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| Jim Harbison |
Every City has elected “leaders”. According to Webster’s NewWorld Dictionary a leader is defined as: “a person or thing that leads; directing; commanding or guiding head, as of a group or activity”. Quoting again from Webster’s Leadership is defined as “the position or guidance of a leader, the ability to lead”. There are many variations of the definition and a more simplistic definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.
Most would agree that effective leadership in government requires the elected officials to influence the electorate to support the accomplishment of some social objective. It requires a vision and communication skills and includes the ability to inspire, integrate, and motivate people to achieve a common goal or purpose. It is also about leading by example and demonstrating a higher ethical standard of conduct. Do you see this type of leadership in our City Council? |
| Las Cruces City Hall |
The leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others believe in his goals and want to follow his direction. The essentials of leadership are inspiration, preparation, and trust. Effective leadership is based upon ideas, but nothing will happen unless those ideas can be effectively communicated to others who become motivated and committed to them. There is a difference between leading and mandating. Citing Webster one more time mandate is defined as “an authoritative order or command, especially a written one; undertakes to do something for (to) another, without recompense but with indemnity against loss”. Our current Council certainly demonstrates an inclination to mandate rather than lead and continues to produce resolutions mandating constraints on our freedoms or liberties.
The recent City Council actions clearly demonstrate that “leadership” is not a fully developed or mature characteristic of this Council. The Mayor informed the public during a special work session that the agenda item concerning redistricting would be removed from the regular City Council agenda and that the public did not need to stick around for it. Forty five minutes later the City Council began its regular session, and having previously deceived the public and sent them home, the Mayor announced that it would remain on the agenda. Leadership requires trust and confidence of those being lead. This was not the first time that Mayor Miyagishima’s conduct has eroded public trust. In my opinion, this latest incident demonstrated serious unethical conduct, a breach of public trust, and was clearly a failure in leadership. Unfortunately, there was also a lack of leadership on the part Councilors who allowed this deceit to continue. It will have to be determined if this constituted a violation of the open meeting act.
When our elected representatives lack the leadership abilities to articulate a common goal or effectively communicate policies to the public they may unintentionally resort to unethical practices to accomplish their political agendas which otherwise could not be achieved with public support. This kind of conduct makes the public question the motives and integrity of the Council. Is redistricting being done to insure incumbents retain their power or to comply with current law to insure the public is fairly and equally represented in each district. It has the appearance of pure partisan selfishness and clearly demonstrates a lack of leadership
The Mayor’s action and the Council’s complicity to clandestinely or deceitfully discuss any resolution without public comment illustrate their lack of leadership and shows their contempt for the public. Actions of this type do not demonstrate leadership skills but rather a lack of them.
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3 comments:
The city council in Las Cruces is a collection of brain-dead anti-jobs, anti-business leftists who have a political agenda that interferes with their responsibility to make best practices decisions on behalf of the citizens of Las Cruces. The whole group needs to be tossed out on their ear in the next election. They've done a horrible job.
The use of eminent domain by the Las Cruces city council is one example of unethical conduct this city council employs to achieve their political agenda. The taxpayers have not been served well by this group. A complete change is badly needed.
Who will take the opposition and how will they get their message to an electorate that doesn't seem to care? Be prepared for more of the same.
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