Will the real mayor please stand up?
April 06, 2009
Andrew Dreschel
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Opinions/article/543830
I swear, sometimes you'd almost think Councillor Tom Jackson was the mayor of this city and not Fred Eisenberger.
For whatever reason, Jackson just seems to have a more finely tuned sense of occasion and decorum.
Case in point:
While council was putting the budget to bed last week, Jackson came out of the gate, comprehensively casting the 1.7 per cent increase in a positive light.
After banging his upbeat drum, he concluded by praising the good work of Eisenberger and senior staffers and, lastly, city clerk Mary Gallagher for her professionalism throughout the exhausting budget process.
By contrast, virtually the first words out of the mayor's mouth had Gallagher dissolving in tears.
Eisenberger began by referring to a "couple of stumbles" in the final budget document, but noted Gallagher doesn't often make mistakes.
That backhanded compliment came on the heels of similar criticisms from councillors Lloyd Ferguson and Brad Clark, though neither mentioned Gallagher by name.
Eisenberger, apparently unaware of the weeping he had sparked, launched into his own praise-the-budget spiel.
But it was landing on a distracted audience.
The room's attention was suddenly focused on the visibly upset Gallagher, who spun her chair around to hide her face from view.
One of the other clerks went to find a box of tissues for her.
Another one poured her a glass of water.
And senior managers, who respect Gallagher as a highly skilled workhorse, exchanged concerned glances over Eisenberger's faux pas.
To cap it off, while Eisenberger was blithely gabbing on, Jackson rose from the council table and approached the clerk' s station, where he sank to his heels and whispered comforting words in Gallagher's ear.
In response to the incident, the next day chief clerk Kevin Christenson sent a firmly-worded e-mail to council.
He pointed out that Gallagher is one of the city's "finest employees" and didn't deserve the criticisms, that any mistakes in the report were minor and not her fault, and criticizing staff in public doesn't help attract and retain good people.
Clearly, Eisenberger, Ferguson and Clark need to be reminded of former mayor Larry Di Ianni's principle to praise in public, criticize in private.
On the other hand, Jackson's sensitive show of support for Gallagher was characteristic.
Jackson, who has represented Ward 6 on the east Mountain for 20 years, routinely leads applause and acknowledges work well done.
To be sure, he can be awfully sugary and eager to please.
But he consistently asks some of the most probing questions on council and is seldom, if ever, less than fair or reasonable.
During the unsteady early days of Eisenberger's term, he clearly took upon himself a leadership role, trying to guide and provide stability and direction to a council that seemed at sea.
Does this suggest that Jackson may be casting an eye on the mayor's chair?
"From time to time, I have people encouraging me to consider it, but at this time I'm just happy doing the work that I'm doing for the people of Ward 6," he says.
Translation? I suspect he's giving it serious consideration.
But Jackson was badly bruised in 2004 when he ran and lost for the federal Conservatives on Hamilton Mountain.
It's doubtful he'll take that kind of gamble again, particularly since defeat would mean losing his safe seat on council.
Still, he has a lot of time to go before he needs to make up his mind about throwing his hat in the 2010 mayor's race.
In the meantime, he's doing a pretty fair job of acting the part.
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