The PilotOnline article about Council Member Meeks’s robocalls has attracted a lot of commentary. It has piqued my curiousity, as well, about how different segments of our community see this issue. To allow for a more in depth discussion, I’m reposting my original question here.

The premise is: a European American majority council contemplates making “permanent” the interim appointments of an African American city manager and attorney with identical experience and qualifications to those of Messrs. Rowe and Willson. A “supermajority” of the council members have agreed in closed session to offer the jobs to the incumbents, but the final public vote lies ahead. A few days beforehand, a prominent tea party-affiliated constituent urges council to open up the process and broaden the search. Do you see a difference between the actual and the hypothetical scenarios? Please explain your answer. (I will defer sharing my own opinion until later.)