By Doug Miller
In addition to considering the teams of Lawrence Benowitz, Gina Guma and incumbent Robert Tepper for the Democrats against Republican coalition candidates Mona Goodman, John McLaughlin and incumbent Tom Sofield Jr., voters will have the opportunity to vote on a proposal to turn the duties of the city manager over to an elected mayor.
The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The three council candidates with the most votes will win council seats. The top two will earn four-year terms, beginning Jan. 1, while the third-place finisher will receive a two-year term. If the mayoral referendum passes, Long Beach's first mayor since 1947 will be elected in November 2009.
The referendum was written by Tepper and put on the ballot by a 3-2 City Council vote this spring. Sofield and his Republican colleague Jim Hennessy voted against it.
There were several public meetings on the subject this week. On Sunday, the Long Beach Historical Society held a forum hosted by city historian Roberta Fiore and moderated by Patrick Gallagher, who wrote a series of essays on the topic in the Herald. On Monday night, the League of Women Voters of Long Beach hosted a debate at the Long Beach library. Former Democratic City Councilman Denis Kelly, who wrote an essay supporting the proposal in last week's Herald, took the pro-mayor side, while former Long Beach City Manager Harry Porr led a contingent supporting the continued employment of city managers.
And on Tuesday night, Democratic City Council President Leonard Remo and Hennessy co-hosted a forum of their own at the library. Neither Remo nor Hennessy hid his disdain for the proposal, making Remo the first Democrat to openly oppose it. While both insisted it was not a partisan issue, the divide has been clear.
Democratic Councilwoman Denise Tangney, Guma and Benowitz have remained mum about whether they supported making a change, and refused to answer the question when asked directly at the League of Women Voters' candidates forum and during interviews with the Herald. Tangney and Remo both said they voted for the referendum in order to put the matter before the public, while the Republicans have all, to varying degrees, come out against it.
Hennessy and Remo stressed the cost of the change. Almost any elected mayor would be a politician, they said, rather than a professional manager, and would need to hire a professional staff to assist him or her, they said. They predicted that the additional personnel could cost the city as much as $400,000 per year.
On the other hand, "Having a mayor would force someone in our government to be held accountable directly to the people," the duo conceded in their PowerPoint presentation. "The buck stops with the mayor."
But there were few in the crowd on Tuesday who saw it that way. Fiore, for one, called the idea an insult, claiming the council had punted in its duties to set policy, especially given how low voter turnout typically is in off-year elections. "Long Beach's apathy is a cancer!" Fiore shouted. "The council should not have allowed a referendum given this sickness in the community. I'm offended."
Notable in his absence from the forums was the council candidate who wrote the referendum. "Why is Tepper not here?" asked Steve Candon, a member of the city's Planning Board, who wrote an essay in opposition to Kelly's in last week's Herald. "If you propose the idea, then it's rude not to be at any of the discussions about it."
Tepper dismissed the criticism. "The people will decide the issue, not me," he said Wednesday morning. "That's why it's on the ballot as a referendum. I've been speaking about this for a year; [the Herald] has been writing about it for a month. I think it's great that people are talking about it. I'm not trying to persuade people pro or con. I want people to come out and vote."
Kelly's was one of the few voices Tuesday night in favor of switching to a mayoral form of government. Tepper's original proposal arose out of frustration with the 25 percent property tax increase in 2006 that was enacted when the council could not agree on any set of cuts. Kelly said a mayoral system could rectify that. "There needs to be somewhere between a zero [percent tax increase] and 25," he said. "One side must agree to spend less, while the other must agree to raise taxes a little. What's been lost is compromise."
Comments about this story? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
