Who's Qualified For A City Council Appointment?
As anybody that has been on the Tacoma internets recently knows, the positioning, campaigning, and personal comparisons are in full swing for the two soon-to-be-open City Council seats that will be filled by appointment. The choices include, former candidates, former councilmembers, about to depart councilmembers, community activists, a cartoonist and a few other that don’t fall into any of these categories. Today’s column by Peter Callaghan talks about the spirit of term limits and who should, and should not, be considered for the appointments. His position seems best summarized by his tweet from yesterday:
My rules for Tacoma city council vacancies: no incumbents, no recent losers, no one campaigning via Facebook
That Facebook one seems to eliminate just about everybody we’ve seen … Do you have any personal rules for Tacoma City Council vacancies? What qualifications would you want to see?
Link to The News Tribune
Filed under: Politics, General
23 comments
R RR Anderson November 17, 2009
Mr. Callaghan is mean.
I have half a mind to create a new twitter list for mean people with his name on it.
C Chris Karnes November 17, 2009
A political cartoon might be an appropriate response as well.
I wonder who could work on that for us…
D Douglas Tooley November 17, 2009
I’ve been a big fan of Callaghan’s since even before I moved to Tacoma, but on this piece I have to wonder if he’s appointing himself, and the TNT, for both seats!
E Erik B. November 17, 2009
Given that Tacomans do not have the opportunity to vote for our council member nor own newspaper, we don’t have much choice.
I wonder if Callaghan considers texting ok? Blogging? Hand signals on the street?
I note that the News Tribune has both a Facebook page and a Twitter account.
Perhaps the Tribune would like the debate to be contained within the Letters to the Editor.
D DavidS November 17, 2009
Does that mean he allows campaigning via twitter instead? Good for those making the best use of technology as long as it doesn’t come down to friend counts. (Is Exit133 tracking the “candidate” facebook & twitter pages?)
Honestly though, I think Mr. Callaghan is right on regarding the candidates who lost in 2009. This is not to say that they are not highly qualified or would not be good additions to the City Council. Rather the voters rejected them in favor of someone who they felt was better suited. To turn around and appoint them over other equally qualified candidates who the voters have not rejected seems silly – even if they are losers I liked. (If they lost before 2009, that’s a different story.)
The commissions and boards the City appoints to ARE great training grounds for potential candidates. I’m surprised at how many candidates don’t bother really getting involved in the mechanics of City government until they want to be elected.
P Patricia November 17, 2009
I agree on the losing candidates who ran for council seats. However, I think Jim Merritt is in a somewhat different category. As someone said in another thread, we didn’t have a chance to say if we wanted him as a councilmember. And 48% of the voters wanted him as mayor. He and Strickland ran a clean campaign and I have no doubt they will be able to work together. Part of why I supported Jim was that I could have Marilyn also on the council.
BTW – there is now a FB page for supporting Jim for council.
“Getting Jim Merritt Appointed to the Tacoma City Council”
T tressie November 17, 2009
Peter is easy on the eyes, and quick with a quip…but he “don’t” know Goodness when he sees it….the only thing he’s right about in his “tweet”…is NO INCUMBENTS. Gawd, will I live long enough to ever never see…Rick Talbert,Connie Ladenburg,any Ladenburg, any Lonergan, ever ever again as a Politician?? notice I lightened up on the “Andersons”….
N NSHDscott November 17, 2009
I’m with Patricia on the Merritt issue. He lost a close race as mayor (a glorified councilmember position) and I don’t see why we shouldn’t follow the wishes of 48% of Tacoma voters and put him on the council. If there had been a lot of mudslinging in the campaign I might feel otherwise, but there wasn’t.
J Jesse November 18, 2009
I vote Merritt OR Boe but not both and find someone else who is a business strategist for the other position to deal with the business environment troubles this town has.
No Ladenbergs, Andersons, Lonergans, or anyone else who’s able looking to extend thier stay on council with this loophole.
D Derek staff November 18, 2009
We’ve added Stanley to the above list.
R RR Anderson November 18, 2009
The New Takhoman is throwing his fedora in the hat box!
D Derek staff November 18, 2009
We're only adding them to the above list when they get their facebook fan page set up.
Here’s the Hathaway announcement:
John Hathaway, Publisher of the The New Takhoman, has applied to be considered for appointment to either of the two upcoming vacant seats on the Tacoma City Council.
Having received over 192 phone calls and e-mails from citizens asking him to apply, Hathaway has succumbed to those wishes.
“If you want at least one lump in the bowl of Tacoma City Council pureed politics I am you man”, Hathaway said.
K Koop November 18, 2009
I like David BOE (although he’s a little too liberal for my taste).
I noticed he endorsed Strickland for Mayor so I’m guessing he and Merritt must not get along. Am I missing some history?
D David Boe November 18, 2009
Koop @ 15 – lets not create intrigue where none exists. Jim would make a great council member (as I have noted in past blog posts). I do not see this appointment process as being a ‘competition’ as much as the council (sitting and/or future) having the ability to round-out their policy team with varied expertice. I think any city council would benefit from having a seasoned architectural perspetive when making many of their policy and project decisions.
C Chris K. November 18, 2009
Well said, David Boe. Council also needs someone who has an overt understanding of the land use / transportation relationship to help frame and inform deliberations on those issues, while at the same time being an advocate for better policy.
T Tacoma1 November 18, 2009
I would be happy to see an architect on the council (both J Merrit & D Boe seem highly qualified). In my opinion,without knowing who all of the applicants are, it’s too early to lobby for one person over another.
I would like to see one of the positions go to a person with solid transportation planning experience. That way we can get the best bang for our buck with the streetcar and lightrail planning.
T Tacoma1 November 18, 2009
I actually watched the planning session on TV12 yesterday (yeah I know, kinda weird). There was absolutely no concensus from the council on how to proceed other than to start soliciting applications, but several options were discussed including:
1) Collect applications, postpone the decision for the new council decide.
2) Collect apps, decide on one seat asap, let the new council choose the remaining one next year.
3) Collect apps, and decide on both right away.
Of course, Maryilyn Strickland’s position would not be vacant until next year, so it seemed as though for that position, even if the current council made an appointment, the new council could revisit that decision if they so chose.
In the application collection process they could either solicit aps for both positions and choose from that same pool of applications, or they could collect apps for each position separately. As both positions are “at large” they are essentially the same exact position.
K Koop November 18, 2009
BOE @17
I wasn’t trying to stir anything up. I like both of you guys and know that either of you would provide a refreshing perspective on the council.
I’m relatively new to Tacoma and didn’t know if there was some history I was missing.
R RR Anderson November 18, 2009
if Caligua could appoint his horse as Senator, I don’t see why the corrupt political machine couldn’t appoint a cat.
Quite an insult to the common man with dreams of contributing to city governance.
S Squid November 19, 2009
tressie@9: Callaghan is “easy on the eyes”? I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
And yes, he IS mean.
C crenshaw sepulveda November 19, 2009
From boingboing.net:
“IBM now reports that they’ve used a supercomputer to simulate a brain that exceeds that of a cat’s in complexity and scale, in near real-time. I, for one, welcome our new feline A.I. overlords.”
I’d dare to venture they would not need that much computing power to simulate a Tacoma City Council member’s brain. I’m thinking maybe a Vic-20 with a couple of tape drives should do the job.
T tressie November 19, 2009
squid @24…Peter sat just in front of me when the City held the “interviews” for the new city manager. I was a bit surprised Peter didn’t “report” on the oozing smarmyness of CityMangler Anderson….and the sweet sincerity of the other 2 “candidates”.
Well, I don’t think of Peter as mean. I just think he’s “quippy”.
Honestly, my personal criteria for a new man to be appointed to the City council HAS to include the ability/sense of humor to wear a dress/rainbow fishnet tights in public at least once in a while. Merritt looks to have the ability to do so, and look pretty good!
S Squid November 19, 2009
tressie, I guess I forgot my sarcasm alert. Pete is a pussycat, don’t tell anybody. Which I guess makes HIM a candidate for council.