Six still equals one

It kinda sad when about the only interesting thing happening in Champaign city government is the replacement of one of its newly-elected members.

Jim Green was re-elected to the District 4 seat last month and promptly resigned after suddenly (and unexpectably?) taking a job with a law firm that does business with the city. This still sounds fishy every time I read it. Green got 1411 votes of 1833 cast in his district, which isn't bad even if you're running unopposed. He then promptly quit.

Deborah Frank Feinen seemingly was waiting breathlessly at the mayor's door ready to apply for the vacancy the moment Green stepped down. It sounded a bit suspicious. A council member quits, a Republican County Board member is waiting in the wings to fill the position. If I was a person who looked for conspiracies... naw ... coincidence.

Feinen, however, has also been waiting in the wings to take on Reb. Naomi Jacobsen in next year's state House race. Mayor Jerry Schweighart then was obliged to extract from Feinen a promise that if she was appointed to the council, she would not run for the House seat. We all know how valuable (and binding) are political promises.... We still, however, must take her at her word.

Still, since then, there have been more potential candidates lining up for the position, candidates from all over the political spectrum: County Board member and Republican Feinen, Marci Dodds, a member of the Champaign library foundation board and wife of Cody Sokolski, who developed the One Main building in downtown Champaign; Ken Urban, a member of the Green Party and an associate professor of computer science at Parkland College, Greg Stock, a social studies teacher at Centennial High; Pattsi Petrie, who works at the UI in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and Martin Johnson, an engineer who does programming at the UI.

All sound pretty qualified, on different levels. All bring varied levels of political experience and inexperience to the board. Nothing wrong with getting a newcomer on the council every so often. One wonders if the UI applicants are cut from the same political cloth as Urbana council members? And wouldn't it be fun to have Green Party member on the Council to shake up the pro-business pro-growth conservatism?

This could get interesting.

Except it won't.

Schweighart has said the city council will hear from all the candidates at Tuesday's council meeting. An appointment could be made at the June 7 meeting.

Don't know if there's betting line out yet, but my money's on Feinen.

Not that she's the most qualified or would represent the district best. (Nor would she be the worst).

Her candidacy's just been too convenient all along.

And so it goes.