#atxcouncil: Kitchen goes "Full Capriglione;" stabs NIMBY base in the back....

"And [Judas] consented, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them, when the people were away."
Luke 22:6

We're not sure how we feel about last Thursday's drama surrounding the CodeNEXT petition.  We'd want to speak with some of our lawyer friends before weighing in.  And, honestly, we don't care enough about CodeNEXT at this point to ask.

But there's a separate political aspect that's fascinating: Ann Kitchen's utter, total, and complete betrayal of her NIMBY political base; the comparison to Giovanni Capriglione writes itself.....

IndyAustin has more:

But who really took the cake was Councilmember Ann Kitchen. Kitchen, if you remember, led the battle to counter 10-1 with another plan that eliminated the first independent citizens redistricting commission in Texas. She lost that one. In this case, Kitchen boldly claimed that the CodeNEXT petition is “illegal,” so much as accusing her four colleagues that they were voting for an illegal petition.

Keep in mind, this is the same Ann Kitchen who appointed the then-President of the Austin Neighborhoods Council to the Zoning and Platting commission.

It's hard to understand what Kitchen is thinking.  We've heard speculation that she's reached some sort of deal with Adler, but that's just speculation.  Furthermore, it's difficult to see what Adler can give her that's worth permanently alienating her biggest supporters. That's even truer in an election year.

Bottom Line: This was a stupid unforced error, but we'll take it....