Leonard Watkins, 54, became the newest Metro Council member last week, replacing Denise Bentley, who resigned as District 1’s representative and took a job last month in Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration. The vote was unanimous, with Watkins besting 18 contenders. “I had two leading choices and Leonard was one of them,” said Tom Owen, D-8th District.

Watkins recently retired as a vice president at PNC Bank. He was based in Louisville but worked in other cities four days a week, he said, and hasn’t spent much time at home in the past few years. He wasn’t familiar with some of the issues the council is dealing with, but he did exhibit familiarity with standard PR platitudes expected of elected officials. To wit, he told us he was “hopeful” and “optimistic” about winning; that the competition were all “good candidates”; and that he couldn’t really comment on much because “it’s too new for me to know what issues they’re looking at and what’s coming up.”

Watkins did say he’ll probably stick with his party on most votes (after careful “thought”), which is likely what the Democrats sought; Bentley, a Democrat, had a history of siding with Republicans and was no longer a member of the council’s Democratic caucus when she resigned. Bentley supported dentist Judy Green, also a Democrat, as her replacement, but Green was done in by two words, according to Republican Kelly Downard: “Tax issues.”

Actually, Green had tax issues and occupational license fees issues — specifically, not paying them on time.

Owen said money problems can lead to conflicts of interest and temptation for city representatives charged with awarding contracts and making decisions involving developers with deep pockets. Whether or not Downard agrees with that analysis, he does agree that Watkins, whom he knows from his banking days, is the best man for the job. “[Green] was acceptable to me, but Leonard was a better choice,” Downard said.