By Ronnie West - Here's how you can tell Sacramento political insiders are getting desperate to stop the city's charter reform movement: They are already lying about reform, nine months before the election. The beauty of charter reform is its simplicity. The voting public will have total control. Come June 2010, Sacramento voters will decide whether to modernize their city charter and create a strong mayor system, or keep business as usual. That's the whole debate.
You know opponents of reform are worried because they are trying to complicate that simple statement, scare voters with falsehoods, even make stuff up. It's desperation time and the campaign hasn't even started.
The first lie involves the concept of strong mayor. Opponents want to make charter reform and strong mayor government sound exotic, even dirty. Reality is that 31 of the 50 biggest cities in the U.S. have strong mayors. It's nothing exotic.
Strong mayors exist in all corners of America, from Honolulu to Miami, plus Denver, San Diego, Seattle, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Louisville, Atlanta and Oakland (to name a few). Our biggest cities -- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia -- have long enjoyed strong mayors.
Charter reform opponents are trying to scare city employees and their families by saying a strong mayor can fire everybody. Not true. Most city employees are covered by civil service rules and collective bargaining contracts. When it comes to firing people, the answer is simple: no way.
Certain senior managers can be fired under charter reform. They are the same senior staff who can be fired today by the City Manager. The difference with reform is that the Mayor will have to answer to voters. A non-elected City Manager operates in near silence and secrecy.
More scare tactics and lies involve veto power. The right of the Mayor to veto City Council legislation is crucial to bringing checks and balances to Sacramento City Hall. Under reform, the Council can override vetoes and approve many mayoral decisions, including the budget. Reform foes suggest veto power weakens checks and balances. The opposite is true.
Opponents claim reform is rushed. Really? It's been more than 70 years in the making. The strong mayor system starts one month after the June election -- one year from the strong mayor's first budget. If that's rushing things, our grandchildren will be lucky to live long enough to see real reform.
Finally, reform opponents claim strong mayor revisions blur the lines of authority. The lines could hardly be more blurred than today, when 13 people have senior authority at City Hall, including four charter officers and nine council members. Nobody knows who's in charge -- because nobody is. That's the problem.
With strong mayor reform, the citizens of Sacramento will know know the buck stops at the Mayor's desk. What a concept.
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