Once bitter political-battlefield foes, they share a suite now at City Hall.
Mayor Larry Smith, quietly ending his second term in office, does business as usual behind his desk in the southwest corner of the eight-room administrative suite. Tom Dolan, mayor-elect, takes calls from his spot just around the corner.The men are mutually cordial now, in marked contrast to a tense primary campaign this fall in which they sometimes said unkind things about one another. In a surprising loss, Smith was eliminated from contention before the general-election campaign even began.
"Taking the high road," as he says, the mayor invited Dolan to establish quarters in the second-floor administrative suite. Nowadays he has but one public complaint about his successor-to-be.
"He's still parking in the visitors' parking stalls," beefs Smith.
"At the moment, I'm still a visitor," retorts Dolan. "I'm waiting for him to move out of his parking stall."
Smith said good sportsmanship inspired him to offer Dolan an office, though he doubts any deep and abiding friendship will result.
"It's not like they're running into each other a lot," said executive secretary Shirley Holt. "But they've sat down and chatted."
"It's not personally exciting to have him here," said the mayor. "But you have to be mature about these transitions. I went through two where my predecessors decided to be uncooperative, and I decided early on we wouldn't do that."
"We're not going to be buddies, but we'll respect each other," said Dolan. "He's been very nice to allow me an office at City Hall and let me get up to speed."
The pair even went to breakfast once together at a nearby Frontier Pie restaurant. Just as the spoils of office went to the victor, so did the check.
"I paid for both of us," said Dolan.
The mayor-elect has been spending most business days at City Hall, interviewing department heads, deciding who will stay and who will go. Police Chief Gary J. Leonard is the only top-level administrator Dolan has said will not be part of his administration. Dolan also has met with numerous employee groups and sat in on Cabinet sessions.
Smith said contrary to some gossip, there were other places to put Dolan.
"We had other empty offices. If we wanted to, we could've stuck him out of the way in some corner."