The Dispatch wrote Obama’s win might lead to city shake-up
Thursday, November 6, 2008
By Robert Vitale
No city offices were on the ballot, but Tuesday’s election will bring more change to Columbus City Hall than last year’s strictly local campaign. Maryellen O’Shaughnessy’s victory in a race for Franklin County clerk of courts already means another midterm City Council vacancy for Democrats to fill.
More political dominoes could start tumbling in the coming weeks if Councilman Kevin L. Boyce is appointed state treasurer or Mayor Michael B. Coleman takes a position in the Obama administration.
Democrats say Boyce is on Gov. Ted Strickland’s short list to become Ohio’s state treasurer, which would create another vacancy for remaining council members to fill. Boyce declined to comment.
And Coleman, who backed Barack Obama’s candidacy last year when the Democrat trailed by as many as 31 points in pre-primary polls, is owed a huge post-election favor by the man who’s now president-elect. The mayor said yesterday that he’s neither expecting nor accepting an appointment from President-elect Obama. Having a president willing to help cities will make his job here a lot easier, he said.
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