Mayor Verner on the Fence - Again

Jacob H. Reis, in his July 24-30 Inlander article, has neatly laid out the role of Mayor Mary Verner in the recent okay given by the Spokane City Council for big-box stores on the upper south side. The mixing of a stance and a no stance by Verner is very familiar to me. I was involved in a negotiation she set up between several large stores and PJALS over the living wage issue. At that time I was on the PJALS side, though now I do not support their efforts. But that is beside the point. Mary said she supported us privately but could not go public with her support. Were her reasons only political? Or was it an issue of her role as mediator? You know, during the Reign of Terror in France, it could be said the cart drivers who hauled the victims to the guillotine had gotten the parties in the dispute together. I detect a bit of that flavor in the mayor's approach to many problems.