SB Now

Mayor Morris strode into The Sun's on Friday.

But he was a little different. A little less bounce in his step.

But that didn't mean he wasn't still determined.

As a reporter who has had a close eye on Pat Morris for the better part of two years, I will admit I had grown a bit worried about the man over the past 10 days.

I know Mayor Morris. I've talked to him for many hours, and listened to him talk publicly for many more. This is a man of almost superhuman energies and passions at age 70. And the idealism is there to match. This is an optimistic person.

Not optimistic in the way that former Governor and President Ronald Reagan was. Reagan was cheery, a bit detached. His quips always evinced a basic belief that things would get better because people (well, maybe not protesting college students, drug users, hippies or communists, who were basically subhuman to the Gipper) were good.

Morris is a different sort of optimistic. He believes in people, and certainly believes in wider groups of people than Reagan did. But he also believes in government and its ability to appeal to a our better angels.

And he believes in himself and his vision.

I wondered if that was shaken by this tragic unraveling at Operation Phoenix.

The answer is, Morris is clearly shaken, which is probably a good thing (better than cool detachment, I'd guess). But what I saw Friday was a man who, though looking more tired and weathered than I'd seen him before, was still ready to work right up to the hilt.

And boy was he determined.

After starting the meeting slowly with a rote recitation of Operation Phoenix's merits and past accomplishment (rote only because we journalists know the story so well), we started challenging Morris and he started taking on questions head on.

Morris, often raising his voice to demonstrate urgency and even exasperation, was adamant about Baude's demotion within the new Operation Phoenix structure.

"He is not here anywhere," Morris said when asked about Baude's role in the new Operation Phoenix organizational structure, later back-tracking to allow that as Code Enforcement Director, Baude will remain leader of a key Phoenix collaborator.

Morris waved his hands and jabbed at the air. A lot.

Morris also implied that he settled on Baude as a second option.

"I couldn't get Kent to join me initially when I became mayor," Morris said.

Although coherent and prepared to deliver his action plan, Morris looked drawn and tired, and alternated his rising voice with occasional mea culpas, including acknowledgements that he could have acted more forcefully to assuage concerns amidst the crisis.

"Do you think I slept much last night," Morris said, when asked how he was taking the news. "Not at all."

As for discipline of top officials, Morris said little will change other than Paxton replacing Baude atop Phoenix.

"The leadership will stay in place as the investigation runs its course," Morris said.

Morris at times spoke wistfully about the past and his intentions, remarking repeatedly how he left a long and distinguished career as a jurist to relieve his city from the throes of crime and economic stagnation. He noted his work in the passage of Measure Z, a tax he said few had confidence that voters would pass, then noted bitterly that "the police union and members of the council" gobbled up the resources, leaving him "no water in the well" for his programs.

He added that Phoenix was vital in the reform, a way for him to root out crime with something different than a "simple suppression model."

"I ran essentially to try to deliver a new model," Morris said. "That (suppression) is a dead model and expensive as hell."

Morris and his son and Chief of Staff Jim Morris repeatedly said the mayor served as "the convener," bringing various parties and government groups together in partnerships.

Kent Paxton, Morris' longtime partner at the county and new Phoenix director, defended Phoenix's activities, including the block parties that have been met with derision by some critics.

"They are about building neighborhood cohesion," he said.

Morris and Jim Morris acknowledged that Baude's role as Phoenix and Code Enforcement director may have played a role in confusion over who led Mike Miller.

"It created a dual responsibility role," Jim Morris said.

Jim Morris said the new organizational plan was about a clear structure.

"Some of this is clarity, because that, to be quite honest, was part of the problem," Jim Morris said.

Mayor Morris said the council's funding decisions forced him to expand Phoenix into the east and west districts "on the cheap."

Morris called the molestation charges "a tragedy." He said "major cancers" have been discovered in the Parks and Recreation Department, which he said was weakened by years of disinvestment.

"This parks department has been flatlined for two decades," Pat Morris said.

Morris said there was nothing the city could have done to prevent Miller from working with children. He said Miller made it through a background check three times.

"This guy was clean as a whistle," Morris said.

Morris said it was wrong to expect him to move swiftly to punish managers who were charged with Miller's supervision.

"I can't go out and start hanging people," he said.

"There was some level of confusion given that Glenn Baude was wearing two hats," Pat Morris said.