Duffy withholding lease from City Council?

When local politicians and United Soccer Leagues officials introduced new Rhinos owner Rob Clark to the public last week, they all said one more hurdle was left to clear — the City Council's approval of the Rhinos' new 15-year lease with the city. At the press conference, Council President Gladys Santiago said, "I'm not projecting any problems with City Council."

That statement would seem to imply that council members had already been given a draft of the lease for review. Mayor Bob Duffy and city attorney Tom Richards also spoke as if the council was prepared to rubber stamp the lease, implying that the councilors had already seen the proposed lease.

But they HADN'T seen the lease. As of earlier this afternoon, the councilors STILL hadn't been given a copy of the lease for perusal, despite Duffy's and Richards' implications to the contrary.

Council Vice President Bill Pritchard told me a couple hours ago that the lease had yet to be submitted to the council and that he, for one, hasn't read it yet.

So what is Duffy waiting for? If he's so confident the council would OK the lease, why hasn't he already given it to the them? And why did everyone at last week's press conference imply that the council already had the lease, when it clearly hadn't?

Today, Pritchard told me that Richards and others in the Duffy administration had BRIEFED council members about the lease's details. Pritchard said that, "based on conversations I've had with the administration," he supports the lease — even though he hadn't actually SEEN it yet.

"They described the lease for us, and everything I've heard seems reasonable," Pritchard said.

He also said that he backs Clark's takeover of the Rhinos.

"I'm inclined to support it, yes," he said.

I don't blame Pritchard at all given his situation. If the administration hasn't actually produced the lease yet, it's certainly reasonable for council members to tentatively support it if Richards et al had described it to them. That's assuming, of course, that Pritchard and the rest of the council will go over the lease with a fine-toothed comb once Duffy does produce it, and then cast their votes accordingly.

What I have a problem with is that Duffy still hasn't produce the lease for the council — that body that's designed to provide checks and balances to the mayoral administration. Until they DO submit it to council, Duffy and Richards shouldn't be bragging as if the council will definitely approve the lease.

The fact that they haven't yet produced the lease is unsettling, because it reveals an administration that might be getting too big for its britches. It's also unsettling that Santiago, the council president, would agree to publicly parrot Duffy's bravado before all of the councilors had actually read the lease.

And if the Duffy administration has been withholding the lease from elected officials like City Council members, then you can almost bet that the administration wouldn't let the public see it at this point.

Of course, by the time many of you read this, the administration might have finally given the lease to the council. But even so, the damage has already been done.

Maybe some in the public have actually see the lease itself. If anyone has, I invite them to share the intimate details of the document. And if that is the case — that privileged (and politically connected) members of the public have seen the lease before the council has, that reflects an unbelievable arrogance on the part of Duffy to just assume he can bulldoze the lease through the council.