Williams: Having mayor pick auditor is asking for trouble

Underlings don't do oversight. Subordinates don't supervise the boss.

Giving Richmond's mayor the power to appoint the city auditor is asking for trouble. It'd be a license to steal for hizzoner, who would pocket the one person more capable of keeping him honest than the City Coun cil.

A commission charged with reviewing the Richmond City Charter has advanced a preliminary recommendation that the mayor hire the auditor "subject to the advice and consent of a majority of council."

Look, there are sharper minds than mine on this commission, which included people appointed by the council and by former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. But my inner robot is oscillating its arms and squawking, "Danger, Will Robinson!"

What the commission proposes -- and will be the subject of public comment -- defies natural order and political self-preservation.

What mayor in his right mind would appoint someone he suspects could make his life uncomfortable, if not miserable? Because that's the job of an auditor -- to keep the mayor and his City Hall minions honest.

The proposal would mimic how the police chief and chief administrative officer are currently appointed by the mayor -- a process in which the council has been largely deferential when the appointee's name wasn't Harry Black.

But does anyone doubt where the loyalties of mayoral appointees would lie? They're his people. Dancing with the guy who brung ya is much easier than placating nine politicians with often-competing priorities.

City Auditor Umesh Dalal is highly regarded and has functioned with demonstrable independence.

Wilder loved Dalal when the auditor's reports napalmed the school system, not so much when he excoriated waste within the city administration. If he could have, Wilder likely would have canned Dalal, whom he once called a "political lapdog."

The same goes for City Attorney Norman Sales, who absorbed shots from the then-mayor during the legal standoffs between the council and Wilder.

Those standoffs were numerous. Wilder asserted that his administration had the power to hire and fire all city employees other than the city clerk, city auditor and city attorney -- all council appointees.

His staff gave 55 employees in the city assessor's office a deadline to reapply for their jobs or lose them. The city racked up more than $1 million in legal fees involving this power grab and Wilder's eviction of the School Board from City Hall.

No one is mistaking Jones' temperament or style of governance for those of his predecessor. But that doesn't mean Jones or his successors will always resist temptation -- especially if their watchdog is neutered.

Yes, the auditor is a City Council appointee, but it's more difficult for nine people with competing agendas to manipulate him or her. This preliminary proposal would further politicize the auditor's post while weakening its authority and autonomy.

The auditor holds a unique position. He's the taxpayer's representative. If the mayor becomes his boss, Richmond's residents will pay the cost.

An auditor who works at the pleasure of the mayor is doing the opposite of what the job calls for.

Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or .