Shriver Calls for Municipal Reforms

By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer

June 8 -- If Santa Monica’s government is to run more effectively, City Council members should be better paid and have a personal staff, and the city manager should wield more power, Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Shriver told the League of Women Voters of Santa Monica.

“People come up to me and say, ‘I voted for you,’” Shriver said. “It makes me feel bad” having to explain why all the campaign promises haven’t been fulfilled, he said.

In an unusually candid speech Saturday, Shriver, who was elected to the council in November 2004, said it might be time to change the city charter.

Unlike CEO’s who get to bring in their own team when they move to a new company, “the city manager can’t pick his own team” under the charter, Shriver told the league.

New City Manager Lamont Ewell is studying the city charter and is exploring potential changes that could help him run the City more effectively, Shriver said.

The city manager isn’t the only one whose hands are tied, the City’s newest council member said.

Part-time council members who have no personal staff must depend on the cooperation and efficiency of more than 2,000 City workers who have no incentive to be responsive, Shriver said. As civil service employees they can only be fired by the City Manager.

The council hires only three department heads – City Manager, City Attorney and City Clerk – and can only fire them with a majority of five votes.

“Maybe four (votes) would be better,” Shriver said.

Shriver compared the current power structure to 14th century Japan, when a group of “gangsters,” or Shoguns, took over the country. The head picked a couple to be the new imperial family, built them a castle and told the people that the royal family held power. But the real power lay in the hands of the shogunate.

“People who have a lot of power don’t want to be seen as having a lot of power,” Shriver said.

Shriver seemed to be implying that in some way City staff is analogous to the shogunate, and the council is like the imperial family.

While making it clear that he doesn’t support a strong mayor form of government -- such as that of San Diego, where Ewell was City Manager before taking Santa Monica’s top staff post -- Shriver said he favors the kinds of incentives found in private businesses.

These include a more specialized staff and higher pay for council members and more competition among City staff.

“I came from a very competitive family,” said the son of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. “I lost a few things… but when I won, I knew I had won.

“In my day job, I do a certain quality of work,” said Shriver, an attorney involved in philanthropic causes who is supported by a specialized, professional staff.

Under the current setup, as a council member, “I cannot compete,” Shriver said.

Los Angeles City Council members have 30 staff members, Shriver said, and even West Hollywood, a city smaller than Santa Monica, gives its council members staff.

Shriver mentioned that several people help him do his job as a council member, but didn’t say if they were volunteers or paid staff.

Specialization among council members seemed to be a key issue with Shriver, who has become known as a champion for homeless issues and is credited with creating the “Homeless Czar” post filed by former County Supervisor Ed Edelman to take charge of the problem in Santa Monica.

“I’ve become an expert on one matter. On other matters, I can read or call” the other council members, Shriver said.

Still, the stack of reading material that shows up on his doorstep every other Thursday, which must be read and digested by Tuesday’s meeting, is often too much for a public official with a day job, Shriver said.

“I’m not gonna, your not gonna, no one on the council’s gonna read” the entire budget and supporting papers, Shriver said.

More pay might mean more professionalism, Shriver suggested.

“Santa Monica is a big operation,” he said. It makes sense to have well-paid, full-time professionals managing an enterprise this large.

And it might improve the pool of council candidates and bring more women to the dais, he said.

“We have to make it more appealing to run,” Shriver said. Right know, the incentive is to stay away from public life. Would-be candidates are turned off by what they see.

“They’re at home watching us on television saying I don’t want to do that,” he said.

But Shriver didn’t want to leave the group with the impression that he’s disillusioned.

“I definitely was and am an eager beaver for the job,” he let his audience know.

The League of Women Voters of Santa Monica periodically hosts presentations by civic leaders, experts and activists. If you would like to join, call 310 394-4661.