What’s happening to Mayor Mallory’s credibility?  In this recent CityBeat blog entry, Kevin Osborne outlines how Mallory sent a memo stressing the importance of starting meetings on time, only to cause a substantial delay himself the first meeting after sending the memo.  And now, Leslie Ghiz (who has been an open critic of the Mayor) has stated explicitly that she cannot trust him.

The recent debacle concerning the push for closed meetings is a perfect example.  Ghiz would actually prefer to have executive sessions for council.  “I have always been an advocate for executive session, particularly as it pertains to negotiations,” said Ghiz.  However, her lack of trust in Mayor Mallory has caused her to oppose an initiative which she would otherwise support.

“Given the behavior and secrecy of the mayor since he took over at council, I am not inclined to give him any more power to ‘legally’ have meetings behind closed doors,” explains Ghiz.  “It’s that simple.”

Ghiz’s critics will be quick to claim that she is just “grandstanding,” using any opportunity she can to oppose the Democratic Mayor from her position as a Republican.  However, according to a source inside City Hall, the Mayor has engaged in other dealings with different council members that also call his reliability into question.

Remember the letter Mallory issued, in opposition to the executive session meetings?  Allegedly, it was Mayor Mallory who asked Councilmember Jeff Berding to champion the idea of executive session.  Reportedly, Mallory told Berding he would get behind the idea.

That’s not quite how it happened:  Mallory seems to have jumped ship when he perceived the politics might not play to his favor.

I will follow up with both Jeff Berding’s office and the Mayor’s office to pursue further comments regarding that claim.

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