Davenport may reorganize legal department -QCOnline
Davenport council to consider demoting attorney -QCTimes
Its got everything! It could tie in with the Malin pay scandal, the VanFossen everything scandals, the last time the council tried to take control of legal, potential nepotism, Alderman Meyer being left out, hundreds of thousands of dollars... I'm sure this will be a great topic for wild speculation and uninformed discussion. I always did find it funny that people took a break from hating on Mary Thee as soon as she went against Malin, since he's more hated by certain folks than she is. As I said on Cruiser's post about this, with some of the recent developments in the first ward, we're probably going to need more attorneys either way. Looking at the results over the last few years, new leadership in the legal department does seem like a decent idea though.
Let's see if some of you folks can work Lee Harvey Oswald into your theories.
21 comments:
QCI, Thanks for the nod. The big question I have about this is what's the big hurry?
I wish the Col. still had his blog up and running. I would like to know the inside scoop. What is really going on here?
Just what makes Judge Nahra the best qualified person to assume the role of head of the Davenport legal department? Being a retired judge does not necessarily mean that he is qualified in contract law or other issues facing the city.
If it is the wish of the council to get rid of Mary Thee this seems like an opportune time to advertise the position and get a person who is best qualified for the job. $124K a year should get someone who has experience in municipal government and their associated problems.
QCI,
Am I to suppose from your post that you think this "reorganization" doesnt have anything to do with Legal's stance on the recent Malin scandals? You are purposefully misleading yourself.
Well, I'd say the fact that the city "lost" on that probably does. I have a hard time believing that this is a big Malin plot when Hamerlinck and Lynn are apparently on board. They're not exactly Craig's biggest fans.
The enemy of my enemy is a friend indeed
Here's the inside scoop. Malin worked with a few select council members and left the others in the dark starting in the November/December time frame to plan this. (By select, I think you can fill in the blanks.) A Des Moines law firm was hired and paid for by city taxpayer dollars to negotiate a contract with Nahra.
The contract provides about 3/4 of a million in severance benefits plus health insurance and pension benefits that cost $100's of thousands even if Nahra were to start the job and quit voluntarily in a few short days.
Obviously Malin, the Des Moines law firm and the involved council members (and Mayor) do not care about the taxpayer's pocket book.
Malin conned some of the 8 aldermen into signing the letter requesting the legal department ordinance change by telling them it was what they asked for earlier even though the ordinance still leaves Malin with more control than council as currently written. Malin also selectively omitted information so many of the alderman signing the letter by not telling him he was planning an immediate management change.
The incumbent in the position was given about 2 minutes of notice from Malin on Monday and told to move her things immediately. No information was provided as to what exactly was happening or why. Typical Malin M.O.
Oh and for those that didn't pick this up - the QC Times didn't have things posted yesterday but QConline did. Every last document. Go to the cite and read Nahra's contract and get out a calculator. Make sure it has lots of digits....
Notice QC Times and QCI who love transparency in gov't are silent on what Malin has done in the dark?
I don't care what you may think of the current legal department, the point is - ONCE AGAIN - Malin is off doing his own thing. For his own reasons. And lying and giving partial truths.
Yes we need leadership change. But it needs to start at the TOP. That includes Malin, the mayor, and a few aldermen who are having fun with their backroom politics with our wallets.
Keep those Malin recorders on folks, great stuff coming from his mouth these days.
Great post Gina. Every word penned is believable. Yes I did notice the silence by QCTimes even though the press conference was at Noon. The city also made sure the notice was after deadline for River City Reader. Today Ambrose voted to terminate Malin on the spot. Does that ever sound like an alderman scorned!
Because of how this personnel issue is orchestrated it’s just about impossible to consider whether Judge Nahra is actually a great candidate for City Attorney. Maybe he is. But not like this. We need to question Nahra’s own willingness to accept THIS position rammed past council. It looks like the city is putting in place the biggest gunner it can grab. What is Davenport going to be hit with, or try to accomplish, that we need a SITTING District Court Judge to come on staff RIGHT NOW. A 53 year old District Court Judge leaving a career on the bench to be a municipal attorney? Doesn’t make sense. If this is retaliation it’s over the top. Who is Judge Nahra and what would he do for Davenport?
He is a retired Judge, not a sitting Judge. There is no hurry folks. Don't believe Winborn and the CA.
Doesn't anyone else find it strange that Hamerlinck, Ambrose, and Lynn could be convinced to sign something "orchestrated" by Malin? I like how he gets accused of being both a skillfully devious plotter and also foolishly making all these various mistakes. Which is it?
Why isn't anyone talking about the fact that if the motion to fire Malin had passed, it would have cost the city a fortune to pay for his golden parachute. I suppose the people who voted to fire knew they had no chance, so it was more of a POLITICAL MOVE, like almost everything done at City Hall in the last few years. I wish our council could spend more time working to make Davenport better than they all spend backstabbing each other and city staff. And I'm not talking about either side in particular on that.
QCI: Your bias blinds you so.
I'm with you QCI, How and why would anyone sign this document without knowing more. The document is very vague, don't you think?
Welcome back Joe American...I thought you had disappeared from these pages
I wouldn't put it past some of them to have known exactly what it was about, and know they were going to throw this very fit about it at the meeting.
QCI, you need to get a copy of the memo Malin conned the aldermen into signing and then see if you have the same opinion.
All it had to do with is bringing last fall's idea to put legal under council's direct supervision back on the floor. It said NOTHING about any personnel changes and also didn't point out that the new ordinance drafted is NOT what council had discussed last fall. Even Barney moved to subsitute last fall's draft ordinance before it was all shut down yesterday.
I love you QCI, but you really DO need to be willing to see both sides of Craig Malin. Unless of course you are being devil's advocate to bring out discussion.
I've seen the memo. It says basically nothing.
It literally says only "I am making a formal request to re-organize the City's Legal Department. I am asking for support from the Mayor and City Council. Ray Ambrose, Alderman"
Would YOU sign something that vague?
I'm afraid that whoever eventually replaces Malin is going to be equally hated. I'm concerned it is as much a function of the position as the person.
It’s been said; the proposal to hire Judge Nahra was poorly handled, I agree. A more open and transparent process would have been preferred.
Given the make-up of the council and the adversarial position most often taken by some of the aldermen, I can understand the attempt to allow the discussion to stay focused by narrowing the time frame for discussion. However, to suggest that there was no notification to some of the aldermen seems very unlikely. Normally, anything that goes to the media also goes to the aldermen electronically with a hard copy distributed as well. If an alderman does not check to see if there is information distributed for their use before a meeting, they simply do not take their responsibilities seriously.
The information provided to the media was adequate to allow an alderman enough information to request the issue be tabled and request additional information. It wasn’t the lack of notification; it was a lack of adequate time to consider, hardly grounds to terminate Malin. And, to make a motion to fire, knowing the terms of Malin’s contract was irresponsible. The “grandstanding” by some of the council presents a very negative view of the city.
Thank you for weighing in Mr. Malin. Those of us that know you recognize your rhetoric.
9:03:
It is clear that you do not know Malin, and, you do not recognize the rhetoric.
My comments are those of an observer. I have no horse in this derby.
11:39
Post a Comment