Annapolis Capital Punishment

In his March 8 newspaper column mainly about the ongoing "Marketgate" disaster, Bob Burdon, executive director of our local chamber of commerce wrote:

"Anyone who understands the charter of our city's government knows that we have a very weak executive form of government, with most authority vested in the City Council. Former Mayor Dean Johnson's comment in an article on the Market House last week about mayoral power when dealing with city issues is somewhat overstated."

I thought I understood a few things about the city's charter, yet there is disagreement over whether or not our mayor (as in office not person) is to be labeled "weak" or "strong". That is of course subject to interpretation. What some believe constitutes a "strong" mayor is veto power and perhaps even a line-item veto, but if power is invested politically as well as financially, we have always had a strong mayor system. Our mayor may not have a veto, but is not only the chief executive but also the chairperson of the board, one of the strongest arguments for having a city manager in order to separate the powers. Aldermen are restricted by law from interfering in operations of the government.

The mayor has the power of being elected city-wide. Aldermen come into office often with a thousand votes...or fewer (sigh!). The mayor proposes the budget AND has a vote in approving it. The mayor sets the agenda and tone (and how we know...) for council meetings. The mayor has a staff and enormous sway within the budget and financial operations--after all, the mayor appoints the finance director and every other director. The mayor and that finance director prepare the budget. The mayor signs contracts and hires people on contract (oh how we know). The mayor even has a full-time spokesperson, a lawyer, a city administrator and other aides. The mayor appoints members to boards and commissions. It takes people to get things done--or to not get them done. The mayor has that power over people because of politics and money.

And the council? They have a vote. Period. Not to belittle that vote, but each alderman must either side with the mayor or against the mayor with every vote. A fellow alderman may "retaliate" against an alderman with another vote, but a mayor can do a whole lot more, especially when budget time comes around.

I have known all of the mayors since the 1980's and many of the alderman, and while some mayors will say the council has too much authority, and some, if not most aldermen will say the mayor has too much authority, no local observer of government I have spoken with believes that the council really controls city government. A few alderman in the last 25 years have lamented to me what little power they really have. Simply look at the number of people the mayor can hire and fire and how much control that represents. Then add up all those salaries and you can see that the mayor controls a huge portion of the budget and therefore power, right there.

Yet if some believe that the council holds the power, just remember that the mayor also has eleven percent of those votes, yet only needs to use his or her enormous pull as council chair to grab four more to win every vote. The mayor only needs to know how to count to one plus four. The mayor can offer much in return for a vote, or vice verse. What can an alderman offer --except a vote?

So to Mr. Burdon who wrote, "Anyone who understands the charter of our city's government knows that we have a very weak executive form of government, with most authority vested in the City Council", I have this to say: Anyone who understands politics and how things really work in Annapolis knows that we have a very strong executive form of government, with most authority vested in the mayor.

See his column at: Burdon . (And Bob--how come you never returned my call when asking for comment about that scathing rebuke of a letter I received about you???)

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