Playing small ball

There are going to be plenty of disappointed people in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Not just those eliminated from the race for Las Vegas mayor — even the top two vote-getters who will advance to a June 7 runoff are bound to be let down.

Why? Because the job isn’t nearly as fun, glamorous or powerful as it seems.

And, sadly, many of the candidates don’t appear to realize that.

The mayor is essentially a glorified member of the City Council, who just happens to be elected at large. The new mayor will have only one vote on the seven-member council, cannot veto proposals and can’t even hire or fire top officials without three additional votes.

In fact, the mayor’s only real duties are to run council meetings (which is a lot less exciting than it seems, as the new person will discover in the first 90 minutes or so of the inaugural meeting) and to declare emergencies in the wake of natural disasters.

Other than that, zip.

It’s not that way in other cities. Newly elected Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will have real powers, just like Mayor Mike Bloomberg does in New York and Antonio Villaraigosa in Los Angeles. If Las Vegas ever gets around to consolidating with Clark County, perhaps our mayor will acquire some real power.

For now, the person who really runs the city is Betsy Fretwell, a veteran local government manager. No matter who gets elected to replace outgoing Mayor Oscar Goodman, it’s Fretwell and her deputies who’ll be responsible for the day-to-day activities that keep the city going. (This, by the way, is a good thing.)

Meanwhile, the new mayor and other members of the council will be responsible for setting policy that the professional staff put into practice.

The police? They’re run by Sheriff Doug Gillespie, who is elected by the voters of Clark County and answers only to them. Fire Department? Yes, there’s a city fire chief, but he’s appointed by the city manager, not the City Council. Ditto for every major department head, from the parks and leisure department to the city jail.

To listen to the candidates, however, the mayor can do almost anything. Candidates Carolyn Goodman and Chris Giunchigliani have talked extensively about a role in the Clark County schools. But both candidates — if pressed — will admit schools are run by an elected board of trustees.

The mayor could no more affect school policy than he or she could order a no-fly zone over Laughlin.

Councilman Steve Ross favors tax credits for businesses that hire new workers, which points up an inconvenient truth: Most tax policy — heck, most policy in general — is determined by the Nevada Legislature, not the City Council. And state lawmakers have steadfastly refused to give local governments home rule.

Now, the city can give businesses a break on some things, such as business license or inspection fees, as restaurateur and candidate George Harris has proposed. In fact, it was the suspension of expensive liquor license fees that helped the East Fremont Entertainment District spring up.

So how did the job ever get to seem so big? Probably because the occupants of the office have been. For the past 20 years, Las Vegas has been represented by larger-than-life personalities with big ideas. Jan Jones sat atop the city for two terms, and Oscar Goodman for three. Their personalities and accomplishments — including Jones’ help for homeless people and the Fremont Street Experience and Goodman’s transformation of downtown — have made the mayor (and the limited powers of the office) seem a lot larger.

Perhaps the ultimate winner will follow the Jones-Goodman example, and use their own personality to lead the city to successes we can’t imagine. But more than likely, whoever ultimately wins the race to replace Goodman will find the job more than a little bit disappointing.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist, and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. His column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.