Surprise, AZ News blog

Excerpts from

Rhonda Bodfield Arizona Daily Star Sunday, February 21, 2010 12:00 am

With the city rocked by perceptions that it’s badly run and unresponsive, there’s a move under way to ask Tucsonans if they want a strong-mayor form of government.

And it’s attracting surprising allies, including the head of the county Democratic Party and a local Tea Party organizer.

Under that system, the mayor would operate in much the same way a governor does. Since you wouldn’t expect Barack Obama to implement a vision with George W. Bush appointees, the mayor would appoint department directors and propose a city budget.

The mayor would also have some form of veto authority. Currently, while the mayor ostensibly has a bully pulpit, he’s just one vote of seven. And he has no say at all in firing the city manager, who acts as the city’s chief executive.

While some say the problem is with the current personalities, others believe it’s the structure itself that prevents the incumbents from being fully effective.

It’s “just anti-democratic” that voters have no say in the person who actually runs day-to-day operations.

Tea Party organizer Trent Humphries contends the existing system is “why this city is so dysfunctional.”

Don’t look for guidance from Tucson mayors.

Tom Volgy, a former Democratic mayor who teaches political science at the University of Arizona, said he’s all for it. “It’s the equivalent of voting for president and then separately for Congress. We would never allow Congress to pick our president, but we allow a council to pick the most powerful person in the city.”

He said the big worry he’s heard is that voters will elect a mayor without the qualifications to run the city. “But that doesn’t make much sense if you’ll then trust the public to elect a City Council who then appoint a city manager