Was the Invisible Hand of lobbyist Paul Harden behind Tuesday’s upset move to elect Stephen Joost president of the City Council?

That’s the hearsay, the rumor, the tittle-tattle, the scuttlebutt.

Council Vice President Jack Webb had lined up declarations of support from all 19 council members. That isn’t special. The City Council usually votes the vice president into the president’s seat after the one-year term is up.

Instead of the routine shoo-in, when Council President Richard Clark opened up the floor for nominations, Warren Jones rose and nominated Joost. It was seconded by Art Graham. Both said they thought Joost’s financial acumen was needed in these tough times (he’s a CPA).

Jack Webb looked shook up and shell-shocked as he sat on the dais, barely moving, his face deepening to a dark red. Webb kept his eyes downcast while Graham and Jones explained their support of Joost.

Next, Bill Bishop rose and nominated Webb, and E. Denise Lee seconded the motion She dressed down the members who’d agreed to vote for Joost and said she had been asked just before the meeting to second Webb’s nomination because the original council member who’d pledged to do so had bowed out.

The campaigning of Joost for the council presidency had apparently taken place over a 24-hour period. On Monday, Council president Richard Clark praised Webb. On Tuesday, he told the Times-Union he’d changed his mind.

Harden supposedly wanted Webb embarrassed and chastened because he’d led a fight to send the Waste Management contract to run Trail Ridge Landfill out to bid. Harden represents Waste Management. If Harden had the power to pull off such an upset, he stood to gain on several fronts He’d shown the people whom he’d convinced to change their vote who else on the Council he held sway with. And if Joost won, he would have a Harden-friendly and Harden-indebted City Council president. There’d be a pretty good chance at least he’d get Joost’s ear on committee appointments. Even if Joost lost, the message to Webb was clear. Harden fell just one vote short of the number he needed to push through an upset. He could rally votes on other issues, too. When the vote was taken, Webb won, but it was hardly a ringing endorsement. The vote was 10-9 in his favor.
— Susan Eastman

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.