Coody Chooses Santos as Vice Mayor

The Dan Coody tour as mayor of Fayetteville continued its controversial course when he cast the tie-breaking vote for Kevin Santos as vice mayor at the Jan. 2 city council meeting.

Coody’s memory must be a short one. But we’ll remind him that in June, Santos’ neighbor filed a complaint against the councilman for allegedly threatening the neighbor with a knife over a dispute involving their dogs. The Ward 4 representative was said to be extremely intoxicated when police officers interviewed him about the incident on the evening of June 3. The city prosecutor elected not to file charges, but did issue a warning letter to Santos.

Santos also filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy Sept. 20, 2000, with a debt of $136,246.

Bob Davis had been the appointed vice mayor by Coody before the general election in 2000.

“It goes to show you that it was strictly a political move,” Davis said. “He wanted to try and grab some of the conservative vote by naming me vice mayor. But he never kept me informed on anything throughout the year.”

Even Fayetteville’s pro-Coody Northwest Arkansas Times listed Santos as one of its “Naughty” selections for 2001. In the same article, the Times rated Coody as “Nice.”

Also, plans for a www.coodysucks.com Web site have apparently been scrapped after Coody voiced his displeasure over its “vulgar” name.