Tips for Advocacy
The position of Mayor attracts the most attention of any elected official in the City and even the region as a whole, but there are important constraints to a Mayor’s power and they need to be considered as we fight for City government to be an effective force for a more just, vibrant city.
The Mayor’s two major powers — to manage City departments and to use his high profile position to get City Council to pass ordinances — require the same kind of balancing act that all elected executives, like Governors and Presidents, deal with.
The first challenge is how to steer the city’s departments towards the Mayor’s agenda. As with all large bureaucracies, especially in governments with civil service and union protections (which are important in their own right), it can be difficult to get large numbers of people rowing in the same direction, especially if they have their own ideas about how things should work or are resistant to doing things in new ways.
Compared to New York City, for example, the LA Mayor’s office has a relatively small staff, which means limited ability to manage departments. Far too many staff members are spread thin playing multiple, disparate roles.
Second, the Mayor has to figure out how to most effectively leverage his high-profile position. There needs to be political muscle behind any agendas that are set to make good on promises (and threats). There also needs to be a level of vision that the Mayor can lead. If the mayor partakes in outspoken political activism without political muscle, or defers too much power to other institutions like the City Council or City Departments, then progressive agendas can’t be implemented, and could even backfire.
These are things to think about when planning a strategy for pushing equitable policy forward.
