Investigation of Mayor Bradley

In response to “Mayoring On Into the Boredom Zone” by Phillip E. Present, Op-Ed Page, Sept. 7:

Prof. Present opines that our last two mayors’ lack of scruples and indifference to the needs of their constituency should be shrugged off with the excuse, “They got bored.” Present also suggests that voters make their future choices at the polls by attempting to second-guess an incumbent’s enthusiasm for his job, as this mayoral ennui can lead to “mismanagement, lapses in executive judgment, unethical practices or possibly worse.” What is this--the “give Koko a tire swing and he won’t tear up his cage” theory of political science?

Rather than formulate lame rationalizations, perhaps Prof. Present could instead clarify why Bradley finds so little challenge managing the “mundane, tedious, low-visibility-yet-essential administrative duties” of the second-largest city in the United States. And no matter how stupefyingly dull a man might find his job, to simply state that “indifference to the nuts and bolts of day-to-day city management can create problems” in no way explains nor excuses unresponsiveness to the community and gross conflict of interest.

If Mayor Tom is bored, maybe it’s because so little work of a truly challenging nature crosses his desk. Considering the enormity of the job he was elected to perform, it would be nice to know exactly who, then, has been handling (or mishandling) the important problems for him.

D. TAYLOR FEARS

Los Angeles