Councilors-at-Large Take the City-Wide View
Democracywise website
Tracy Kracker
September 19th, 2007
http://knightpoliticalreporting.syr.edu/democracywise/stories.cfm?storyid=51
Here's an important foreign language lesson: Councilor-at-large.
In the upcoming elections, you can elect two new councilors-at-large for the Syracuse City Common Council. And they have an important effect on your life. Here's how:
The Syracuse Common Council is like our own local Congress. It makes the laws for the city. The district councilors are like the members of the House of Representatives. Each one is elected to represent a specific section of the city. And, the councilors-at-large are like the senators. They all represent the city as a whole.
This year, two of the five councilor-at-large seats are open for election. Democrats Bill Ryan and Kathleen Joy are the incumbents who have those two seats and are running for re-election. The other two candidates are trying to take their seats. Bill Harper is the only Republican running. And Howie Hawkins is running with the Green party endorsement. The two candidates who get the most votes will win the seats.
Professor Grant Reeher teaches political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He says councilors-at-large don't have to focus on what people in a certain district want. Instead, they can run for elections on city-wide issues that reach across district lines.
"The at-large seats can sometimes pick up and put into office, people who have very high levels of support among specific sets of the city communities. If you've got someone that represents a particular set of interests, or is seen to represent a particular group of people, they can sometimes get elected in an at-large election." [Professor Reeher]
For example, Howie Hawkins of the Green Party candidate is running for councilor-at-large on city-wide issues instead of trying to win a specific district. Hawkins is a veteran community activist who has often proposed city-wide policies, such as a higher minimum wage called a "living wage." He sees the councilor-at-large job as a way to be more effective.
"If I don't get a response from the other councilors, I'll take it to the public. But having a position on the council gives me a better platform to do that than just being a community agitator-organizer like I am now." [Howie Hawkins]
Political scientist Grant Reeher of SU says that the public usually sees those campaigns translate into action once the candidates get into office.
"If you run on a pretty specific set of issues, then those are the things you're likely to want to push for when you get in." [political scientist Reeher]
For example, incumbent councilor-at-large Bill Ryan says he uses his position to make changes to the city as a whole. He says he wants to help give a voice to people throughout the city who feel they have no voice.
"I have spent, in many times, poor areas of the city, whether it be on Butternut Street or in that area or on the South Side." [Councilor Ryan]
The election is November 6th. To learn more about these candidates, visit the Races & Candidates section of Democracywise.
For Democracywise, I'm Tracy Kracker.
(Tracy Kracker is a graduate student in broadcast journalism)