You will find a lot of evidence that corruption amongst elected mayors is not a recent phenomenon but almost a venerable historical tradition in some countries. T

his includes the USA, supposedly the shining exemplar which inspired successive Government's push for elected mayors here. A few examples illustrate my point:

* Albert Ames, mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late 19th and early 20th century, famous for leading the most corrupt government in the city's history.

*Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, longest tenured mayor in US history. Indicted in April 2001 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and mail fraud, found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to five years in prison.

*Anton Cermak, known as "Ten Per Cent Tony", elected as Mayor of Chicago 1931 with Mob support. In league with the Mafia, he was assassinated when he and an associate tried to take over the city's rackets.

*Anthony Russo, former mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey sentenced in 2005 to 30 months in prison after he admitted accepting $332,000 in bribes.

*Mayor Milton Milan of Camden, New Jersey sentenced in 2001 to seven years in prison on 14 counts of corruption, including taking payoffs from mobsters, accepting free home improvement work from city contractors and hiding a $65,000 loan from a drug kingpin.
New Jersey does seem to be a bit of a hotbed for corrupt elected mayors...

*Marion Barry, mayor of Washington DC, arrested in 1990 on drug charges, served 6 months in prison.

*Atlanta, Georgia, Mayor Bill Campbell convicted of tax evasion in 2006.

*San Diego, California Mayor Roger Hedgecock, charged with campaign fraud and forced to resign in 1985, midway into his first term.

*Daryl Sweeney, former mayor of the City of Carson, sentenced in 2004 to 71 months in federal prison for corruption and money laundering related to seeking bribes from refuse firms interested in securing the lucrative municipal waste contract.

* Paul Richards, former mayor of Lynwood, California 1986 - 2003, sentenced in 2005 to 16 years in prison, convicted of mail fraud, extortion, money laundering and perjury relating to funnelling of city business to a "consulting company" controlled by him and his family.

This catalogue of crime and misdemeanour isn't exclusive to the USA. It's worldwide. For example,

*in Taiwan in 2006 Keelung Mayor Hsu Tsai-li was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of corruption over a land deal.

*Alain Juppé, former mayor of Paris convicted in 2004 of corruptly having the salary of seven full time workers for his political party paid for by the City's budget. (Presumably carrying on the practice established by Monsieur Chirac?)

*Marisol Yague mayor of Marbella, Spain convicted for taking over 1.5 billion euros in bribes for corrupt building licenses, the Spanish equivalent of Planning Permissions.

*Conservative mayor Chris Morgan of North Tyneside, UK resigned from his post in 2003, a day after arrest on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

*The mayor of Grenoble, France and three water company officials were convicted of corruption in 1995 over the privatization of Grenoble's water.

...and hands up all those who forgot that Jeffrey Archer was Tory candidate for elected Mayor of London in 1999 until forced to step down when charged with the perjury and fraud accusations for which he was eventually jailed. This is just a tiny sample of the corruption evident where elected mayors prevail.

In the past, our local government system has been remarkably free from corrupt practice by elected members. I'd suggest this was due to having robust checks and balances underpinned by the long established and in my view very sensible practice of not concentrating too much power in one person. Contrast that with countries where elected mayors are a commonplace.

For every Rudy Giuliani - whose approval ratings were dreadful prior to 9/11 - there are many more Mayors - as the catalogue of miscreant directly elected mayors above illustrated - who were dismissed for various criminal offences.

I was a local Councillor in Liverpool for 19 years. My experience, contrary to received wisdom, is that the motives of the overwhelming majority of those elected (of all parties) are largely altruistic. Most seek office primarily because they want to improve the area they live in and the quality of life of those they want to represent.

Ironically, although decision making powers would be concentrated on just one person, the range of powers granted to Elected Mayors by UK central Government apart from the special case of the Mayor of London, is relatively limited. Unlike their US counterparts, Elected Mayors have no powers under UK law over Police, other local emergency services, planning regulation or local transport, for example.

However, despite their limited powers, an Elected Mayor would still get a big salary, probably well over £100,000 in a city like Liverpool. That alters in part the rationale for taking up this particular public office - it will foster political careerism. One only has to look to the USA to see the number of City Mayors who have used their mayoral position as a means to an end - as a stepping stone to higher office (Jacques Chirac for one). We have been promised that the Government will cede meaningful additional powers to elected mayors. Yeah, right. Central government's track record for that is non-existent. Any responsibilities transferred back usually come with either a woefully inadequate budget or none at all.

When one examines the detail, one finds that in practical terms, the difference between the powers available to Elected Mayors and Council Leaders like Joe Anderson is modest. The main differences lie in the marginally greater level of accountability for Council Leaders and the greater role for other Councillors. Politics is a team game.
When Liverpool City Council consulted every household in 1998/9 on the future of the bin service, the response rate was over 22%. By comparison, a similar exercise two years or so later about having an Elected Mayor saw a response rate of about 1%. Whilst some of the chattering classes may be obsessed with having an Elected Mayor and are gung-ho for it, the evidence is that the general public are largely unmoved.

Despite the general public's indifference to the concept, we see regular and disproportionate exposure and promotion of the campaign for an Elected Mayor in the local media. This is because elements of the local media would love to have an Elected Mayor, enabling them - like most of their national counterparts - to trivialise politics even further, trying to reduce it to yet another celebrity activity. Proponents of elected mayors characterise this as "greater visibility" as though this is a virtue in itself. It is redolent of the situation with our increasingly presidential style national general elections where policy now seems to take second place to the personalities and images of the respective party leaders.

Part of the Elected Mayor rationale locally is the claim that if Liverpool had one, we would not forgo BIG PROJECTS like those falling by the wayside in past years. Despite a non-stop barrage of vested interest myth-making, evidence shows it was predominantly due to failure by Government, its quangos or the private sector, e.g. the 4th Grace - promoted by two quangos, Liverpool Vision and NWDA, a project which would not have got past first base if it had been subjected to scrutiny by elected Councillors; Everton FC, a private concern, not having enough funding for a King's Dock stadium; Labour Government ministers refusing £170 million for Merseytram, then reneging on their promise to make that money available for other suitable local transport infrastructure projects.

I cannot conceive how an Elected Mayor could have made any difference whatsoever over the 4th Grace and the other particular outcomes mentioned. Perhaps Liam Fogerty will explain why that would not be so. Perhaps while he's at it, he might also tell us who has been funding his campaign for the past 10 years or so. The fact is that Liverpool is unrecognisable from the basket case of 15-20 years ago and that progress was achieved without an elected mayor.

If a referendum endorsed having an Elected Mayor, I agree with Professor Rex Makin that it would inevitably mean the marginalisation and early disappearance of the much loved office of Lord Mayor with its centuries of tradition. Who would be deemed to be Liverpool's first citizen? Who would be designated to meet and greet royalty, civic delegations and other dignitaries visiting the City or to make foreign trips promoting Liverpool and its businesses? How and by whom would it be decided which Mayor does what? One of the main advantages of having a Lord Mayor is that the people of Liverpool love and respect the office, not the person who holds the office for a year. In some manner a Lord Mayor proud to have become our first citizen after long service to the community symbolises the city of Liverpool in a way that a careerist Elected Mayor on £100k plus could never do. If campaigners for an elected Mayor are so certain that the post and status of our Lord Mayor would be unaffected, it is their duty to clarify to the citizens of Liverpool exactly how that would be achieved. I would hate to see Liam Fogerty and his supporters succeed in ditching the Lord Mayoralty for ever where Derek Hatton and Militant failed.

Following referenda, in the third or so of areas which decided to have an elected mayor, nearly all are party politicians who were either the council leader before becoming mayor or a party group leader. In addition, whilst about one third of all council leaders are women, hardly any women are elected mayors. The more macho mayoral system putting a premium on charisma seemingly suits men more than women. Women politicians usually adopt a more consensual, less thrusting style.

For me, this issue is not about short term political gain but basic principle. The greater the concentration of power, the greater the potential for misuse. We ignore these historical realities at our peril. Say NO to an elected mayor for Liverpool.