A Tale of Two Cities - North Liberty?

Remember this is a blog, so I'm free to ask questions particularly when there could be ore going on than meets the eye.

The Press-Citizen reports (and I am truncating the story) "City politics in North Liberty would change if a petition filed Tuesday calling for city councilors to be elected by wards is adopted.

Dewayne Olney, a planning and zoning commission member who helped circulate the petition, said several residents in North Liberty were "fed up" with the current system.

"Not all parts of North Liberty have a voice on the North Liberty council," he said.

If they hold an election before Aug. 7 and the ward system is approved, the seven new seats would be up for election in the Nov. 6 general election. If there is no election before Aug. 7, the new government could not take effect until January 2010, [Tom] Slockett said.

Who could be behind this? I'm speculating, not accusing...just asking, who has the most to gain?

1) DeWayne Olney, a contractor, named in today's story lives in a potential (Deerfield) ward that current incumbent James Wozniak (also NL JCCOG Rep.) lives. Does he have backing from James Moody and Matthew Bahl?

2) Matthew Bahl, lost to former mayor Franker, genuine sore loser (re: city council door slamming incident)--not a fan of now former City Administrator Brian James.

3) Paul Osterholt, a former candidate for city council and a mover and shaker behind the scenes in NL politics. According to a letter sent into the Press-Citizen in January
"the person who brought the petition to keep a future election from ending up in the courts was former City Council candidate Paul Osterholt, whose 2005 campaign was financed in part by The Committee to Elect Matt Bahl, Robert Gardiner and Paul Osterholt. Bahl and Gardiner, of course, being the ones who kept the election in the courts on a technicality."

4) Rob Gardiner came in third to James Wozniak. See above.

5) Former mayor Clair Mekota, with development interests that were stymied during Franker era. Payback?

This begs the question, is it a question of open, representative government here or a power play?

Hey, Rob Daniels reporter for the Press-Citizen, keep digging.