Editorial: Mayors shouldn’t act like children
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A mayor’s job isn’t the same in every Pennsylvania community.
In a small borough, the mayor may be little more than a figurehead for ceremonial events like a Memorial Day flag service or a tie-breaker in case someone hasn’t shown up for a council meeting. In a larger city, like Pittsburgh, the mayor is the person who steers the ship of government on a day-to-day basis.
In many, it’s somewhere in the middle. A mayor might be responsible for the police department, but not so much in the voting about paying bills and making rules.
Boil it down and what you have is someone elected by the people to represent them, just like everyone else from president to governor to the local jury commissioner.
It is not about getting your way.
On Monday, Monessen Mayor Matt Shorraw showed up for the first meeting of 2020. That was noteworthy as he hasn’t been to a meeting in 20 months.
Monessen bridges the gap between those big and small communities. It is a small town, but it faces the larger challenges prevalent in post-industrial Western Pennsylvania. Its mayor leads the five-person council that tackles those issues.
Shorraw, a Democrat, was in the minority until a new member came on board. With a three-vote bloc, he showed up, fired two people, changed the meeting dates, overruled objections from two council members, banged his gavel and called for silence.
That isn’t government. That is a child holding his breath until he gets what he wants and throwing a tantrum when stymied.
It is exactly what complicates things in Harrisburg — like the shouting match and spite that erupted over the 2019 budget battle.
It is precisely the problem in Washington as party and power are more important words than participation and purpose.
We have watched our state and federal governments grind to spiteful, vindictive halts over who is in control. It has stopped budgets from being passed and prevented bills from becoming laws, all because of a mentality that smacks more of school cafeteria cliques than public service.
No one needs that at the local level. Our cities and boroughs and townships are where there are no more bucks to pass, only work that needs to be done.
And in the real world, you don’t just get to work with the people who vote with you or for you. A mayor’s job is to work with everyone.