Who do you want running our city — a politician or a professional?

The Proposition 1 election comes down to that simple question. Running the day-to-day operations of a city is an extremely complicated job that requires knowledge, experience and management skills. I want a professional manager who is highly qualified, educated and experienced in running a city. Just about anyone can run for mayor, no qualifications required.

The idea that an elected mayor will be “more responsive” or “more accountable” is hogwash. An elected mayor can turn a cold shoulder to anyone they want. Don’t like it? Then you’ll have to wait up to four years for the next election, or try to go through a long, drawn-out, complex recall process. Compare that to now: City manager not doing the job? You’re fired! Have a problem? With the council-manager form of government, you’ve got seven different city council members to talk to, all with fairly equal authority and political power.

With an elected mayor, any pretty, smooth-talking person who knows how to run a campaign can become mayor. The balance of political power in the city would shift radically to the elected mayor — an extremely dangerous change. If we make a mistake in electing a strong mayor, it could be a four-year disaster for our city.

Our current council-manager system is not perfect. With political power decentralized among seven council members, sometimes there is a lack of strong leadership at the city. But at least if we make a mistake and elect an idiot to the council, the other six council members can overrule him/her.

One more thing: A city manager must be “accountable” to the seven city council members who hire him/her. Ultimately, an elected mayor would be “accountable” to the big contributors to his/her campaign — the people who got him/her elected.

Considering everything, the council-manager form of government is clearly the least of two evils. Proposition 1 should be defeated — again.

Russell R. Wolf, Federal Way