[PRCo] Move to Can Mayor of Pittsburgh in 1935

[Fred Schneider]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gQAdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZY4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4596%2C3678220
 

Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 13, 1935, Page 1

 

Clowning by [Pittsburgh Mayor] McNair Starts Move to Strip Him of Power

 

Legislature Will Be Asked by Citizens and Public Officials

To Clip Mayor’s Wings But Allow Him to

Stay in Office Until Term Ends

 

A decision to ask the Legislature to rescue Pittsburgh from McNarism was reached yesterday by citizens and public officials as the climax in a week jammed with grotesque performances by the Mayor.

   Legislation will be sought to strip the Mayor of many, perhaps all, of his powers, but allow him to continue to wear his present title until the end of his term.

   There did not appear, yesterday, to be a disposition to “rip” him out of office entirely although there were intimations that the Mayor, by a continuance of his antics, which gradually have been growing more numerous, might produce a demand for a 100 per cent “ripper” the Legislature would have to heed.

   The scope of the legislation was not established definitely yesterday, but there was strong sentiment for amendments to the city charter which would produce a modified form of the city manager form of government.

 

Would Take Away Powers

 

   Those advocating that plan would have legislation to take from the Mayor all power over the city departments and give them to the charge of an official chosen by the City Council.

   That would leave the Mayor all the time he could desire for clowning but he would separate his antics from the actual functions of city government.

   He would have the right to an office and the opportunity to receive delegations and entertain them to his heart’s content with dissertations on single tax, economic rent and all his other pet theories.

 

Salary Cut Discussed

 

   In conferences yesterday, there was talk to the effect that the Mayor’s salary of $15,000 ought to be cut at least in half if his responsibilities are greatly reduced or brought down practically to the zero point.   That might not be possible in the near future because of the provision in the state constitution that, “no law shall extend the term of any public officer or increase or diminish his salary after his election or appointment.”

   There is the probability; of course, that a new constitution will be voted on by the people at the November election this year, and it might not contain such a sweeping prohibition of salary changes after an official is elected.

 

Democrats Interested

 

   Democratic councilmen affiliated with the Democratic organization, one of the Mayor’s hates, showed a lively interest yesterday in what was going on despite the fact that five of the nine councilmen are Republican and might place a Republican in charge of the city departments if the present Council were empowered to make the selection.

   Some Democratic Councilmen are known to hold the view that anything, even a Republican boss of the city departments, would be preferable to the situation they now have on their hands.   The Democrats hardly would lose anything as Mayor McNair has placed their party in the rumble seat as far as his administration is concerned.

   His latest important appointment, restoring Richard L. Smith to the job of fire chief after firing John Heinz, was the newest instance of tossing out a Democrat to make room for a Republican.

 

Delay Causes Speculation

 

   Whether the Democrats might seek to have the anti-McNair legislation so drafted as to delay, until after the councilmanic election in November, the selection of a manager of the city departments by Council was a subject of speculation.

  The four Democratic members of Council are serving terms which will not expire until January, 1938.  Four Councilmen, Robert Garland, P. J. McArdle, Charles Anderson and W. J. Soost, all Republicans, will have to be selected this year if they desire to retain their seats beyond next January.  By capturing only one of the four seats at stake in the November election, the Democrats will have a majority in Council.

   The Mayor is on his annual furlough from smoking – Jan. 1 to March 31.  He confesses to an excess of irritability during this period.  The City-County Building is having a laugh over some of his friends over the furlough as an excuse for some of the things he has been doing. 

 

Predicts Bad Humor

 

   His distemper will not be lessened by learning what may happen to him in Harrisburg.   He told Mr. Heinz, the dismissed fire chief, a few days ago, that he probably would be in a “bad humor” until April 1.   Mr. Heinz is convinced the Mayor was a true prophet.

   The Mayor has been excited for months over reports that a bill would be offered in Harrisburg to “rip” him out of office.   He has gone to the length, politicians say, of trying to soften the hearts of some of the Democratic members of the Legislature by indicating a willingness to place some of their friends in city jobs.