The Other Mayor Daly

And I don't mean Mayor Daly's son, Mayor Daly. I mean the other other Mayor Daly. Mayor-for-a-day Mayor Daly. Wait a sec, mayor for a day??? Believe it or not, yes.

[Mayor Willie] Brown [of San Francisco] would call Daly, who was elected [as a city supervisor] at age 28, a brat and a child unfit for office, not to mention polite society. But with two months left before he steps down from office, the 66-year-old Brown, in what he calls a gesture of good will, asked Daly whether he would like to be mayor for a day while Brown was on a trip to the Far East. Big mistake.

Daly didn't do too much damage, but I thought they only did this sort of thing in the movies. The big spat is over two appointments to a powerful city board, but it was enough to make Brown turn around on his "trade mission" to Tibet and come back to San Fran to try and sort things out.

I sincerely hope no mayor of Boston would ever be naive enough to pull a stunt like that.