The February 8th, Sunday edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press contained a telling story about the state of the mayoral race between incumbent, Ron Littlefield, and challenger, Rob Healy. The headline reads: "Healy says City Council should appoint own auditor."
The story, buried on page 4 of the Metro & Region section, consists of 100 words taken almost verbatim from a Healy campaign press release; an announcement from the current mayor about his hopes for a "high-speed rail" connecting Chattanooga and Atlanta; and the details of a candidate forum later in the week. This story was the only one concerning the mayoral race in Sunday's paper, less than one month away from the March 3rd election.
Not to be outdone, I worked up my own version of the story to conveniently fill out a Twitter post:
"Our readers really don't care about this election, do they?"
Such is the state of municipal politics that the upcoming election can be summarized into a 140-character throwaway line from the convenience of an iPhone. But even if it sounds hard to believe right now, the job of mayor is kind of an important one, right?
Consider. The next mayor will command a city budget of $170 million and a revenue base of $178 million. The March 3rd victor will be responsible for seemingly mundane tasks like waste management to pressing imperatives like the police department payroll, and much more. Suffice it to say, we're not just talking about putting up a few new traffic lights. Chattanooga, the fourth largest city in the state of Tennessee, is a burgeoning metropolis in everything but name.
Executive control of City Hall will be charged with such lofty ideals as visioning, economic development, and strengthening our communities for the next 4 years. With so much at stake, it's hard to imagine that the outcome of this election could mean so little to so many people. Recent history indicates that the choice between Mr. Littlefield and Mr. Healy will barely make a blip on the radar. 25,000 to 32,000 ballots will be cast by election's end. Likely turnout represents 30 percent of eligible voters, and 18 percent of the City-proper's population.
Given the low, historic turnout and the air of general ambivalence surrounding this contest, the job of "Mayor of Chattanooga" suddenly seems not very important at all. That ambivalence, perhaps cemented by the Volkswagen announcement (and thus, ensuring Mr. Littlefield's re-election), will play a larger role in shaping the next four years than any "plan" hatched by the candidates. As a general rule, low voter turnout translates to low voter expectation. When there are no political implications for failure or incompetence outside City Hall, then the victor is free to operate in a vacuum -- absolved of consequence or responsibility. And though serious questions remain about the viability and experience of both candidates, the current political atmosphere of apathy is but a small taste of what's to come.
Regardless of the outcome on March 3rd, there will be one winner and one loser from this election. The winner will enjoy a take home salary of $140,000, low expectations of what a mayor of a city this size should hope to achieve, and a flurry of unearned VW photo-ops. And the loser? Let's just say we get the government we ask for, and leave it at that.
David Morton
aaron on Feb. 12, 2009
A case in point... the (fake) Ron Littlefield has not even taken the time to post a reply to this article.
Chattanooga Blogging on Feb. 27, 2009
I forget, does Chat have a 'strong mayor' form of government (mayor has more control) or a balanced city council/mayorship form of government? Someday Chattanooga will grow far beyond its current bounds and most likely swallow up most of Hamilton County. Atlanta did this long ago, L.A. has almost three whole counties to itself.
Chattanooga Blogging on Feb. 27, 2009
I apologize, Los Angeles only takes up ONE county but it's a big one. Atlanta easily takes up one county and is ever creeping its way across another two.