Rainford: Don't Kill the Messenger

In a post on MayorSlay.com, the Mayor's chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, presses the point that the dispute between Comptroller Darlene Green and Slay is in fact a difference in policy between the Aldermen and the Comptroller. Slay was, in this case, merely the messenger.

It was, in-fact, the Aldermanic Black Caucus who proposed spreading the BJC-Forest Park lease revenue based on wards, not geography, and Slay noted he was offering the amendment at their request.

Alderman Terry Kennedy, 18th ward, chair of the Black Caucus, said after the meeting Friday that there was no ill will between the aldermen and Green for her preference for her plan over theirs.

"She's just trying to make sure we get where we are trying to go," said Kennedy.

Slay also voiced his agreement with BOA President Jim Shrewsbury's insistence that the language Green wanted was part of the process that lay exclusively with the BOA and should be dealt with there. A position Green dismissed as a technicality saying the Board of Estimate and Apportionment's support would give guidance to the aldermen when it comes before them.

That said, the back-and-forth between Slay and Green was, for all those present, as charged as any.

Green stood her ground, and certainly took the Mayor to task for his lack of support for her language, going to far as to accuse Slay of "not being serious" about getting the lease. Given Slay's consistent support, its hard to see him willing to take a gamble on the deal.

Because of the hours of time and substantial effort Green and her office have put into hammering out the best deal possible (and they certainly earned the city a far better deal), it is clear why Green wants to make sure the commitments she made in exchange for supporting the issue make the final cut.

Slay later said that though he supported Green's language in order to gain her approval for the lease, there were no such stipulations in the lease agreement; nor would their likely be.

Green's language will go before the Board of Alderman and she and her office have publicly taken a tough bargaining position and can claim victory in bringing the city a better deal. They can also point to publicly holding the lease to a higher standard by calling for more stringent regulations on the lease, use or purchase of park land.

That win-win-win situation may help ease the burden of proof with some who oppose the deal on principle. Some, however, they will never bring along, such as the Citizens to Protect Forest Park who are opposed to the sale or lease of any park land unless vote on by the voters.

"Such issues need to be determined by the people in the polling booth, no politicians and powerful special interests in back rooms," the group said in a release.

The group wants any lease or sale involving park land to go to the voters, a move the Mayor and others say is flawed and may result in all manner of standard practices to go before the voters: practices such as rental fees, physical changes or short term agreements such as a recent one with Shakespear in the Park which will allow them to build some semi-permanent facilities.