Finkbeiner back to his old tricks

12/11/2005

Seven bite-size Lemmon Drops to nibble on while bracing for the King Kong hoopla:

  • Raise your hand if you believe Carty Finkbeiner would have been elected mayor had he told voters beforehand that he wanted to replace Mike Navarre as police chief.

    OK, maybe he still would have beaten Jack Ford, the current mayor. (But the final margin would have been much closer than 62 percent to 38 percent, right?)

    Mr. Finkbeiner hasn t even taken office yet, and he has created a controversy that is reminiscent of his first eight years as mayor. All because he made another ready, fire, aim -type decision.

    Mr. Finkbeiner announced Monday that Chief Navarre would be replaced by Capt. Jack Smith, commander of the Scott Park district station.

    By making the announcement 29 days before taking the oath of office, Mr. Finkbeiner gave the impression that it was going to be a smooth transition between police chiefs. Among other things, I assumed he brokered a deal that was satisfactory to Chief Navarre, who is widely respected.

    Wrong.

    Chief Navarre is threatening legal action to keep his job.

    Mr. Finkbeiner s passion got him in trouble again. There was no urgency to make the announcement.

    Perhaps in time Chief Navarre would have accepted Mr. Finkbeiner s offer to become deputy chief. And maybe he still will.

    Mr. Finkbeiner didn t have the patience to make sure his ducks were in a row.

    Not that anyone is surprised.

  • Prediction: Toledo Public Schools will take two giant steps back to academic emergency after Eugene Sanders steps down as superintendent in 2006.

    The Urban Coalition, a constant critic of Mr. Sanders, talks a good game. But we ll see how the group, soon to be represented on the school board by Darlene Fisher and Robert Torres, reacts when it is the target of criticism.

    On Mr. Sanders watch, TPS became the first urban district in Ohio to achieve continuous improvement. That was in 2004; it maintained the ranking last year.

    As the Urban Coalition will discover, that s no small task.

  • I know they mean well, but surely those who participated in the counter-demonstrations at yesterday s National Socialist Movement rally weren t expecting the neo-Nazis to slap their foreheads and say, You know, they re right! What were we thinking? Not gonna happen.

  • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick isn t saying whether she will seek re-election in 2006. I ll be very surprised if she does run. I mean, I still remember the attack ads against her in 2000 and they would be even more vicious next year. The police video from her Jan. 31 arrest for drunken driving will serve as fresh red meat for her opponents. Why would she want to subject herself to months of humiliation before the election?

  • A round of applause, please, for Our Lady of Perpetual Help. On Monday, it became the first Catholic parish in Toledo to show Twist of Faith.

  • The Farmers Almanac predicted our winter would be snowy but mild. Granted, winter doesn t kick in for another 10 days, but it s looking like the publication will be only half-right. Unfortunately for us, snowy is the half it got right.

  • 'Tis the season for Merry Christmas activists to insinuate that those who prefer happy holidays are contributing to the moral decay of society.