Papa Saved Some Salt for Briley

Tuesday night during the discussion of the proposed budget a verbal scrap broke out between members Ludye Wallace and David Briley over 9 amendments that different members wanted to add that would have transferred funds from certain line items to non-profit organizations (no surprise there).

Ludye wanted to introduce his amendments and call the names of several other members to offer their amendments. He seemed to be angry that some, like Mr. Briley--who had challenged whether other members could follow Ludye to attempt to amend just because their names were called--were going to cut off debate before they had their chance.

Referring to Mr. Briley's candidacy for Mayor, Ludye accused him of trying to pass a budget without any debate. Ludye also claimed to be acting in the best interests of "the public" (he did not specify the particular subsection of "the public" outside of non-profits whose interests he was defending). Ludye snapped at the at-Large Member, "Some of us aren't running for re-election." Maybe not. But the only reason that Ludye Wallace was standing there scolding David Briley was that he had done whatever it took to get re-elected in the past. Now, facing term limits and out of options, Ludye didn't have a credible leg on which to stand and take shots at other members who are now running.

To his credit, David Briley responded to Ludye by acknowledging that the two of them agree on "almost nothing." However, he added that out of respect for the long tenure of the District 19 Member, Mr. Briley would yield the balance of his time to Ludye in order to allow him to introduce his amendments for a vote, and thus, he blocked the cut-off of debate against a budget bill that he was co-sponsoring.

I thought that was a classy move that Mr. Briley never had to make. It allowed Ludye to introduce his amendments (all of which were tabled, and thus, killed) and to call the names of other members who had amendments (all of which were also tabled). It showed much more class than Ludye returned. The best Ludye could offer was a clipped "thanks" to David Briley when his time had run out. But Ludye Wallace has rarely been mistaken for gracious or humble.