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Item: Fresno Mayor Alan Autry's latest attempt to create the position of independent police auditor goes down in flames when the City Council fails to muster a quorum for Wednesday's special meeting.

Analysis: Autry's last-ditch effort to let voters decide up or down on the independent police auditor had no chance of succeeding. Autry is a lame-duck mayor with little or no leverage over council members, some of whom are gleefully paying him back for past slights.

Autry's failure to get the independent police auditor, despite nearly eight years of trying, speaks to his inability to marshal the power of the strong-mayor form of government. You'd think that somewhere along the line, he would've traded enough favors to sway council members and win the showdown with the Fresno Police Officers Association, which opposes additional oversight of the department.

Autry said that the council's failure to muster a quorum to vote on putting the issue on the November ballot was "unconscionable" and that Wednesday was "one of the saddest days in the history of our city."

We've come to expect such hyperbole from the mayor, who during his second term has shown little interest in building the teamwork at City Hall needed to get things done.

In the media spotlight: Oliver Stone's latest movie is "W" -- a controversial look at the life of President George W. Bush.

You can see the movie trailer here and read excerpts from an early draft of the script here.

Quote of the Day: "Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote." -- George Jean Nathan (1882-1958), founder and editor of "The American Spectator."