Post-Election Predictions

1. The glimmers of unanimity that had made a few appearances on the Quincy School Board are a thing of the past. Look for more acrimony and contention. With the teachers' contract negotiations coming up, everybody's going to pre-emptively harden their positions, starting with the prevailing wage issue and heading toward a potential strike. Fasten your seat belts.

2. The dull rumblings you would hear from time to time about whether it's constitutional for Melvin J. Niekamp to hold two elected positions at the same time are going to rise in volume. It was a moot point when he was at the bottom end of 6-1 or 4-3 votes; but now that he will likely be on the upper end of some 4-3 votes, it becomes a critical issue. Wouldn't be surprised to see somebody sue.

3. The city council has not been a hotbed of partisanship. During the Scholz years, the mayor always took pains to keep both parties relatively happy. But with a 7-7 split, it's going to be tempting for the R's to force the mayor into a series of embarrassing tiebreakers on controversial issues -- if they can keep a united front, and that's a huge 'if.' But that's hardball politics, folks, and I'd say there's a good chance that's what we'll see. And if they have any sense, they'll groom an articulate person to speak for them on city matters, with an eye to pushing another few hundred votes their way in four years' time. Their candidate this time was by his own admission a terribly uncomfortable public speaker, and he got to within 800 votes.