Do we need leaders?
The opportunity to choose our political leaders is the heart of democracy. To be sure, this is not the only way a society can be organized politically, and like any other political system democracy has its plusses and minuses. For most of western history monarchy was the dominant form of socio-political organization, and remarkable accomplishments accompanied that system. But democracy has increasingly spread around the globe during the past 200 years, and its ideal of freedom is undeniably alluring.
Local democracy, unlike national politics, remains free of many of the ills now infecting the body politic. City Council members receive little pay, and spend many hours deliberating topics which the ordinary public would properly classify as boring. But elected officials in Sonoma County and the City of Sonoma embody a uniquely important role that transcends the commonplace day-to-day functions of government, and that role is authentic leadership.
The county and every city in our region have hired professional managers to attend to the tasks of government operations and administration. These managers are responsible for maintaining the smooth and efficient functioning of government, managing budgets and personnel, responding to unanticipated emergencies, and supporting the policies and goals set by those elected in each jurisdiction. A problem arises, however, when those in elected positions won’t or cannot lead. When that happens, a leadership vacuum is created. Managers abhor a vacuum; if leaders don’t lead, the bureaucrats will.
Our political system contributes to this problem; the managers and their staff often have many more years in government than those elected. It takes considerable time to master the structure and workings of government; complex budgets, diverse projects, myriad regulatory structures and complexities of law are a reality. Relying on management and staff is a necessary component of governance. Nonetheless, voters expect office holders to bring creativity, imagination and courage to their job, and too often it just doesn’t happen.
It’s up to those elected to direct staff and set the policy directions of local government, but at times these roles appear to get reversed. Reliance on staff is necessary, but when that reliance extends to matters of policy. the public is not well served. It’s not that managers or staff have ill intent, but since they are focused primarily on budgets, efficiency, and controlling costs, priorities get shuffled. If the elected leaders don’t recognize this when it happens and correct the situation, the public finds itself governed by an unaccountable bureaucracy, a situation contradictory to the intent of democracy.
Political leaders are accountable to voters and specifically elected to provide a protective buffer between the public and government bureaucracy. Voters look to the leaders they elect to protect them from government when it occasionally runs amok. Lacking this basis, electing leaders is a waste of time.
Supervisors and city council members are not a subset of city managers, they are elected to be leaders and protectors of the public health and welfare. Managers should manage and leaders should lead, and it’s time for those in office to take firm hold of the levers of power, exercise courage and start solving the big problems we face like the lack of affordable housing and inadequate wages. If they can’t or won’t do that, then it’s time to say “goodbye.”
