Politicians are ‘savage’ in this tiny city south of San Francisco – By Eric Ting (SFGATE) / Jan 3, 2023
In the tiny Bay Area city of Brisbane, the role of mayor is largely ceremonial. But last month, a procedural meeting to select the next mayor went off the rails, setting off a political firestorm that left the city of 4,851 confused, angry and combative.
“I’ve been a resident for 34 years and I have never seen a situation like this,” resident Nancy Lacsamana told SFGATE.
Every December, the Brisbane City Council appoints one of its members to serve as mayor for the next calendar year. Per nonbinding city guidelines, Councilmember Cliff Lentz should have been named mayor for 2023 because he served as mayor pro tempore in 2022. But in a surprising move, the council voted 4-1 to name Councilmember Madison Davis mayor instead of Lentz
The four councilmembers who voted for Davis — incumbent Mayor Coleen Mackin, Councilmembers Karen Cunningham and Terry O’Connell and finally, Davis herself — said they could not vote for Lentz because he had violated a provision in the Brown Act, a state law governing the meetings of legislative bodies. They also alluded to other reasons to oppose Lentz but did not provide specifics. (The lone vote against Davis was cast by Lentz.)
