I requested exit interviews of Mayor Jim Sottile and legislature Chairman Fred Wadnola on the same mid-December day. Both seemed eager to participate. The Sottile interview went okay. At least he didn’t call to yell at me.
I had second thoughts about the Wadnola interview, given what was generally considered a pretty sorry of record of defeat and disappointment. I mean, what could he say? I thought his last hurrah, five days before the end, where the legislature shot down his appointees to a newly formed local development corporation, was downright humiliating. It seems I misjudged the chairman. He’s a hard man to embarrass.
“It takes 17 votes to pass anything,” he said.
“Yeah, but you had 18,” I replied.
“We were fragmented,” he said of his 18-15 Republican majority. This is not to say, however, that Democrats were united, as witnessed by the nursing-home controversy.
As the former chairman now reluctantly attested, the Democratic county executive, keeper of purse and privilege, had far more influence with county legislators than their own leaders.
“Mike Hein had the Democrats, and he had four or five Republicans he could call all the time,” he said. “What did I have to offer? He’d get ‘em in a corner and promise them things,” he said. “Like who, like what?” I asked. They never tell.
Wadnola said he thought being a lame duck from the get-go — he reiterated upon his election as chairman that he would not be a candidate for reelection in 2011 — would be an asset. “In a sense, it should have reinforced my position since they knew they’d only have me for two years and I would try to get as much done as possible,” he said. By now Wadnola must appreciate why they call them lame ducks.
Wadnola was briefly challenged for chairman a year ago by insurgents loyal to Terry Bernardo, his apparent successor. (This was written before Tuesday night’s scheduled vote for chairman.) While Wadnola is not directly critical of Bernardo, the rancor seems to linger.
Asked when he’d clean out his office for the incoming chairwoman, Wadnola replied, “I’m not leaving until 11:59 p.m. New Year’s Eve.”
Wadnola’s legacy will be that he was the last chairman of the 33-member legislature. Outmaneuvered and overmatched, unable to manage his own majority, his record as a leader is at best a cautionary tale.
As for Bernardo’s inaugural speech, all I can say is, wow, the (blow) torch has been passed.
