You should know the drill by now: City council tonight.

THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CIVIL CITY OF NEW ALBANY, INDIANA, WILL HOLD A REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING IN THE THIRD FLOOR ASSEMBLY ROOM OF THE CITY/COUNTY BUILDING ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2007 AT 7:30 P.M.

I’m looking forward to this agenda item:

Jerry Ulrich & Larry Kochert – report on redistricting lawsuit.

While we’re on the topic of the council’s newfound commitment to redistrict (at the point of an edict), here’s a classic Steve Price moment, as described with notable restraint by the Courier-Journal’s Dick Kaukas:

Steve Price, District 3 councilman, said whatever redistricting plan is adopted could make it more challenging for some incumbents to win re-election.

For instance, Price said, one proposal being considered would take away a precinct now in District 3 and replace it with another that is now in an adjacent district.

"That could make it a little harder," Price said, because voters in the precinct new to his district won't be as familiar with him and his record.

But Price acknowledged he will have four years to make himself known.

That’s certainly a hopeful sign, since Price is so well known in the presently configured 3rd council district that more than 60% of registered Democrats regularly vote against him, and this fact brings us to Price’s main opponent in the forthcoming fall election, Republican Brenda Scharlow, and her simple yet functional platform, which is now posted at the GOP web site:

1. Enforce Ordinances
2. Clean Up Our Neighborhoods
3. Improve City Parks
4. 2-way VS 1-way Street Evaluations
5. Promote Business in the Downtown

It isn’t exactly weighty, but it touches the needed bases, and so I’m delighted to endorse a Republican candidate for perhaps the first time in my life.

Vote Brenda Scharlow in November.

Yes, there is a third candidate in the 3rd district race. We’ve been monitoring Libertarian Thomas Keister’s web site for signs that he knows anything at all about the current state of affairs in New Albany, and that he intends to take the race seriously.

As yet, no such evidence has emerged that Keister is willing or able to apply his Libertarian principles to the 3rd district’s current dilemma. Until Keister, who has all the appearances of a budding perennial candidate (one Verle Huffman is enough for this reporter's lifetime), manages to be credible, there is no reason to risk yet another 3-way vote split that will have the inevitable result of returning the underachieving Price to office.

Who’s going to the meeting tonight?

I’ll be the one wearing the beanie.