The Tennessean has a full article today, page 1A above the fold, regarding Purcell’s decision not to run for a third term. The content is mostly unremarkable, primarily because Purcell gives little to bite into - for instance, why announce now? That question is never answered, and the announcement does little to enhance his political power for the rest of his term as Metro mayor. He has established his lame duck status beyond any reasonable doubt. That is, except for the hedge - proposing that the metro council be cut in half (his other amendment, regarding mayoral term limits, is without glamour). Such a proposal will certainly keep some councilmen in line, for fear of unemployment through downsizing. How many will remain loyal to a lame duck is the question.

But the announcement to not run for a third term is unremarkable. If George W. Bush came out tomorrow and announced he was not running for a third term, what would your thoughts be? So what, maybe?

Despite the media’s belief that mayoral term limits are a fuzzy issue, the only lawyer saying that Bill Purcell could have run for three terms was Karl Dean, the head of the Metro Department of Law, hired by Bill Purcell. The fact that he had even considered running for three terms tells you more than you needed to know about the man. And as he may have recently surmised, if he had decided to declare for a third term, he would have mired Metro in a mess of litigation for which no one would have wanted to be responsible, where even a legal win would have been a debilitating political loss. Maybe the decision not to run was made ex ante, or maybe after the political climate had changed, his mind changed as well, but the three term political straw man Purcell set up has been knocked down. He’s smart - it’s better to leave on top.

All other things being equal (they seldom ever are), I support the reduction in council size. But for some reason, I get this sneaking suspicion that the amendment to the charter will be poorly and confusingly worded, and will be on the ballot at the same time as the property tax referendum amendment in an attempt to cross-up voters (one the right answer being “yes”, and the other the right answer being “no”). I suppose only time will tell.

Purcell is also calling for independent audits of Metro. Funny how he didn’t want an audit of the school system or Metro prior to the boondoggled sales tax referendum last month. In these last two years the mayor is finally appearing to fulfill the role of responsible statesman. Timing is everything - he’s setting himself up for bigger things, no doubt. If I were Harold Ford, Jr., I wouldn’t get too comfortable just shellacking Rosalind Kurita.

But what does Purcell want his legacy as mayor to be known for?

When asked what he hopes his legacy would be, he said:

“I hope that it’s during the time I became mayor a general agreement was established in this city about what was important and that we would never stop doing those things that made a city great.”

If so, it will not be because of Bill Purcell, but due to effective opposition to his policies. I do hope that Bill Purcell governs our city responsibly through the remainder of his last term. Unfortunately, past performance says otherwise.