The following year she fended off an attempt by the council leadership to remove her as chair of the powerful Zoning and Planning Committee. Most recently she found herself at odds with the mayor and council leadership when she spearheaded a highly publicized move to thwart the proposed Block E redevelopment. Still, she says, she has no regrets. That support could come in handy should McDonald make good on the buzz, both around city hall and in her Tenth Ward, that she's seriously entertaining a run for mayor against incumbent Sharon Sayles Belton in 2001. Strong leadership will come to the fore wherever it is.
Leadership creates power.
Only a decade ago , little in Lisa McDonald's biography suggested that she was destined for life as a power broker. After graduating from a Catholic girls' school, McDonald took journalism and art-history courses at the local community college, then lit out for the eastern edge of North Dakota before her 20th birthday. Local reporters know her as perhaps the council's most media-savvy member, a regular source of punchy quotes critiquing the city's current leadership. McDonald also has strong opinions about how she wants to be seen in the media. Sitting in her council office, whose dominant feature is a peach Italjet Velocifero scooter, she suggests that a City Pages profile might be best illustrated with an image of her on a motorcycle.