DeSalvatore, The Independent

City Councilor Ted DeSalvatore has switched his political affiliation from Republican to unenrolled. This matters not a bit in terms of council politics, where candidates run without affiliation, but it does offer some insight into how DeSalvatore sees himself.

"I'm not owned by anybody, there's nobody pulling my strings," he told the Sentinel.

In the last few months, DeSalvatore has certainly worked independently. He is working on community building and has taken steps to create a team of city officials to work on the city's crime issues, but he's been staking this ground on his own and getting others to follow later and doesn't appear to be backing down.

A commenter yesterday noted that perhaps the city's newfound interest in out-of-town landlords is politically motivated. Obviously there is a lot of politics in play here.

And, this is the season to begin political rumors. Yipeee. And rumors start when public officials, like say a city councilor, begins to butt heads with a higher-ranking official, like say the mayor. Our wheels started spinning when Annie DiMartino went pretty hard after Mayor Dan Mylott in the spring, and they've been spinning for awhile over this DeSalvatore business. Now, we're really intrigued. DeSalvatore for mayor? It appears he has minimal love for Mylott, he could be more of an independent operator as mayor rather than councilor, and the whole independent man-of-people, "there's nobody pulling my strings" gig sure seems campaign ready. We're just saying.

The mayor's election is about 15 months away. People don't have to make decisions now, but they're at least thinking about mounting a run next fall. Let's put Mylott, DiMartino and DeSalvatore on the suspect list. Who else might run (not who should run, but who might run)? And who should win?