To me, the one great disappointment of the 2008 election was that Mike Montgomery lost his seat on Richland County Council. It wasn’t the presidency — after all, I liked Obama almost as much as I did McCain — or any other result that day. As I wrote at the time:
But Montgomery was arguably the best, brightest, hardest-working member of council, a guy who truly had the interest of everyone in the county, regardless of party or anything else like that, at heart. On a council that had lost its way recently — putting $30 million for parks ahead of transportation and other critical needs — he was one guy who was right on those and other issues, an extremely level-headed pragmatist with his priorities straight. This is a deep loss for anyone who cares about the future of the county.
And he lost to a guy who — and I kid you not — had exactly two reasons for running:
- He didn’t think Decker Boulevard was getting redeveloped quickly enough.
- He thought there should be a Democrat on the ticket to take advantage of the Obama Effect. Really. That was his reason. When his wife, who lost to Montgomery in the last election, wouldn’t run again, he put his own name on the ballot. That’s pretty much his story.
Whenever the subject has come up since then, I’ve tended to grumble along the same lines. Usually, I just say that Jim Manning’s only excuse for running was because he figured a Democrat could win (which to me is unforgivable, on his part and the voters’). But I then add, reluctantly, “…and to push Decker redevelopment.” Of course, the fact that he wanted to move Decker alone was no great selling point. Nothing against helping Decker, but such a limited concern doesn’t make up for booting an incumbent who was a genuine leader on issues affecting the entire county. In fact, it highlights Mr. Manning’s deficit of qualification.
This week, we saw the sort of thing that Mr. Manning had in mind for Decker — high-stakes bingo. Fortunately, the community rose up and stopped him. I wonder how many of them are having second thoughts about the decision they made in 2008?
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