[OldNorth] Power Play to prevent Sue Greenwald from becoming mayor

[Old East Davis]

Old East Neighbors & Friends--

Related in that Sue is a "neighborhood ally", and these days we need 
all we can get.

This sort of maneuvering based on a personality is vile no matter 
which "side" it comes from.

===================================================

Subject: A "power play" to prevent Sue Greenwald from becoming Mayor
From: Ken Wagstaff <kjwag at dcn.davis.ca.us>
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2005 23:58:22 -0700

Dear friends,
The Davis City Council has launched an outrageous assault on 
democracy and the spirit of fair play in our City.  Angry that they 
did not win the position of Mayor in the last election, the Council 
majority has indicated that they intend to override that election's 
results by retroactively changing the rules.  We must not allow this 
to happen!

On May 24 the Council acted on a 4-1 vote to direct staff to prepare 
amendments to the City law that sets forth the process for selecting 
the Mayor. The current ordinance directs the Council to promote Mayor 
Pro Tem Sue Greenwald to Mayor after the March 2006 election. But the 
Council has directed that the ordinance be changed to select the 
Mayor by a straight vote of the Council.  Further, all four members 
pushing for this amendment also refused to second a motion by Sue 
Greenwald to delay the change until after her term as Mayor. 

This action is obviously intended, therefore, to prevent Sue 
Greenwald, the Davis Mayor Pro Tem, from becoming the next Mayor, as 
current ordinance directs.

Background:
The present mayoral succession ordinance has been in effect since 
1990. It provides that the person who received the highest number of 
votes in a Council election shall become Mayor Pro Tem.  It further 
directs the Council to promote the Mayor Pro tem to Mayor after the 
next election two years later. Sue Greenwald got the most votes in 
2004 and is Mayor Pro tem. According to the ordinance in effect when 
Sue was elected, she is to be the new Mayor after the 2006 election.

This 1990 ordinance was put into place because, in a "General Law" 
city like Davis, absent a legal directive otherwise, all five 
councilmembers decide among themselves who is to become Mayor.  The 
"vote by Council" mechanism, which was used prior to 1990, had 
resulted in nasty, divisive political wrangling.  Hence, the 1990 
City Council enacted an ordinance directing the Council to select the 
highest vote-getter as Mayor Pro Tem, and then to promote the Mayor 
Pro Tem to Mayor after the next election. 

The "highest vote-getter" ordinance has been honored by every Council 
since it was enacted.  When I was Mayor, Susie Boyd was a "minority" 
Mayor Pro Tem - exactly the same situation that Sue Greenwald is now 
in. Neither I nor anyone in the majority even dreamed of abusing our 
power by trying to change the ordinance under which Susie was 
elected.  In fact, I appointed her to all of the important 
interjurisdictional committees in order to prepare her for the role 
as Mayor (a courtesy that Sue Greenwald has not been afforded as 
Mayor Pro Tem). 

Two separate issues:
We are dealing with two separate issues here.  The first is the best 
method for selecting the Mayor.  The second is the fairness that lies 
at the heart of the democratic process, i.e. if a change is to be 
made, that change should not be used to override the results of an 
election held under a different set of rules.     

1. Method of Selection of Mayor
I strongly believe we must retain the current system of selecting our 
Mayor.  It gives the people some say in the selection of the City's 
major spokesperson.  It avoids the bitter, divisive politics that 
accompany Council selection of Mayor.  But most importantly, if less 
obviously, it allows progressives a chance to be elected Mayor.  With 
the cost of elections now surpassing $40,000, it is becoming 
increasingly hard to find citizens willing to run if they don't have 
financial backing from development and other big-money interests. 
Hence, it is becoming increasingly unlikely, absent a voter 
initiative that cuts down on campaign costs (like public financing of 
campaigns or district elections) that there will be three progressive 
votes on the council.   Under the current ordinance, citizens who 
want independent leaders can rally behind the few candidates that are 
running grass roots campaigns, and, even if they cannot get a 
majority on the Council, they at least have a chance to elect a 
grass-roots Mayor.

2. Changing the rules retroactively
Regardless of what you think about the best method of selecting our 
Mayor, the idea that the Council would consider overturning the 
results of the last election-- by retroactively changing the rules 
under which the election was held-- is an outrage.  This is a crude 
power play; it smacks of the kind of dirty politics that we have 
witnessed on the national level.   We cannot tolerate this method of 
governance in the City of Davis. 

Act now!
I urge all progressive people to immediately write a letter to the 
editor of the Davis Enterprise expressing our collective outrage at 
this action. 

Letters to the editor can be e-mailed to newsroom at davisenterprise.net    
It is important to include your address and phone number, and to 
write "letter to the editor" in the subject line. 

You can also talk with or e-mail  Ted Puntillo, Ruth Asmundson, Steve 
Souza, and Don Saylor. Their email addressess are listed below. Tell 
them what you think of this outrageous move.  

You could also send an email to all your friends. Tell them, whether 
they voted for Sue or not, that in the interest of fairness this 
change should not become effective until after Sue's term.

If we do our part, Sue Greenwald will be our next Mayor.  She won the 
election fair and square.  She ran a clean, positive campaign, was 
outspent by 50%, yet was highest vote-getter by a very large margin. 
This Council must not retroactively change the rules under which the 
Mayor is selected.  The citizens of Davis have always demanded fair 
play.  

Thank you,

Ken Wagstaff
Davis City Council Member, 1998-2002
Davis Mayor, 2000-2002

rasmundson at ci.davis.ca.us
tedpuntillo at prodigy.net
dnsaylor at dcn.davis.ca.us
ssouza at ci.davis.ca.us
suegreen at dcn.davis.ca.us
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