Editorial: Resign already, Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo are to be replaced in office by two former Council members – Joerecord
Former City Council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo have been given a three-year renewable contract and other benefits in exchange for resigning from office in order to seek the mayoralty. These are not the first such deals that have been made between former councilmembers and the City Hall, and in this case are not unusual.
The way things are done at City Hall is, in my view, extremely disconcerting. It is not that City Hall officials are going around and offering jobs to councilmembers in return for resigning from the council – quite the opposite – rather it’s that they are offering them jobs not because of what they do when not on the council, but because they represent the City at large, and so their presence at City Hall gives the City some value.
It’s not that they are offering jobs, but rather that they are offering them – not always as full-time jobs – but merely as part-time jobs, which will have them present for long periods of time, rather than just at City Hall for two years. It’s all about appearances – who wants to appear to be beholden to a particular job and then find out they can walk away any time because their boss isn’t about to make them “The Boss” after they leave office?
I mean, c’mon. It’s not as though councilmembers can go around pretending to make a living by writing op-eds and taking the occasional photo op in Dillard’s.
They can’t. It’s not that they go around pretending to be anything other than who they are. It’s that they present themselves that way to the public.
Now, if this is what Councilmembers are being offered to get them to resign, one can only ask: why?
The answer can only be in these terms: because they are leaving office, and as Councilmembers we cannot afford to waste taxpayers’ money on such useless acts of self-promotion.
Why is it that councilmembers must be