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EMIL
FRANZI |
When did supervisors become onlookers?June 20, 2007 |
I’ve made no secret of my
fondness for Pima County CAO Chuck Huckelberry and Tucson
City Manager Mike Hein. Unlike the gypsies constantly
parading through too may jurisdictions, they’re locals.
Chuck was born here and while Mike is from Wisconsin, he’s
been here since college. Both are competent, unpretentious
and responsive to this and other media. Bureaucrats don’t
get much better than this. My problem is not with them,
it’s with the slow mutation of the system that produced
them.
Americans once understood the concept of representative government. Simply put, it means we get to pick, at regular intervals, those who tell us what to do. Some erroneously think that’s still in force. How badly it’s eroded was exhibited in a recent Arizona Daily Star headline: “DEMS GET LION’S SHARE OF BOND FUNDS,” with the subhead “Huckelberry rules out further distributions to Pima GOP districts.” Am I the only one disturbed by this process? Note it didn’t say “Board of Supervisors changes bond policy.” There was no vote — this will be accomplished by the order of an unelected bureaucrat. While the two GOP supervisors may object, it’s plain the Democrat majority doesn’t and Huckelberry knows it. Almost 20 years ago, the then Board of Supes passed a questionable ordinance calling for “non-interference” by its own members. They surrendered their inherent duty to control county government by declaring it illegal for their own members to exercise it. The impetus came from one very bright but incredibly lazy GOP Board member who thought the job too much work and wanted more free time. I commented then and repeat now, this is the malfeasance/nonfeasance rule converting the Board of Supervisors into the Board of Onlookers. Not to worry, we were told, it’s the Board’s job to make policy. The loyal civil servants simply implement it. Really? See “Huckelberry” above. The City of Tucson is worse. While the Supes gave away their power to name department heads, council members may by Charter only pick the manager, clerk, attorney and police and fire chiefs. Others are left to the City Manager but it’s worse than that. Even he can’t fire most of them. Their status is somewhere between tribal chieftain and tenured prof. while those we elect more closely resemble student government. Now you know why so many county and city bureaucrats are surly and inept. The miracle is that so many others are decent and helpful. The above outlines the real reason we have run-away budgets and higher local taxes not just here but throughout the Republic. The folks we elect are simply unaware of who’s really in charge and are unable to cope with the institutional knowledge possessed by the bureaucracy they inherit. Unfortunately, while electing different folks can help in some places, the whole system needs structural reform. The following aren’t radical — they are simply reconstructing what we once had when we were a truly representative government. Fuller arguments for them will be presented next week: -Greatly increase the size of all legislative bodies. -Make more officials elected. -Abolish term limits, but make terms shorter. -Make all elections partisan. -Greatly reduce or eliminate any pay for elected public officials. -Junk the initiative and referendum in larger jurisdictions. Totally extreme, right? Not hardly — every one of the above was part of how we did business in the first century or more of the Republic. Stay tuned. |
BUT WATCH WHAT YOU SAY! |
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