Anticipation

The Mayor will address the citizens of the City of Duluth tonight with the state of the City address. I will probably watch from home as the text and tone of his address is predictable.

What I am really interested in and where the drama will lie tonight will be the City Council's choice for next year's president. Rumor has it there has been some maneuvering to get Reinert into the position. He was appointed, then re-elected and the effort now is to lend credibility to the man. However, this is only a rumor.

Maybe it will be Laurie Johnson. She is obviously grossly incompetent and an embarrassment to the Council and the City. This would be a perfect opportunity for the DFL and the Union to say, "she really is a trainwreck and now that she has shown everybody, we can justify asking her to not run in the next election." Of course they won't do that and will keep her silently nodding and smiling and sending out e-mails that state emphatically, "thank you for your message".

What about Greg Gilbert? He has been on the Council for some time and being an attorney and all, wouldn't he be a good choice? The only drawback might be, anytime he is criticized by anyone, he would make ridiculous accusations against all the speakers at a Monday night meeting. Tuesday morning, when asked why he was so rude to the public the night before, he would blame his conduct on Connect Duluth.

How about Russ Stover? He's knows his way around the chambers and it would be refreshing to have a representative from the West end of Duluth serve as President. Unfortunately, as President, he would still be introducing the resolutions regarding Street Improvements and he still cannot pronounce bituminous.

I assume they will not put Donny Ness back in, for to make us suffer another year of his over-serious frowns, phony, glib giggles and smiles and having to see him quoted and interviewed ad nauseum by local media would be intolerable. Just think of how many people would be forced to stick their fingers in their ears and yell babble for another twelve months to avoid listening to him.

That leaves Garry Krause, Russ Stewart, Tim Little and Jim Stauber. Garry, being totally new to the Council and a total unknown, as he never did give a straight answer during his campaign, he might be too unpredictable. Besides, being the rookie, he would just not be a good choice. Duluth could only be so lucky to have one of the remaining three, Jim, Tim or Russ Stewart elected President. All three are intelligent, well spoken, balanced and lack that phoniness so prevalent in all the other Councilors. Well, that almost certainly eliminates them from contention. Stauber has already done his year as President, Tim is too conservative and Russ Stewart is just too intelligent. He's becoming an independent thinker and likely has the highest IQ on the Council (although Tim would certainly give him a run for his money) making him totally unacceptable as he might make the rest of the Council, with a couple obvious exceptions, look stupid.

Yep, Reinert is the obvious choice. He's safe, DFL, needs to boost his credibility and is popular among Councilors. He's a nice guy too so speaking wouldn't be too intimidating.

However it turns out, Duluth certainly faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities. With any luck, they will search their collective souls (no need to worry Laurie, they'll explain what I mean by this) and challenge the bankrupting, unholy alliance and allegiance to AFSCME (again, Laurie, don't worry, we wouldn't expect that from you). They will have to take one big bull (retiree health care) by the horns and once they have grabbed on, determine how to slay it. Solving this issue or taking the appropriate steps toward bankruptcy will dominate the public discussion. The implications affect us all and it's bound to be an interesting year.