Mayor Pro Tem – Following the Charter

So I was reading a piece on another blog about Mayor Pro Tem Emma Acosta and her apparent refusal to give up the position of Mayor Pro Tem.

Let me explain a few things for those of you who might not know. As with everything in El Paso politics, there is more than meets the eye here. First of all, you aren’t elected for life to the position of Mayor Pro Tem, it’s a term of two years.

Mention was made of a little “tradition” of giving the seat up after a year of service in the post. That’s really interesting because I went back and found that the last couple of Mayor Pro Tem’s actually served a year and a half.

But the term of the Mayor Pro Tem is actually set forth in the City Charter. The Mayor and Council don’t actually have the power to make little “traditions” when it comes to things set forth in the City Charter. You see, the voters actually voted the Charter in, so they are the ultimate authority.

That’s why I don’t understand the critique of Acosta or the characterization of little Napoleon. All she’s doing is compiling with the will of the people, which is in accordance with the City Charter.

That would be the opposite of Napoleon.

Nonetheless, it is clear that there is a plan in the works to take advantage of the title Mayor Pro Tem. Word around the 10th floor is that one faction wants Acosta to give up the title so that it can be given to City Rep Ann Lily, who has decided to run for re-election and will need everything she can get in order to hang on to her seat when Oscar Leeser runs against her.



Seriously, without that title, what else can she point to as an accomplishment?(Unless they come up with a Conquistador Award for falling asleep the most in meetings. Which, by the way, is a joke, but you couldn’t blame her really. City Council and most of the players involved are about the most drab uninteresting group of people I’ve seen since the last convention of librarians over 70!)