Full-time schedule, part-time salary
Beyond issues like streetcars and taxes, Charlotte's two mayoral candidates disagree about something more fundamental - the nature of the job they're trying to win.
Is it part-time or full-time?
The city's top job pays part-time wages and is, on paper at least, part-time in its demands. But Democrat Anthony Foxx says it's time to recognize the realities of what it takes to lead a growing city.
"It is a full-time job," he said Friday. He doesn't want to receive a full-time salary, but said any successor should have the option.
Republican John Lassiter, on the other hand, would be comfortable as a part-time mayor. The election is Nov. 3.
"I've found I can do a lot of things in a very focused way without having to be a full-time mayor," he said. "I don't think I have to significantly change my allocation of time to still be the kind of mayor Charlotte needs."
Charlotte is one of the largest cities in the country with a council-manager form of government, where the mayor and council make policy but a professional manager runs day-to-day operations.
Few are suggesting Charlotte go the way of cities such as New York or Chicago, which have so-called "strong mayor" formats where the mayor runs the government. That kind of government is not even possible under current N.C. law. Nor, according to some, is it even desirable.
Charlotte already has arguably the most powerful mayor in the state; it is the only big city where the mayor can veto city council decisions.
But that hasn't stopped the debate over how active a mayor needs to be.
McCrory: It's a full-time job
Incumbent Republican Mayor Pat McCrory, who is stepping down after 14 years, has been the closest to a full-time mayor as Charlotte has had. For years he had a full-time job with Duke Energy, though his schedule with the company was not clear.
Like Foxx, he calls the mayor's job full-time.
"It just means a person has two jobs," he said. "It's a second full-time job with unpredictable hours."
In one week, McCrory's public calendar included nearly 24 hours of meetings and other public appearances. That didn't include staff meetings or time he spends in national roles, with the U.S. Conference of Mayors or a U.S. Homeland Security committee.
McCrory also took leadership positions with two national mayors' organizations.
McCrory said the job has changed since he was first elected in 1995.
When he ran for re-election two years ago, for example, he cast himself as a crisis manager, handling floods, emergencies and evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. He called it the "Giuliani effect" - the post-9-11 appeal of a strong mayor.
"The difference that's occurred with me," he says, "is the mayor has become the chief spokesman and lobbyist for the city."
Juggling schedules
Foxx said he would take the job beyond that.
"Mayor McCrory has put a lot of his energy into the economic development side and selling Charlotte elsewhere," he said. "We're going to have to be able to keep doing that, and sell Charlotte to Charlotteans to encourage and tap the can-do spirit of this community."
Foxx, a lawyer, said he began a part-time schedule at the Hunton & Williams law firm when he was first elected to council in 2005. He said he would continue a similar schedule if elected mayor, a job that pays $39,900 a year in salary and expenses.
Lassiter, who runs his own legal staffing firm with offices in two states, said he would continue to juggle his job with his public role, as he's done over six years on the council and 11 years on the school board. Doing that, he said, "keeps you connected to real people and real problems."
Before McCrory, Charlotte mayors juggled the office with full-time jobs. Richard Vinroot practiced law. Sue Myrick helped run an advertising firm; Harvey Gantt worked as an architect. Eddie Knox was a lawyer.
Before them all, John Belk led Charlotte from 1969 to 1977 and ran a chain of department stores.
"I don't think you'd have the people of caliber that have offered to run for mayor going back as far as I remember were it a full-time job," said Vinroot. "They wouldn't have done it. I think we've had good civic leadership because they could do it and still be part of their business or run their business."
How many terms?
Foxx said he would serve no more than four terms.
Lassiter has suggested he'd serve no more than three terms, just as he has on council and before that on the school board.
Unlike Foxx, he doesn't think Charlotte needs a full-time mayor.
"If we had a full-time mayor," he told a group last spring, "neither Anthony nor I would probably be running today." Staff writers Tim Funk and Peter St. Onge contributed.
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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Google Maps
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