A conspiracy theory circulating at city hall earlier today put Jean Godden in the council president’s seat as early as January 9. Here’s how it would have worked:

The council is supposed to vote in a new council president on January 9. With Jim Compton’s resignation effective January 6, the council is split 4-4 between Jean Godden and previous presumptive president Richard Conlin: A stalemate. But one Conlin supporter, Tom Rasmussen, will be on vacation for the first two meetings of 2006, leaving a 4-3 majority in favor of Godden. Among those four are outgoing council president Jan Drago, who some speculated would push for a vote on the 9th, giving Godden, whom Drago strongly supports, the presidency.

The problem with that theory, it turns out, is that electing a council president requires a majority vote of the entire council - not just those present. That puts the council back in a 4-4 stalemate. Depending on how important the council presidency turns out to be, it could play a role in who gets picked to fill Conlin supporter Compton’s position. Or Compton could decide to stay on a little longer, keeping the council’s current 5-4 pro-Conlin split intact until all nine members of the current council are able to vote.