Mayoral rumors are flying
Wisdom has it that incumbent Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson has been weakened by indecisiveness regarding selections for top management of the City, most of those positions are still filled with hangers-on from the Collins/Carty administrations of years gone by. The perception of her ineffectiveness has been bolstered by the dramatic failure of the One Big Thing she has tried to accomplish during her more than one year in office, the Issue 2 proposed tax increase. The political sharks smell blood in the water, and they are circling slowly, ready to move in for the final kill.
And so, the mayoral rumors are flying. Who is eyeing a run next year? If you follow all the rumors, it would be easier to list who isn’t mulling it over. Because the rumored list is long.
The A-List
Here’s what we’ve heard so far.
LC Treasurer Wade Kapszukiewicz is having secretive meetings in darkened rooms to plot his takeover of the 22nd Floor. LC Commissioner Pete Gerken is using his bully pulpit to beat up on Mayor PHH and grease his own slippery path into the mayor’s seat. State Rep. Michael Ashford is biding his time, padding his war chest, and waiting for the dust to clear to come in as the consensus candidate.
Then there’s term limited State Rep. Teresa Fedor, sitting on the sidelines, awaiting an opening. And it’s no secret that Councilwoman Sandy Spang, unloved and ineffective on council, really, really wants to run her own show. Mike Bell is simply using his race for county commissioner to start his mayoral come-back run, and Councilman Tom Waniewski has been sucking up to unions to bolster his own chances.
Councilwoman Lindsay Webb, also term limited, has always wanted a seat in the state house. But with young children at home, the 22nd Floor sounds pretty good for now. Fellow councilwoman and Carty acolyte Theresa Gabriel’s narcissism is so strong that she thinks she can run the City. Carty, on the other hand, has finally seen the electoral light fade and has no mayoral aspirations. Which we’ll only believe when he says it himself.
Did we miss anybody? Oh yeah, the unpredictables, a cast of wingnuts and yahoos, and Opal, will be there for sure, which could lead to a wide open, spirited primary. But is there any credible candidate that has no rumors attached?
Catch a falling star
We can think of an obvious omission from the rumor mill: LC Auditor Anita Lopez. Here’s the oddity that strikes us. How has she become such an afterthought?
Anita was once the rising star of local politics. She rose from School Board to Recorder to Auditor quickly and easily. The sky was the limit. Where would she go next? Would she be a statewide candidate, or Marcy’s eventual replacement, or even a US Senator someday?
Then she was recruited to run for mayor three years ago. Her candidacy crashed and burned, mostly because she was expected to open her mouth and form coherent sentences that coalesced into substantive thoughts. Something she clearly has much difficulty accomplishing.
The rumors we’ve heard about Toledo mayor make sense. Most of these folks are either serious contenders or have run before. We haven’t heard anything about Councilmen Peter Ujvagi, Matt Cherry, or Rob Ludeman, or Council President Steven Steel, but at least any one of them throwing a hat into the ring would also make sense. Truth be told, we would believe that any current incumbent with a decent reputation might be in the running if Paula falters.
What has happened to poor Anita? She won re-election as Auditor in twenty fourteen in a landslide, albeit against an unknown first-timer. Yet if we were told that she was considering another mayoral run, we’d simply refuse to believe it. Her star has crested and winked out. She now has a reputation as a tyrannical manager. And she once asked to confer with her handlers during a press conference, which she had called after being criticized for not being able to speak without conferring with her handlers. Is the amorphous idea of her as an elected official simply more appealing than the reality of her tongue-tied, Carty-lite personality?
Frankly, we hope Paula is given a chance to lead, and are confident that if she seizes the chance she will prove to be steady and competent. But as the rumors fly about eager replacements, we are left to wonder something longer term.
How long until Anita faces a credible, well-funded opponent, and she slips out of public office once and for all?
