I was one of the commentators on Shaw TV’s municipal-election coverage on November 15. And after it became clear that Vision Vancouver would win a landslide victory, I suggested that city manager Judy Rogers might want to dust off her resume.

I guessed at the time that Rogers would be a casualty of the election because she upset the labour movement by her handling of the civic workers and library staff strike in 2007.

At one point during the strike, Rogers and the city’s then-human resources boss, Mike Zora, refused to meet the CUPE negotiating committee at the Wall Centre hotel.

Today, Mayor Gregor Robertson announced that Dr. Penny Ballem has replaced Rogers as the city manager.

After I said on election night that Rogers’s future might be in doubt, Vision Vancouver councillor-elect Raymond Louie tried to set the record straight.

He told Georgia Straight reporter Matthew Burrows that my comments were misplaced. “I don’t think Judy should fear for her job,” Louie said in what must rank, in retrospect, as one of the most laughable quotes of the year in civic politics.

I subsequently posted an item on this blog suggesting that Rogers indeed was a big loser in the recent Vancouver civic election. “If the B.C. Federation or CUPE Local 15 wants Rogers out for the way she behaved during the strike, then it really doesn’t matter much what Louie thinks,” I wrote.

Rogers didn't help her case by her handling of Estelle Lo's departure from Vancouver city hall or the Olympic Village loan.

In the end, it didn’t matter what Louie thought. He should realize that there are bigger agendas at play, like the labour movement's desire to defeat Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals in the next provincial election.

Rogers wasn't going to help accomplish that goal, whereas Ballem will, thanks to her expertise in health care, postsecondary education, and other areas of provincial jurisdiction.