City Hall Puppet Masters
In case there was any doubt about who is actually in charge down at City Hall, this should clear things up nicely. Hint: it ain’t the potted plants sitting behind the council dais.
No, that would be city staff chieftains Curt “We’ll get back to you on that, councilman” Walton and Mac “Give me my pay hike and shut up” McCarley.
The latest example, from TCO:
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx said Tuesday he’s angry that City Attorney Mac McCarley told him he couldn’t vote this week on compensation for McCarley and City Manager Curt Walton, when former mayor Pat McCrory was allowed to vote on the same issues in the past.
“Rules can’t be interpreted depending on who is mayor,” Foxx said.
In the days before Monday night’s City Council vote on pay increases for Walton and McCarley, Foxx – a possible swing vote – said publicly he was against giving the two officials more money.
As the mayor and council members discussed the issue in closed session Monday afternoon, Foxx said McCarley told him he couldn’t vote on the matter because it overstepped the mayor’s official responsibilities.
Foxx told the Observer that McCarley, whose pay was being discussed, said the city attorney’s office had recently re-read the city’s charter, and believed that the mayor couldn’t cast a vote with the council.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who has ever watched a city council meeting, where staffers routinely spin and cajole councilmembers into seeing things their way, to get their way, whether it’s public utilities honchos tap dancing their way around problems with the system, transit bosses explaining away massive cost overruns, or a police chief covering his own tracks.
What city staff wants, city staff gets. And the city council? they have nobody but themselves to blame.
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