We have a mayor who has said many times publicly that he’s owed more than he earns.
In other words, his salary is not enough of a reward for him to perform as the mayor.
His salary must somehow be augmented.
He proved this last year in a very public way when he harangued the city council into giving him a de facto raise of $12,000 for a car allowance he has not used to either purchase or to lease a car for all the driving around the city he told the council he is forced to do at his own cost.
He needs more than what is coming to him from the voters who elected him and from the city treasury that pays his salary, is what this implies.
With a mayor who believes his value to the people can be measured in terms of many dollars he does not receive from his salary, there is always the tendency to look for ways to earn more.
Another implication to this way of thinking is given more shape and form by an old friend who used to say as if joking: “The W-2 doesn’t tell the full story about the mayor’s income.”
The mayor’s very close relationship with developers, wreckers, builders, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, street pavers, trash removers should be monitored closely.
The fact he has been accused in a Federal lawsuit of accepting a bribe on the sale of the casino land, an accusation he denies, is reason enough for the new council to keep its eyes wide open whenever he is dealing on the city’s behalf.
What city employees have been inclined to donate to him to show loyalty and allegiance to him needs also to be closely monitored.
There are some husband and wife city employee teams who gave the mayor $1,000 contributions the last time around.
He is said to have raised $180,000 at his recent money drive. Another money drive is coming up in February – a money drive that will require city employees to again show their allegiance and loyalty or what?
We don’t need to go into that aspect of not giving to this mayor and what that can imply.
The new council must carefully examine every one of the mayor’s spending measures to protect the taxpayers from the mayor’s tendency toward excess and the possibility of wrongdoing.
The good economic times won’t last forever.
Nothing lasts forever.
The council must never let down its guard or be bullied into doing the mayor’s monkey business.