The Mayor's Bad Night

Last night won't go down in Lisa Wong's books as "one of my best nights as mayor." She saw her pick for DPW boss go down the drain, and based on early returns, that trash fee idea doesn't look so hot right now. Talk of "education" and "not the right time" is not heartening for trash fee supporters.

The trash fee was tabled by the committee, and maybe we'll hear more about it in the fall. What isn't going away is the DPW commissioner search after last night's rejection.

In case you've missed it, Wong wanted to hire James Shuris, who was fired from the very same job in 2003. Depending on who you ask, Shuris was an insubordinate who didn't file reports on time, or he got rolled by a personality conflict with Mayor Dan Mylott. He sued the city for wrongful termination, and lost.

If we can start to pull together an operating procedure by Wong, the Shuris appointment fits the bill. She reviewed the resumes, did interviews, checked the background on Shuris, and decided he was the best guy for the job. Forget the crap before, he's the best guy, and that's all that matters. The search committee -- including two councilors -- agreed. There was no complaints from that committee about Shuris' selection.

However, Wong took an already politically sensitive appointment and made it more so with a contract that looks bad -- $92K a year, 119 sick days from before, and a company car. Councilors hated that contract, and said so last night. But when Wong offered to go into executive session to discuss, they turned her down. Why? If the contract was the big hold up, why not talk about it.

It's interesting in that six months ago, councilors couldn't wait to get Dan Mylott out of City Hall. You'd think they'd take a second look at what happened in 2003, and maybe give Shuris and Wong the benefit of the doubt. But this appointment was pretty much DOA. If the contract was the main issue, why not go into executive session and discuss? I wonder if the contract was a convenient reason to vote against, or if there was something more there. But rejecting Wong's offer to discuss makes it interesting.

After seven months, it's probably a good bet to say yesterday was Wong's worst day in office. It exposed her weaknesses in politics (the Shuris appointment), her balancing act on finances (the trash fee), and her managerial style (she apologized for her handling of Bob Bourque).

Go way back to a year ago, when Wong was running for mayor. There was talk of the city going from mayor to manager. A lot of people said Wong would be that manager, in the Mayor's Office. From the very beginning, she said what she thought was best for the city was her main interest, with politics on the back burner.

So far, Wong the administrator has had a solid seven months in office. She balanced the budget, hired a good police chief, and rolled out a new monthly event that brings hundreds of people downtown. Not bad. But in some cases, the political talent haven't matched the administrative skills, and that was evident last night.

Now what? She'll need to find another DPW chief, one she at best likes, and doesn't love. Meanwhile, a potential step forward in finances looks weaker today than it did yesterday. No one said this was going to be easy, and that was proved last night.