Councilmember Alex Blackburn Steals the Show at State of City Event

Alex Blackburn said he has observed that councilmembers are often easily distracted by flattery and sycophantic awards. – Photo by Terry Miller

By Susan Motander

Before the mayor dropped his bombshell announcement, Councilmember Alex Blackburn shook up the State of the City event with his own comments. He went “off script,” in fact he virtually went “off the reservation” by giving his impressions of how the city was being run. His critique is powerful.

His comments started calmly in praising the mayor for forsaking “the opportunity to monopolize the spotlight and grandstand for an hour” by allowing the other members of the council deliver parts of the address. Then he gave a forewarning of what lay ahead saying, “I hope he does not regret his decision by the end of the evening.”

After praising City Manager Oliver Chi for his hard work, he gave a brief synopsis of what his portion of the state of the city was scripted to be, the development and execution of various city projects, but then he moved to his assessment of what he and his “colleagues on the council, can do better.” Rather than paraphrasing his comments, we print them below in full as they were delivered on Tuesday:

“First, I think it is important for us, as a council, to recognize the limited staffing resources that we have in our city. I don’t think we do that enough. When we don’t do that, we run the risk of creating unrealistic expectations of our staff, and spreading them too thin. Unrealistic expectations lead to failed execution. The reality is that we, as elected officials, cannot request action of our staff every time a constituent asks for something. Furthermore, we cannot demand action every time a new and fanciful idea crosses our own minds. In my estimation, we need to be more disciplined in planning and executing our city’s priorities. We need to be able to recognize when new ideas need to take a backseat to the long-term plans we have already designed as a body in conjunction with our professional staff. In short, we need to be better at saying no to ourselves and our political sponsors.

“I will close with a final assessment of how we as council members can do better.

“Since I have been in office, I have observed that there are private interests who see councilmembers as puppets. In fact, not just as puppets, but as simpleton puppets. They have observed that councilmembers are often easily distracted by flattery and sycophantic awards. They have observed that the real decision makers are often the professional staff, who too often act as intellectual handlers for councilmembers. So, in my observation, those private interests distract and assuage elected officials by appealing to their egos, while separately promoting their own agendas. Unfortunately, their approach is, in my observation, often successful. However, it is only successful because we as councilmembers allow our critical eye to be clouded by flattery and the illusion of self-importance. What I ask of my colleagues, and of myself, is that we do a better job of setting aside our egos, and maintaining an ever vigilant critical eye, so that we can do the true work of the people, rather than letting the people get worked.”

Blackburn then thanked those in attendance and turned the microphone back to the mayor.

In a later interview Blackburn said that he had intentionally included himself in his assessment of the actions of the council and that he hoped his comments would begin a discussion with the council as a whole. He also said that his remarks were not directed at any one member of the council and that his comments applied not just to the Monrovia City Council, but in some ways to all elected officials.

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