. Council members need to > evaluate > each decision carefully.
I have not talked to all sides and I hope council members with first-hand knowledge will weigh in, but from what I've heard, Paul's problem may be that he didn't play the typical strong-arm City Hall game strategically enough. I spoke briefly with Robert Lilligren at the Inaugural who allowed that if Paul had picked him (Lilligren) as chair of Transportation and Public Works (TAPS), and been more flexible on a couple of other slots, Ostrow would have won with 8 to 10 votes. This makes sense. Paul originally offered Sandy the TAPS chair because, I'm told, he wanted to include experience at the chair even though everyone knew Sandy was not a part of RTs & Paul's coalition. That's a job Robert wanted - and he's been very active on 35W stuff, so he certainly had the qualifications to seek it. However, Paul genuinely believed his rhetoric about building a big tent to less-than-core supporters - though perhaps on a flawed premise. Ditto with Z&P, where Paul chose Dan Niziolek over Gary Schiff. It was, I'm told, a tough call. I'm totally guessing now (I have not asked Dan about this), but I suspect had Dan not been Paul's choice, he would have remained in the Ostrow coalition. Gary - who was quoted post-election in the PiPress calling for Ostrow to be picked UNANIMOUSLY - bolted to Johnson, and, playing the political game adroitly, won the Z&P chair by supporting a rival. So had Ostrow been, say, Jackie Cherryhomes, he'd have picked Robert & Gary for strategic reasons, notwithstanding merit (about which I make no judgments.) As I'm speculating, Dan stays in Paul's coalition, Robert comes in and probably Gary, too, and that's 8 votes (Ostrow, Zerby, Benson, Goodman, Lane, Lilligren, Schiff, Niziolek). Sandy ends up bolting Paul's slate, but she wound up doing that anyway. To sum up: Ostrow was, if anything, too earnest - and not enough hardball City Hall business-as-usual. The lesson is - you can't do anything lofty until you have seven solid votes. Many told me before Tuesday that Sandy was the new Herron (not corrupt, but not reliable about sticking to a position). She seems to have proven that with her late switch. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
