Williams: Picking top aide is problem for Jones

With his trial balloon for a top city post taking some hits and losing altitude, where does Mayor Dwight C. Jones go from here?

His officially unacknowledged candidate for chief administrative officer, Byron C. Marshall, leads an agency whose performance is being audited. That review of the Austin Revitalization Authority could delay Jones' timetable for picking a CAO.

City Councilman Bruce W. Tyler says it would be irresponsible to approve Marshall's hiring until the audit's findings are released.

One might feel more sanguine about giving Marshall the benefit of the doubt if his past had fewer potholes.

Unauthorized moonlighting as a consultant in Austin, Texas, led to his resignation as chief operating officer in Atlanta in 1997. The Atlanta Business Chronicle said at the time that Marshall had not earned a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University as he had claimed when he applied for the Atlanta job.

The revelations about Marshall, available to anyone with Google access, call into question the thoroughness of his vetting.

"I would think that naturally, given what's appeared in the paper, members of the council would have questions," said Council President Kathy C. Graziano.

Former Richmond CAO Sheila Hill-Christian, hired as a consultant to assist in the vetting process, said it's working as it should.

"Vetting a candidate is not just about the interview and selection process. The fact that issues have been raised, the public has weighed in, council is aware, and you and others are writing articles is all a part of the vetting process," she said.

But clearly, something gave Jones pause. Council members had believed he would formally submit Marshall for appointment last night. That didn't happen.

Jones is not likely to risk alienating the council, which has removed its headgear and gloves after sparring with then-mayor L. Douglas Wilder, over a shaky CAO pick.

After all, this post has rendered its occupants as roadkill under the new, elected-mayor form of government. Its occupants were held hostage to the temperamental Wilder's whims.

Well-regarded William Harrell fled to become city manager in his hometown of Chesapeake.

Hill-Christian was hired as Harrell's successor. Ignored and invisible, she resigned eight months later.

Harry Black, the city's polarizing finance director, functioned as a CAO under Wilder without the council's approval.

In this context, Jones wants a slam dunk. Marshall, at first glance, looks like a potential turnover.

"Everybody wants to move forward with the CAO," Graziano said. "But clearly we would want to move forward with a candidate who's acceptable to everybody, regardless of the time limit."

"It's important to remember, if you read the charter, that the major function of the mayor is to appoint a CAO," she said. "He needs to have a CAO that he has a lot of confidence in and that he's comfortable with."

Based on the decision not to introduce Marshall, it would seem that the mayor's confidence has been shaken. Jones might be wise to have more balloons on hand.

Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or .