"Mayor , Council sound off Politics as Usual "

Camaraderie is on the skids at Shreveport City Hall. Political stress is nothing new . But Shreveport captured plenty of attention recently when city council members walked out of their meeting during a mayoral speech. As Mayor Cedric Glover put it:" That whole interaction and that whole exchange is a microcosm of what that relationship has been like."
Council members agree their bond with the mayor and his staff on the second floor of Goverment Plaza is strained. Each of them offers different anecdotes, but a recurring problem they cite is communication.
Antagonism, as Council-woman Joyce Bowman puts it, hasn't always existed between the Mayor and Shreveport's top board. She says that the first year,there was nothing the Mayor asked for, that the council didn't do. That included a 6-1 vote to approve Henry Whitehouse as police chief and for finding money to pay for summer youth jobs.
"Something changed in the second year",Bowman said. "We didn't have access to him. It was a communication break-down."

In year two of Glover's four year-year term, council members forced Glover to get rid of a city-funded Chevrolet Suburban he said was for his safety. By the third year, the council was demanding more accountability for Glovers trips on the city's dime and his staffers use of city credit cards.
Recent news that the Mayor's office and the city department heads are planning to relocate the non-profit Multi-cultured Center of the South, took the council members by surprise..
."We read about everything in the newspaper,basically," Council Chairman Ron Webb said." To be honest with you, I feel that the mayor is trying to be a one man show and take credit for every good thing that comes along."

"Keeping the cat in the bag",the mayor said,"isn't intended to irriate the council, we are trying to to pull together a specific plan and strategy, there's not really much to lay out until you're able to bring it together. Especially with a council that you know will be looking for flaws."
Another aspect of the mayors office the council views as an obstacle is something Glover considers a good security measure. Unlike other floors in the Government Plaza , doors are locked. They require electoronic badges to enter.
"It's just like a fortress. That to me, kind of fosters an us and them situation". Councilman Monty Walford said.
" Safety measures to place checks and balances on Glover is preposterous," Councilman Calvin Lester said."Some of my colleagues believe every decision made by the mayor's office has to be checked out. That's not the way our system works."
Councilman Michael Long often avoids back-and-forth with the mayor and councilmembers. He says the the more pressing issue is day-to-day management of the city.
Still the council members take a hard line approach, and none points to ways to improve communications with the mayor.
" I think we are just fine in our demeanor and in our communication", said Councilman Bryan Wooley, who has positioned himself against Glover on several occasions, particularly police funding.

"I don't think the mayor sees a need to work with the council." Councilman Joe Shyne also served with..."not under" he is quick to say, the last 3 mayors.
"We always kept ourselves very professional .We never took any cheap shots at each other".
Shyne often jokes about knowing the Mayor when he was a child. He and Glover have been family friends for decades. But that doesn't ease the former educator-coach's harsh words. Shyne said the Mayor never had a job in the real world, everybody around him works for him and they tell him ."KING" everything is all right.
Glover said he can handle disparagement." We're not sent here to love each other, it's great if it happens,the people do send us here to constructively engage in doing the business of the city of Shreveport."

Bowan hopes the mayor will take a leadership role in making peace. Councilman Michael Long said "I think the enormity of the job is probaby overwhelming him [the mayor] at some level.
Councilman Ron Webb said "communication is worse than horrible".
Mayor Cedric Glover said, "One of the things that's fundamental to effective government is a level of civility that makes it possible for us to be able to agree without being disgreeable."

My take on this: Take a look at what's running our city/state government, and you can see see why everyone makes fun/jokes about us. How can you lead the people when you have no direction of your own. All of our leaders can't be chiefs, some of us have to be little indians that follow. But hey that's just me...stay tune: more on Louisinana politics as they become available.
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