In general, I am in favour of giving new hires a chance to do their job before declaring that they can’t.
That should be a simple enough principle to accept, right? Yet it’s sometimes a struggle, especially in the world of politics, where reputations, past roles and partisanship often have new arrivals shown derision even before they’ve been shown their new office.
Yes, in my years covering political leaders and senior staff, I’ve seen plenty of instances in which stereotypes have proven disappointingly accurate. But just as often, and perhaps moreso, people have used the opportunity to rise above the sum of their critics.
That’s the perspective I hope Edmontonians keep in mind when judging Mayor Andrew Knack’s eyebrow-raising hire of former NDP MP Blake Desjarlais as his chief of staff.
To begin to dissect this a little, let me first say that I’m glad Knack finally has a chief of staff. The fact that it took six months for the mayor to appoint someone to the role — beyond an interim hire — is both unusual and probably unwise, even for someone as experienced as Knack who can kind of act as his own chief of staff.
That said, there is no guarantee the new appointment will make Knack’s life easier, at least from the perspective that Desjarlais is arriving with some bright orange baggage that won’t be quickly discarded.
I confess I do not know Desjarlais well and I did not closely follow his exploits in Ottawa. A few who know him better tell me that he was a likeable, hard-working and competent MP, but one who was also quite partisan (though Desjarlais himself seems to disagree with that characterization). And while hard partisanship is true of many, many MPs and MLAs these days — indeed, it seems to be the main job description — it’s also something that can be poisonous in a city hall office.
As such, for a mayor who has spoken aggressively against partisanship in municipal government but has also faced some criticism for perhaps relying on NDP circles a little too much to get elected, hiring a former NDP MP to be his right hand is not exactly ideal optics.
In fact, it’s hard to see how this move is going to be helpful, at least initially, to any ambitions Knack has at building a broader base of allies, or making inroads with the UCP government leaders or even the federal Liberals.
Experience an asset
At the same time, there are some advantages to having Desjarlais’ political experience in the mayor’s office. While Knack and his chief of staff can’t be seen to be partisan, mayors do need to have at least an understanding of partisan dynamics in the province and country. It’s important to know the game even if you don’t play it.
(And as a city hall insider noted, the UCP government doesn’t particularly like Edmonton’s council anyway, so is this really making things worse?)
Even more valuable, Desjarlais has considerable administrative/executive experience from five years serving as the director of public affairs and national operations for the Metis Settlements General Council. That role reportedly involved a lot of team-building, negotiation and communication work, which is right in the wheelhouse for a chief of staff post.
Desjarlais was also recently the runner-up in an election to serve as president of that same organization.
As such, while his appointment to the mayor’s office may not do wonders for relations with the premier’s office, it is likely to help Knack’s outreach with the city Indigenous partners and others, including the 2SLGBTQIA+ community (Desjarlais identifies as two-spirit).
So let’s see how this goes before judging it.