They're nothing but a bunch of overpaid, arrogant jerks who should have been fired long ago for their managerial incompetence, while he's a just another crude loudmouth who has no idea what he's talking about.

Based on their public comments these past few years, that pretty much sums up, in the politest language possible, how Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto feels about senior managers at Kansai Electric Power Co., and how they view him. But with Hashimoto announcing he will not seek re-election when his term ends later this year, the cobra-mongoose relationship between the mayor and Kepco officials will come to an end.

That's very good news for Kepco's pro-nuclear managers, who must have popped the champagne corks when the Osaka merger plan was voted down on May 17 and its champion, Hashimoto, declared he was done with politics.