With the 2014 election finally certified and now in the books, speculation must now turn to who will be the 5th council person in Cathedral City. That seat will open up in just a few weeks when councilman Stan Henry is promoted to Mayor. The city council can then call a new election or appoint someone though, all we hear is deafening silence from the powers that be. The term will be for 2 years.
The logical choice would be to appoint the 3rd place finisher but in this place, it appears doubtful that will happen. Despite being endorsed by Stan Henry, Theresa Hooks has a huge hurdle to overcome. That would be her comments about gay conversion therapy and the Focus On The Family. 2 members of the council, Greg Pettis and newcomer Shelly Kaplan are gay. I can see no way they could support Ms. Hooks. Especially Mr. Pettis who has built up a little political power machine in the Cathedral City gay community.
I also see no way that a city teetering on bankruptcy can afford the cost of a new election. So there is going to be a lot of wheeling and dealing in the next few weeks between Mr. Pettis and Stan Henry. A compromise candidate from the sorely under represented Hispanic Community may be floated. The 2 new council members, Mr. Kaplan and Mark Carnevale will be more like spectators in this process.
No matter what happens, in the next few months it would behoove the council to codify the 3rd place finisher like Palm Springs did over a decade ago. That would put a stop to political shenanigans that are likely to be coming in Cathedral City in the future.
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