When 40 percent of the City Council was due to be turned over in the election of three months ago, the heavily favored incumbent Meghan Sahli-Wells was hoping to bring along two like-minded first-time progressive candidates, Thomas Small and Daniel Lee. She succeeded halfway, with Mr. Small winning a seat.
On the previous Council, her progressive views frequently had been stifled, surrounded as she was by traditionalists. But with two traditionalists being term-limited in April, Ms. Sahli-Wells was looking forward to breathing free air again.
Flexing her cerebral and political muscles, Ms. Sahli-Wells was her old assertive self last evening.
The scenario may have served as a preview of how much more forceful the progressive leader will be in her second term.
Even if Ms. Sahli-Wells did not get her way when debating placing four charter amendments and a stormwater parcel tax on the Nov. 8 ballot, the evening may have portended scenes to come.
A passionate, and successful, believer in a progressive agenda, Ms. Sahli-Wells’s confidence seemed excitingly re-charged.
So optimistic was she that she even reached into her past and extracted a longtime favorite talking point, the consolidation of City Council elections (now in April) and School Board elections (a November tradition).
Ms. Sahli-Wells listed two reasons, economics, and it could spike always sagging voter turnout.
She sought to pitch it for the November ballot until…
To her left, physically not philosophically, Councilman Goran Eriksson reminded her that as a champion of public voices, she should allow the public to have a say before it is rushed onto an already wheezing ballot.
Softly, Ms. Sahli-Wells concurred, a rare mild upbraiding on a night when her star glowed.
