Monday, Oct. 8, 2007 | Dan Shea is disappointed with Jerry Sanders’ inability to function as regular mayor or even semi-strong mayor, and so he lashes out at the only people who have done their jobs according to the playbook: Fred Sainz and Kris Michel.
I don’t approve of these folks — “re-tread political operatives from the Susan Golding Administration” — but they do know what they’re doing and how to do it. That cannot be said of Mayor Jerry Sanders himself, the personification of the Peter Principle, who has risen to the level of his incompetence. Dan Shea also defends Jim Waring and Marcela Escobar-Eck, both of whose tenures were too long, not too short, and who finally left City Hall in disgrace.
I agree that Jerry Sanders is a decent man, but he succumbed to the flattery of insiders who groomed him to run and get elected as a nice guy. He was never meant to do any heavy-lifting: That was to be left to the developers and business interests who are determined to run the show at City Hall. I disagree with Shea: We need “politicians” to run our city government well — not greenhorn know-nothing straw-men. These days “politician” is a dirty word, but I remind you that the dictionary synonym is “statesman.”