That's a charitable read. As this sub's Designated Smiley Voter, I'm shaking my head at the DPW choice and very disappointed in it. I cannot for the life of me understand it for any reason other than a political one, whether it's a friend of his from the Raimondo days or a placeholder for someone else. And so if it is political, then that's an ominous beginning.

DPW is the department which arguably has the most influence on Smiley's primary campaign promise: the best run city in America. And so he appoints a lawyer who ran the prison system. I mean what? Even his press release didn't try to sell her to the residents as anyone other than someone who oversaw a large organization, suggesting that this department head will be completely divorced from what's going on at ground level and will exist to crunch numbers.

I believe you need department heads with subject matter expertise. I don't even think this should be a controversial statement, yet here we are with a person with zero SME managing one of the city's most public facing and important departments. Yes, you don't want someone without management experience or talent in the role, but that person should absolutely have been involved in the department's business. Not respecting SME is how you wind up with clueless managers who make unreasonable or even impossible demands as well as major blunders.