George:

There are two reasons for this e-mail.

*First, I want to say that David Dukcevich somewhat misquoted me (or maybe I made no sense).

What I think I said was that the office of mayor in Charlottesville is largely symbolic; most of what the mayor spends time on is things like ribbon-cuttings, and so much of the reason to want to be mayor has to be a matter of ego. I did not mean to say that the only reason to be mayor was ego. I also said -- which he did not print -- that there have been times in the recent past where it was felt that it was important that a particular person be the spokesperson for the City.

For example, in the 1980's there seemed to be an advantage in having Frank Buck continue as mayor so that he could continue to handle the Omni negotiations; however, there is no reason why Council could not informally agree that a particular member would be the spokesperson for Council on a particular issue.

Second, I wanted to comment on the Democrats for Change platform plank that called for direct election of the mayor.

Virginia law (Code section 15.1-40.3) provides that the mayor shall be elected by council, unless the City Charter provides to the contrary. The Charter provides, interestingly, for the election of a President and Vice-President of Council; there is only a passing reference to the term "mayor."

Here is the passage, from Section 9 of the Charter (available on-line at http://www.ci.charlottesville.va.us/government/charter.asp).

Sec. 9. Council - President and vice-president.

At its first meeting in July, 1972, and biennially thereafter, the council shall elect one of its members to act as president, who shall preside at its meetings and continue in office two years. Or if a vacancy occur in the office before the end of his term, such vacancy shall be filled as provided in section 8.

At the same time the council shall elect one of its members to be a vice-president, who shall preside at such meetings in the absence of the president, and who, when the president shall be absent or unable to perform the duties of his office, by reason of sickness, or other cause, shall perform any and all duties required of, or entrusted to, the president. The president, or the vice-president, when authorized, as above stated, to act, shall have power at any time to call a meeting.

If we wanted to provide for the direct election of the mayor (which I think would be a bad idea, for reasons that I won't get into in this letter), we would need to get the General Assembly to amend the City Charter. This is not easily or frivolously done.

Lloyd Snook (electronic mail, May 10, 2000).

*"Democrat Lloyd Snook said he was surprised at the interest in the mayorship."

"'There's not a lot of actual power that goes with the job,' he said. 'It's as much a matter of ego as anything else. The most valuable role of the mayor is to be a bridge builder on council."

"It's rare that there's this much of a campaign to be mayor. It's rare that people care that much" (Davide Dukcevich, May 10, 2000).