Lessons in Power

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
— Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass is not wrong, just incomplete. He was referencing slavery. It took a Civil War to get Texans (and other Southerners, but I live in Texas so let's keep this close to home) to concede their power to hold other human beings in bondage. When it comes to much less consequential matters, people sometimes concede power without a second thought. Sometimes they might not even realize that's what they're doing. The Richardson City Council is in process of ceding power to the Mayor, without a demand. It's an implicit power that Richardson Mayors have wielded since forever, soon to be made explicit by a compliant City Council. See "Committee Appointments" in "Council Recap: Rules of Procedure" for details.

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"Just remember one thing, son. Your agency is an arm of Congress. You belong to us. Remember that, and you'll get along all right."
— Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn to FCC Chairman Newton Minnow

Sam Rayburn (a Texan, by the way), who knew a thing or two about power, was exercising what used to be called institutional jealousy — when one arm of government resists encroachment on its powers by another arm of government. Rayburn's institutional jealousy wasn't based on party politics. Both he and President Kennedy, who appointed Minnow, were members of the same party. In a similar fashion, here in Richardson, even if the Mayor and the rest of the Richardson City Council are all members of the same collegiate body, the Councilmembers should take a page from Sam Rayburn and not cede power without check or balance.

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"Section 3.09. - Special meetings. Special meetings of the city council shall be called by the city secretary or city manager upon the written request of the mayor, the city manager or three (3) council members. Any such notice shall state the subject to be considered at the special meeting."

This is related to the discussion about how Councilmembers can request subjects be added to the agenda for Council meetings. See "Agendas" in "Council Recap: Rules of Procedure" for details. The City Charter grants power to the Mayor that is not granted to individual Councilmembers.

I see two ways the Councilmembers could exercise some institutional jealousy here. One way is to eliminate the imbalance between the Mayor and other Councilmembers as to how many signatures are needed on the written request. Councilmember Ken Hutchenrider raised this point in the February 12, 2024, Council meeting, when he said he favored requiring only one Councilmember to request an agenda item. Mayor Bob Dubey wasn't OK with granting power to Councilmembers that the City Charter grants to him. Hutchenrider didn't press his point. A second way is to expand the subject from just "Special meetings" to all meetings — regular, special, and worksessions. The Council is on the verge of adding this to its "Rules for Order and Procedure." In the interest of institutional jealousy, why not ask voters to enshrine these powers in the City Charter so that future Councils can't cede powers they might not know when they'll need.

Further, if Councilmembers are as interested in transparency as they say they are, they could request another change to the City Charter that would require the City Council to make a video and audio recording of "each regularly scheduled open meeting" including worksessions and special called meetings. This allows the public to exercise some institutional jealousy of their own. It is stricter than State law requires, but we should not be averse to holding our representatives to a higher standard.

There will be a Charter Review this year. Likely, a Charter Review Commission will be formed, including members of the public. I imagine I'll have more to say about the subject later, but it's not too soon for members of the public to start doing homework to ensure the public interest is served.

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"Richardson's Council
Yields power without a fight.
Rayburn's wisdom lost."
—h/t ChatGPT