His real first strike was interviewing with Steve Brown and not running the other way after he found out that Brown had dumped Jim Basinger and was working on Jim Williams. He was also working to get rid of Jim Murray, but Murray was wired in big time, but I digress.

Bernie's second strike was the illegal building moratorium that Brown, Rapson and Weed cooked up as almost their very first act after being sworn in. If we are to have a weak mayor/strong city manager form of government, the city manager should have sided with the city attorney and killed that stupid (and illegal) idea before we wasted a bunch of taxpayer money on legal fees. That was where he went over to the dark side. And yes, it is Bye, Bye, Bernie, a new musical that comes to town in January.

I think it is very important to remember those dark days in 2001 when 3 novices that we knew nothing about came in and created a new majority (actually a super majority because Dan Tennant was drinking their Kool-Aid for a few months) which was much more terrifying and damaging to the city that the current 3-2 votes Haddix keeps whining about. The reason we need to remember that is we are on the verge of getting 4 rookies on council - including the mayor. You would think that nothing could be worse than Brown, Rapson and Weed, but be careful. Pay attention to these people running for office. Be real careful about alliances being formed before the election. Listen to the not so hidden agendas. Vote wisely and above all, be sure you vote in the runoffs - that's where your one vote really does make a difference.

I am certainly inclined to vote all female, but my mind can be changed tonight at the Rotary Forum if one of the ladies starts to sound like Brown, Rapson or Weed.