Kramer's political machine

By Manuel C. Coppola

Mayor Albert Kramer landed his prestigious position at city hall by a fluke, having been appointed when his predecessor resigned. He now hopes that by the September primary election he will have earned a chance at four more years. Frankly, it shouldn't really matter much.

But Nogales has been slow to shift gears from the days of the strong-mayor style of government to a council-manager system. The mayor now has no more or less power than any other member of the council, which strictly is a policy-making body. Somebody forgot to tell Kramer.

We can focus on idiotic, yet benign things such as Kramer naming a park after himself; a park that has not even been built but has already cost taxpayers $215,000 in design costs. The actual scope of the project is exciting for the community and long overdue, however. Besides, if folks are so incensed with his egotistical tendencies, they can always petition to have the name of the park changed once Kramer is out of office.

Nah, the magnifying glass should be on the entire city council and the overall organization. There should be special focus on the city manager, who is the ultimate conductor of the orchestra with the music written by the council operating under the City Charter.

Therein lay the real issues with this administration. The council members have stood by and allowed Kramer, City Manager Jaime Fontes, and City Attorney Lawrence Klose to call many important shots. This is irresponsible leadership. This triad has not proven to be infallible.

Case in point is the handling of the housing authority fiasco. Fontes, acting on the advice of Klose, and a nod from Kramer made unilateral decisions without deferring to the Nogales Housing Authority Board of Commissioners that, with the exception of one person, comprised the mayor and members of the city council.

The issue ultimately ended up in county Superior Court where Judge Anna Montoya-Paez disagreed with Klose's opinion that Fontes had authority over former NHA Director Rebecca Swanson.

The administration ended up with egg on its face. It has cost taxpayers thousands of dollars in legal fees, so far, and Swanson is now suing the city. The irony is that Fontes likely would have had enough votes from the commissioners to remove Swanson in the first place.

The trio also was very visible organizing the campaign for the sales-tax approved by the voters in November. All three were present the morning that former city union organizer and lead cheerleader for the tax hike opened a campaign office at the El Dorado Hotel helping to fire up the troops. If not legally questionable, it certainly raised some ethical issues at the very least.

They even promised, in exchange for support of the tax hike, that the city would use the anticipated increased revenues to help finance a new facility for Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital to the tune of $7 million. Very noble gesture for a very worthy cause. Problem is the issue has never officially gone before the city council. The only guy that has protested has been Councilman Ignacio Barraza, but any dissensions on his part are discarded as "grandstanding" because he purportedly is seeking to run against Kramer in September. The rest of the council seems to just go along for the ride.

If politics is mainly perception, the general view of the public is that Kramer, Fontes and Klose run the show. This entire image harkens back to old-style political machines complete with Kramer allegedly handing out greenbacks to some members of the Mexican news media in exchange for favorable play. That kind of government Nogales can no longer afford.

(What do you think? Let us know at editorial@nogalesinternational.com)