No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.

Smith’s quip uses a vivid Christmas metaphor to describe political self-preservation. “Santa Claus” stands for popular, voter-pleasing public spending or benefits; “shoot[ing] Santa Claus” suggests cutting such programs or imposing austerity. The “empty stocking” implies local officials’ dependence on higher-level funds or patronage to meet public expectations—especially in tough economic times (“a hard Christmas”). The line captures Smith’s reputation as a sharp, urban political rhetorician: he frames fiscal restraint not as abstract prudence but as an electorally dangerous act that no rational officeholder would undertake when constituents are anxious and in need.