The Louisville Metro Council unanimously chose 4th District Democrat David Tandy as its new president Thursday.Tandy was the Democratic Caucus’ nominee for the post. His opponent, 23rd District Republican James Peden, endorsed Tandy shortly before the council’s vote.Peden says he decided to withdraw from the race because of the economic challenges facing Louisville.“We sat down with councilman Tandy knowing that he was the Democratic nominee, had some discussions on how he felt about if we had this unanimous show of support for him," he says. "Is there a certain value to that? Is it better off for the city? We as Republicans felt it was important.”After being elected, Tandy thanked Peden for his support and said unity should not lead to conformity.“There are going to be legitimate differences of opinion and we need to express those," said Tandy. "We need to debate those. We need to let steel sharpen steel and out of that discussion come up with the best solutions for this community.”Tandy was favored to win the election as Democrats outnumber Republicans on the council 16 to 10. He replaces outgoing Democratic President Jim King.In other business, the council postponed action on proposed revisions to its ethics code. The matter will be considered next month.
