Madison and their Mayor, the City Manager Referendum

For those who do not know, Madison City is having a referendum on May 9th to change from an elected mayor, to an appointed city manager.

Put simply, the change from a Mayor-Council system to a Council-Manager system is a major step away from the core principles of individual liberty and self-governance. In a Mayor-Council system, the executive power is vested in an elected mayor, ensuring that the community’s residents have a direct say in who holds the reins of their city’s administration. This allows for greater accountability, as the mayor is directly answerable to the people who elected them, fostering a sense of responsibility and responsiveness to the community’s needs and concerns.

On the other hand, a Council-Manager system places the executive power in the hands of an appointed city manager, who is not directly accountable to the voters. This dilutes the community’s ability to influence the decision making process and undermine the principle of self-governance. By relinquishing control over the selection of the city’s Chief Executive, residents will be disconnected from the political process and this will result in a lack of transparency in local government.

 In essence, the shift to a Council-Manager system will centralize power within a small group of elected officials, remove a major check and balance system between the executive and the legislative, and most critically, violate the right of the people to choose who leads them and welds executive power over their city.

It is for these reasons that the LPMCA opposes this change, and in an effort to maintain the right of the people to elect their executive, we are running a fundraising drive! The world runs on money, and politics is no exception. If you feel as strongly as we do about liberty, please consider donating. Your funds will be bookmarked for mailers, flyers, signs, and other literature for this election.

https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=3S78YL44MRPW4