Bill Magill writes:
"The real question is....
Will either candidate work to, or otherwise support, the elimination of
the
Office of Sheriff and the entire department?"
Yes, that's EXACTLY what John Kromer wants to do. Follow the Mayor's
preference, and eliminate the Sheriff's Dept. altogether.
John wants the transporting of prisoners to be taken over by the courts
(not outsourcing, just moving it to the courts - which is the way
Federal courts work; they transport their own prisoners, so the City
courts could take over that function and do the same). And John wants
to straighten out the accounting mess, missing money and "old computer"
excuses, and then he wants to give the property sale functions over to
more appropriate departments, under the control of the Mayor, as well.
Melani Lamond, Associate Broker
Urban & Bye, Realtor
3529 Lancaster Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
cell phone 215-356-7266
office phone 215-222-4800, ext. 113
-----Original Message-----
From: William H. Magill <[email protected]>
To: University City List <[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, Apr 26, 2011 1:31 pm
Subject: [UC] Abolish the Sheriff's office - don't elect another
patronage hack
On Apr 26, 2011, at 10:35 AM, Liz Campion wrote:
While Cheri is a wonderful advocate for the homeless, she does not
demonstrate the skill sets needed to run a huge, badly managed, mostly
redundant, city department. John Kromer comes into the race with a
clear vision for cutting costs and increasing benefits and hopefully
even eliminating the entire department.
The budget is to big, the waste to endemic and the stakes to high to
trust the Sheriff's office to a talented amateur.
The real question is....
Will either candidate work to, or otherwise support, the elimination of
the Office of Sheriff and the entire department?
(As with the Clerk's office - see below - certain functions would be
transferred to other existing entities, as has already been done.)
The office is one of the remaining artifacts of the County of
Philadelphia... which was merged with the city back with the City
County Consolidation act of 1854! This office is nothing but a
patronage hang-out for a vast collection of "no-shows."
Other left-over "row offices" include:
Clerk of Quarter Sessions - Current (last) Clerk resigned in 2009,
the duties and powers eliminated in 2010. City Council had the
authority to do this and finally did so.)
The Registrar of Wills (prothonotary) - still elected and completely
redundant with the First District Court's Prothonotary.
The City Commissioners (authority finally transferred to the City in
1951 by amendment to the State Constitution, and subsequent amendments
to the First Class Cities Act.) 3 commissioners still independently
elected.
While "most" of the duties of the various County Offices were
transferred to the City under the 1951 Home Rule Charter, we still
elect these various "row offices."
The fact that these "row offices" are elected and "independent" means
that the Mayor (let alone Council) has virtually zero control over
either their budgets or their actions or non-actions. (Not to mention
the salaries paid to these "elected officials."
If you want the "gory details" of the offices read the Pennsylvania
Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority report:
http://www.picapa.org/docs/Row_Offices_Issue_Paper.pdf
And the Committee of Seventy's original report
http://www.seventy.org/OurViews_Roadmap_Needless_Jobs.aspx#clerk
William H. Magill
Block Captain
4400 Chestnut Street
[email protected]
[email protected]
4428 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2914
(267-402-0529)
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