2006/08/22
An open letter to Mayor Matt Driscoll on political maneuvering
Mayor Matthew J. Driscoll
City Hall
233 E. Washington St.
Syracuse, NY 13202
Mayor Driscoll:
I'd like to say congratulations on your recent court victory over the Common Council, but I if I did, it wouldn't be entirely honest of me. I disagree with your views on the mall expansion settlement. But I believe that reasonable people can disagree.
What really smells rotten here is the revised settlement agreement you reached with Pyramid Management Group officials that bypassed the Council.
Let's do a quick review of grade school civics, shall we? At the federal level, we have three branches of government: the executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch is headed by the president, a person who is elected and then appoints most of the rest of the branch (the vice president is also elected). The legislative branch is composed of the Congress, which is also elected. The judicial branch is appointed by the executive branch and approved by the legislative.
City government, for the most part, mirrors the federal government, except for the judicial branch, which isn't a part of city government. The mayor, who is elected, heads the executive branch; the Common Council comprises the elected legislative branch.
There are, then, two bodies elected by the people who are to work together in representing those who elected them. If they can't reach an agreement, they work toward compromise.
Normally, when two parties are going to attempt to reach agreement on something, let's say a legal settlement, they work together on something they're both comfortable with. It's unusual for one party to draft the agreement and expect the other to agree to it, without having had any input.
It came as a surprise to me that you were shocked – shocked – that the Common Council would have voted down an agreement into which they'd had no input.
And so you did what anyone who just wanted to get the thing done would do: You cut them out of it altogether.
I don't want to pretend that this is on the same level, but what we call the Vietnam War, was not a war. It was a police action. The president does not have the authority to declare war without the consent of the Congress, and neither Johnson nor Nixon sought that consent. They listened to their appointed boards.
Much like you've done with your recent political maneuvering on the settlement agreement. If the president only had to go to the Department of State, which he appoints, to get approval on his desired actions, there would be no point to electing – and paying – members of the Congress. Nor would there be a point in calling the president, "president," because at that point, he'd be an elected dictator, until one day, someone decided to get rid of elections.
I'll say it again: I believe reasonable people can disagree on matters of opinion. But what you've done is betray the trust of not only the electorate, but also of an elected board you still have to work with for three more years. Please include them in your future plans for the City of Syracuse.
Yours,
Joshua N. Shear
City Hall
233 E. Washington St.
Syracuse, NY 13202
Mayor Driscoll:
I'd like to say congratulations on your recent court victory over the Common Council, but I if I did, it wouldn't be entirely honest of me. I disagree with your views on the mall expansion settlement. But I believe that reasonable people can disagree.
What really smells rotten here is the revised settlement agreement you reached with Pyramid Management Group officials that bypassed the Council.
Let's do a quick review of grade school civics, shall we? At the federal level, we have three branches of government: the executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch is headed by the president, a person who is elected and then appoints most of the rest of the branch (the vice president is also elected). The legislative branch is composed of the Congress, which is also elected. The judicial branch is appointed by the executive branch and approved by the legislative.
City government, for the most part, mirrors the federal government, except for the judicial branch, which isn't a part of city government. The mayor, who is elected, heads the executive branch; the Common Council comprises the elected legislative branch.
There are, then, two bodies elected by the people who are to work together in representing those who elected them. If they can't reach an agreement, they work toward compromise.
Normally, when two parties are going to attempt to reach agreement on something, let's say a legal settlement, they work together on something they're both comfortable with. It's unusual for one party to draft the agreement and expect the other to agree to it, without having had any input.
It came as a surprise to me that you were shocked – shocked – that the Common Council would have voted down an agreement into which they'd had no input.
And so you did what anyone who just wanted to get the thing done would do: You cut them out of it altogether.
I don't want to pretend that this is on the same level, but what we call the Vietnam War, was not a war. It was a police action. The president does not have the authority to declare war without the consent of the Congress, and neither Johnson nor Nixon sought that consent. They listened to their appointed boards.
Much like you've done with your recent political maneuvering on the settlement agreement. If the president only had to go to the Department of State, which he appoints, to get approval on his desired actions, there would be no point to electing – and paying – members of the Congress. Nor would there be a point in calling the president, "president," because at that point, he'd be an elected dictator, until one day, someone decided to get rid of elections.
I'll say it again: I believe reasonable people can disagree on matters of opinion. But what you've done is betray the trust of not only the electorate, but also of an elected board you still have to work with for three more years. Please include them in your future plans for the City of Syracuse.
Yours,
Joshua N. Shear
