After One Year Will Davis Be Able To Establish Mayoral Credibility or Will Hume Outfox Him, Again?

January 3, 2014 |

When the Elk Grove City Council meets on Wednesday night, it is expected Mayor Gary Davis will be able to make his first new appointment to the Elk Grove Planning Commission. 

As the directly elected Mayor, Davis has sole responsibility to appoint members to the city's various boards and commissions. While none of the commissions have any binding authority, the planning commission can on occasion exert influence on city council decisions and more importantly, can be a springboard of sorts for political parties and aspiring city council members.

Mayor Gary Davis.

As noted, this is Davis' latest opportunity to actually make a new appointment to the commission. Last January Davis appointed four of the five sitting planning commissioners but attempted to remove Frank Maita and replace him with former mayoral rival and city council member adversary, Sophia Scherman.  

Davis' attempt to appoint Scherman was rejected by the council and Maita was reappointed. See video below.

Earlier that same meeting, Davis succumbed to the fear of being tagged as the personC responsible for a $500,000 special election to fill the vacancy he created, withdrew his support for the appointment of fellow Democrat Nancy Chaires to the city council, much to the disappointment of the council's other Democrat, Jim Cooper, and moved to appoint Bob Trigg at the urging of Republican Council Member Pat Hume. 

Hume suggested Trigg as an alternate who would be a placeholder for the District 4 seat. Not coincidentally, the suggestion of appointing Trigg surfaced days earlier in a column by Roy Herburger, owner of the Elk Grove Citizen. Hume and Herburger are part what many regard as old-line Elk Grove power brokers.  

Interestingly, Trigg conferred with a number of the council members well in advance of that meeting although he was not vetted by the public or the council for that matter as the others who sought the appointment.  

Subsequent to his appointment, Trigg has sided with Hume on some 3-2 votes where the Hume-Trigg-Detrick team put Davis on the losing side. Most notable was the 3-2 vote permitting the Elk Grove Blvd. Walmart store to sell liquor. 

For many city council observers, Hume, preying on his knowledge of his colleague's weaknesses, outsmarted Davis and in a way, gained a stealth control of the council. He established himself as a shadow mayor of sorts. 

Davis, meanwhile has not accomplished anything of significance in his first year as mayor. Could it be by virtue of starting two businesses this year, is the mayor ready to throw in the towel on his political career? Let's not forget because of his employment with the charter school movement, Davis is not highly regarded by his own party that largely oppose charter schools.

It will be noteworthy to watch next Wednesday's proceedings to see who Davis seeks to appoint and how the process unfolds. Will Hume outsmart Davis again like he did with the Trigg appointment or will Davis stand by his party and convictions or yet again cave?

On an ironic side note, when Trigg was appointed to council he was not present and took his oath at the next meeting. Had he been in attendance, chances are he would have been immediately sworn-in and could have helped Davis appoint Scherman to the planning commission.

Frank Maita has Trigg's absence from that meeting to thank for his continuation as a planning commissioner.     

     

HBWTG