Columnist Jon Ralston: As many theories as council members …

Wednesday, June 7, 2000 | 9:30 a.m.

Jon Ralston, who publishes the Ralston Report, writes a column for the Sun on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or by e-mail at ralston@vegas.com

BY THE TIME you read this, the City Council probably will have acted.

Whether the Silly Seven have been able to find enough vertebrae between them to act in the public interest or whether they have flopped like jellyfish after being juiced by a lobbying prod is the most important question. But as the council meets today to decide what to do about a federal lobbying contract, now inexplicably held by two firms, consider the other questions that must be answered:

After the meeting two weeks ago, Mack said: "The communication between the city and our lobbyists hasn't been consistent. What we've seen in the past is a lot of overlapping and a lot of redundancy." But sources this week said Mack has vacillated between firing both of the incumbents and allowing the status quo to prevail.

It was unclear late Tuesday whether he would make a motion for a new, capital megafirm called Cassidy & Associates while allowing Alcalde & Fay to stay on, or whether Lynette Boggs McDonald, who has done more homework than anyone, would make a motion for only Cassidy & Associates?

Does anyone think it makes sense to have those two firms compete for four months to see who can get more money? Make no mistake: The original goal was for one firm, no more. "We have determined that communications, accountability and effectiveness could be improved by working with only one firm," city staffers wrote in the agenda backup.

Perhaps not. But the payoff will come later if Cassidy & Associates follows through on an offer to buy Herrera's PR firm. Herrera apparently told the council folks that winning the contract for Cassidy is of great personal importance to him. But it is because of how badly the company's performance was during the first go-round a fortnight ago that it needed to bring to bear some local juice of its own in the person of Herrera, who has done work for Lawrence Weekly's campaign.