Dan Quayle, Vice President under George H. Bush, had the thrill of a lifetime when President Bush once had a fake “steering wheel” installed on Air Force Two, so Quayle could pretend he was flying the plane. There’s nothing like a good sense of humor.
Naperville mayor Steve Chirico did the same type of thing when he put Naperville councilwoman Judy Brodhead in charge of running the March 16th city council meeting as Mayor pro tem. Now technically I don’t know if that can be done, since ‘mayor pro tem’ is used in the ‘absence, disability, or vacancy’ of the mayor, yet, there sat the mayor on the Zoom call. But in the spirit of humor, let’s roll with it, as Chirico and Brodhead did.
Things were moving along swimmingly-well for Brodhead, with just a few speed bumps until the end of the meeting when a roll-call occurred on a vote regarding Century Walk’s request for guaranteed funding from SECA (Special Events and Cultural Amenities) to curate public art in the city for a long-range plan.
The council voted 6 to 3, or was it 5 to 4, or was it 4 to 5 to table a final decision until details could be worked out. The problem started when an amended motion on the issue was presented and voted upon, followed by a vote on the original motion.
Watch and listen as Brodhead mis-heard a vote:
Shortly afterward, councilman Benny White, being the gentleman and supportive person he is, complimented Brodhead on a job well done as mayor pro tem:
It began to fall apart when councilwoman Patty Gustin pointed out the vote was incorrect by adding more incorrect information on the vote saying it was 4 to 5, when it was actually 6 to 3. This was followed by Naperville city attorney Mike DiSanto saying councilman John Krummen switched his vote. Wrong, it was councilman Kevin Coyne. Now city clerk Pam Gallahue adds more ‘murk’ to the murky water by saying the vote for substitution failed 5 to 4; Wrong it was 4 to 5.
Watch and listen as confusion ruled the moment:
Nobody, other than councilman Paul Hinterlong, seemed to know what the actual vote was. It was as if he was watching Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on first”.
Somebody simply needed to slow it down and think about it:
No matter which vote tally was determined to be correct, the result was the same; table the final decision until details could be worked out.