A Case of Legal Thievery : Charter: Riordan’s move is an autocratic power grab.

Charter “reform,” as proposed by Mayor Richard Riordan, is simply an autocratic call that will bankrupt the city and take away the authority of the City Council and the citizens that the council members represent. The hidden agenda of this legal thievery is to institute much greater power for the mayor and his associates.

The mayor says he’s willing to put his own money into a ballot initiative for charter reform. Of course he is. One of the oldest business axioms is “spend money to make money.” He’s a multimillionaire businessman who will spend some of his wealth to create a charter that will give him and his partners more power to do what they want. The 15 members of the City Council and the 3.5 million people they represent will be out of the loop.

Today, the city is governed by a working charter that has been amended over the years to take into account changes and the diversity of our city, most notably, the establishment of the Ethics Commission and the police reforms brought on as a result of the Christopher Commission.

The mayor’s attempt to sell the Central Library to a tobacco company and his taking $40 million from harbor income to balance the city budget are good examples of politics at play. He also made an attempt to take Proposition A and C monies, approved by the voters to improve public transportation, to pave more roads. In order to give the city more police officers, Mayor Riordan is willing to drive the city into debt by accepting money the city can’t match once federal funding ends. These are just a few examples of wrongheaded moves that were blocked by the charter’s checks and balances.

The city charter is a judicial document, a manifestation of democracy, and it should not be tampered with by the moneyed few.