Have You Driven a Ford Lately?

Now, I wasn't surprised that the Pat Ford Ethics Investigation came back negative. Indeed, I believe that I had posted on another blog somewhere that I felt that Ford would be exonerated, but the real challenge will be what happens now.

[At least, I think I posted something like that... I could be back tracking, but whatever.]

The real challenge now is what Ravenstahl does now. Since Ford's departure, the URA hasn't collapsed (at least not that I can tell), so the acting folk in charge must be doing a halfway decent job. You have to wonder if Ravenstahl is willing to rock the boat on this one, or if he wants to put his guy back in the saddle.

And then, of course, there's the whole thing with HACP. I mean, Ford went off and talked to the Feds about the Housing Authority, so I'm sure that's going to cause some tension if there's any inter-authority projects.

And it's an election year. Whether or not this is a "substantial issue," the perception is the reality and Ravenstahl's political enemies will definitely try to make hay out of it. The only good news is that this story seems to have resolved itself in August instead of, like, March or April when it really, really would have hurt him.

And, of course, perception being what it is, you have to wonder if Ford will be as effective as he could be, or will potential clients feel that the rules are skewed against them.

Maybe the solution here is just to give Pat his old job back. Not the URA job or the HACP job, but the City "Development Czar" job. That way Ford can still pull the political levers and buddy up with Developers, but there's a nice little buffer between him and... well... being called in front of Council every other day.

Just a thought. I doubt it will happen at this point.

The decision, at this point, rests in the hands of the Ravenstahl appointed URA board, but perhaps Ford can make the decision easier by resigning with his reputation in tact.

I also doubt this will happen.