Ethan Strimling: peacemaker or cause of war?

Ethan Strimling waves to supporters after announcing his candidacy for Portland mayor on Aug. 18. Troy R. Bennett | BDN

Ethan Strimling waves to supporters after announcing his candidacy for Portland mayor on Aug. 18. Troy R. Bennett | BDN

You know something’s really rotten in Portland when City Councilor Nick Mavodones gets mad. And there he was last week, standing behind a podium in front of City Hall, endorsing Ethan Strimling for mayor and criticizing incumbent Mayor Mike Brennan for his “failed leadership.”

“The frustration I’ve felt has been profound,” Mavodones said, or rather, read from his prepared statement, displaying his characteristic emotional and rhetorical restraint.

The performance brought to mind Jon Lovitz’s hilarious impersonation of Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis during a mock debate on “Saturday Night Live” in 1988. “That kind of aspersion to my character, quite frankly, makes me — well, there’s no other word for it — enraged,” Lovitz said, revealing no hint of anger. “Maybe I shouldn’t say that in the heat of the moment, but I can’t control myself. I apologize for flying off the handle. And I’m just sorry my kids had to see me like this.”

By day, the mild-mannered Mavodones is operations manager at Casco Bay Lines, which runs ferry service to and from the islands. He’s been in charge there for at least two decades, and has miraculously managed not to murder anyone. Between the cantankerous captains and the entitled islanders and the hordes of harried visitors who descend like locusts on the ferry terminal every summer, only a person of Dalai Lama-like calm could continue in that position without blood on his hands.

In my experience as a reporter, I can tell you that trying to wrest a firm opinion, much less a compelling quote, from Mavodones is like trying to arm-wrestle Jell-O. He’s perpetually weighing all sides of every argument, generally waiting until it’s time to vote to reveal his position.

Mavodones’ fellow councilor (and fellow former mayor) Jill Duson is even more cryptic. Rather than dull reporters with indecision, she just won’t answer the phone. Yet there she was at the podium, too, openly calling for the head of the head of the council. It was a remarkable display of vertebrae from a genus of local pols renowned for their aversion to conflict.

And that was the overriding message of the press conference: Strimling, unlike Brennan, can forge consensus. “Our council is divided, our school board is divided, our community is divided,” Mavodones read.

“We need a leader who can bring people together,” Councilor Ed Suslovic wrote in a statement supporting The Strim.

In total, four of the eight city councilors and seven of nine school board members in Portland have hopped aboard the Ethan Express. But a little perspective here would be helpful. The four councilors’ unprecedented public bashing of Brennan is hardly evidence of Strimling’s peacemaking credentials. To the contrary, it amounts to a declaration of political war.

We must presume the four councilors who decided not to back Strimling were asked for their support, but refused to give it. It’s telling that the two councilors who are Strimling’s neighbors in the West End, Jon Hinck and Dave Marshall, are not in his camp. Only someone with Strimling’s audacity could call his ability to evenly divide the council proof of his ability to bring it together.

As for the school board, a little more divisiveness could only help. I can’t remember the last time that body engaged in a newsworthy debate over anything. With the exception of its laudable rejection of the superintendent’s plan to start a virtual school (a fight in which Brennan had their back), the board’s been a rubber stamp for the administration for years. The substance of their beef with the mayor — who, by design, has very little interaction with, and no oversight of, their members — remains a mystery.

It is mildly remarkable that the three Greens on the board (John Eder, Anna Trevorrow and Holly Seeliger) are backing Ethan, given that Tom MacMillan, chairman of the Portland Green Independent Committee, is running for mayor. But again, I wouldn’t call the public exposure of a deep rift in the local Green Party evidence of Ethan’s ability to foster political harmony.

Strimling’s biggest challenge will be getting voters to trust him. To many, he’s just too slick and calculating for comfort. After all, during his first bid for city office, in 1999, Strimling’s political allies on the council tried to weasel him into a seat by awarding him 35 disputed votes over a less telegenic incumbent, Jack Dawson, who had to threaten to take the case to Maine Superior Court before The Strim backed down.

And where was Ethan while the cabal he’d secretly assembled held their press conference last week? Mavodones said Strimling was too busy collecting nomination signatures to appear at the brief news conference.

If you believe that, I’ve got a city council seat to sell you.

Chris Busby

About Chris Busby

Chris Busby is editor and publisher of The Bollard, a monthly magazine about Portland. He writes a weekly column for the BDN.