The times they are a-changin'

The Mayor lost his majority on council, based on the primary results. In particular, the wins for Sumi Kailasapathy and Sally Hart Petersen mean trouble for Hizzoner, since in the words of Tony Derezinski, one of the losing candidates, "... they ran on — stopping various things ..."

Since, in the opinion of this blog, the primary thing Ann Arbor needs is someone to hold up a hand and say, "Wait! You want to do what? For how much money?" the outcome is probably a good one. Too bad for the Mayor, since by and large, his heart is in the right place, but the recent image projected by city hall -- a kind of Soviet-style "we never make mistakes" arrogance -- is not one that has endeared them to a lot of people.

The ironic thing is that although Hieftje will be running for re-election himself this year, we'll still be voting for him, regardless of any symptoms of hubris he may or may not have exhibited, since the "Independent" running against him is a full-blown looney. Albert Howard is our own little Thad McCotter, right up to the voices in his head that told him to run for President in 2008. So far, he hasn't been indicted for anything.