My reply:
Serious business? How can you say that?
Let's review the result of the last election. The mayor was sent with a mandate to keep tax increases to zero. However, practically all of the incumbents were re-elected -- presumably the very same councilors who produced the financial mismanagement Mr. O'Brien was sent to correct.
The subtext of this result is: hold overall increases, but I want my ward to keep getting goodies. Make cuts somewhere else.
While Mr. O'Brien's mandate was clearly impossible on its face, the fact that the very same voters who sent him to city hall sabotaged their own agenda meant that the last three years were in many respects inevitable.
The problem is not the elected mayor and councillors. The problem is not the lack of quality, qualified candidates.
The problem is the voters. Those who do vote clearly vote for their own interests first, and don't have any interest in a "vision" for the city.
The voters get what they vote for. And until the voters stop trying to put themselves first at the expense of every- (or any-) one else, that isn't going to change.
So bring on the Stuntman.
Every circus needs a clown, and Mr. O'Brien isn't likely to be re-elected.
