El Presidente

Looks like Tom Conry and Dean Tran are the leaders for the City Council presidency, a job that is traffic cop, mediator, and consensus builder, amongst other things.

It'll be interesting to see which way this goes. Conry was solid as a first-termer, was the top vote-getter. He was on top of the financial issues, but rarely made big waves.

Tran, on the other hand, did make some waves. He was the proactive member of the council, and when things went south on occassion, he wasn't afraid to punch back. All of which are admireable traits in a councilor. But do they translate to the presidency? Tran gets along with all his colleagues, but remember those dust-ups with DeSalvatore? How does that play in the selection -- if at all.

Also, Tran had ideas, and moved on them. For example, the sex criminal petition and the landlord petition. Does he get distracted from proactive moves if he's running the council? In short, is council president the best spot for Tran to do his work?

All the above are questions that need a few answers before the council gets around to choosing a new leader. The selection process has certainly already started with phone calls, e-mails, and discussions. It will be interesting to see if this is a quick process, or if Conry and Tran -- and perhaps a mystery Councilor X (no ideas here, just saying) need time to find their six votes.

One more thing: Another indication of Wong's ridiculous victory. She got 5,863 votes. The next highest vote total on the ballot ws Conry's 4,303. She topped Conry by 1,500, and Conry was eligible to scoop up one of five votes, Wong one of one (obviously). Wow.