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January 29, 2009 05:24 AM UTC

Boulder Liberal (Mayor) Heads to DC...But can the Prairie Dogs go too?

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Dabee47

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Interesting piece of news out of Boulder, Mayor Shaun McGrath is off to DC to join the Obama Administration.

McGrath will serve as deputy director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, where he’ll be responsible for working with the nation’s 50 governors on a wide range of policies.

http://www.dailycamera.com/new…

Kudos to Shaun as I’ve always found him to be a bright and all around nice guy.  Being mayor doesn’t mean a whole lot other than being top (prairie?) dog on the city council, but still, not a bad gig if you can get it.

Of course, it means our fair city needs a new mayor.  Us silly voters have no say, but for the handful of you on this here blog who live in Boulder, who should be next?  Heck, even if you aren’t in Boulder, which of the no-names on the council should get to bang the gavel each week?  

Who knows, maybe it will be DavidThi’s favorite scofflaw Crystal Gray.  🙂

P.S. Yes, I realize I made two prairie dog jokes in one diary…

Who should be the next mayor of Boulder?

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18 thoughts on “Boulder Liberal (Mayor) Heads to DC…But can the Prairie Dogs go too?

  1. Who’s mayor of that freakish disaster of a city?  What’s the point?

    Full disclosure: unlike probably any of you or the people on that list, I was born and raised in the twilight zone totally void of an atom of common sense, Boulder, CO.

    1. thanks for reminding us you’re a repub…

      Anyway, of course it matters.  Some of us…uh…live here now, ya know?  Crazy how we might find that mildly worthwhile…

            1. and has been off and on the city council forever.  Maybe it would be a good idea to give someone else a try at the helm.

              Crystal Gray is Boulder’s Blago – she shouldn’t be anywhere near that list.

  2. for thoughts on revamping the mayoral position in Boulder. Currently the position is, as Dabee noted, largely ceremonial but what if we made it a city-wide elected position and gave it many of the responsibilities currently delegated to the city manager’s office, making city manager something like de facto chief of staff to the mayor instead of all-powerful controller of the city. And yes I am using hyperbole there, but really the power of the city manager’s office (for a town Boulder’s size) is crazy and I don’t see any benefit to structuring the city that way.

    1. A movement is afoot to change the 70 year old weak mayor/city manager system into a strong mayor one with two more at large seats on the council.  

      As in the digital TV thread, “Follow the Money.”  Pro-growth forces are behind it after suffering at the polls from the no/slow/smart growth folks.

      Political memory is short (if 70 years can be called short.)  Just like in LA, which has had an elected Chief of Police back when, then appointed, then back to elected based on the horror story of the moment.  

    2. a directly elected mayor, but I like the Council-Manager form of gov’t for a city the size of Boulder.  

      For one, I’m not sure I’d want anyone currently on the council to have the same authority as the city manager.  More than a few wingnuts, obviously…  Second, you’d obviously have to pay someone to be a full-time, or more significant part-time, mayor.  Being on the city council doesn’t pay much and is very much a part time job.

      I look at my hometown of Berkeley and we have a reasonably strong mayor and council in a city only about 10% bigger than Boulder.  I’m not sure it’s worth it.

      Separate council districts (instead of being elected at-large) lead to people constantly fighting for their area and the city as a whole is ignored.

      Frankly, the mayor’s strength is also a liability.  He’s a bit of a local political legend (20-odd years in the Assembly, wife’s a State Sen and former mayor of Berkeley herself…) so anything he backs happens.  

      All in all, I like Boulder’s system.  Of course it could be improved, but I don’t know how strong I want these nutjobs to be.  🙂

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