Friday, January 14, 2011

Mayor Mark Mallory To Be on TV; Ghiz is Pissed

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory reportedly will be featured in the reality TV show 'Undercover Boss', where he goes to work along side city workers, but does so in disguise. The rumor mill indicates that his disguise includes dreadlocks.

This is great. We need all the positive promotion of the City we can get. Hopefully we'll see city workers doing a good job, not asleep on the job. Getting good attention for the city is the job of the Mayor. If he can get a spot on a nation TV show, all the better.

In what sounds like a plot line from an episode of the television show Parks & Recreation, council member Leslie Ghiz is the party pooper. Here's some of what WVXU reported:
"I shouldn't say shocked, because nothing he does shocks me," Ghiz said. "The bottom line is he's nobodies boss, that's the funny part about all this. The only people who answer to him directly are the people who work in his office."

Ghiz says she is working on a motion with at least one other Council Member to find out if any city money was involved and how much employee time was devoted to the project.

She may also ask the show's producers in her words, "to cease and desist" from airing the mayor's episode.
I'm at a loss on why Ghiz is not talking about another TV show airing where Four Cincinnati Police officers are on the job during the filming. Were police department funds used to film that television program? If that question is not included in the motion to investigate the Mayor mentioned in the article, then there would be few in Cincinnati that had earned the title of hypocrite better than Leslie Ghiz and the other mystery council member(s). If you don't want to investigate a pro-police show, but do want to investigate a show showing non-FOP worker, then I think a clear bias and contradiction can be exhibited.

I'd also like to know the legal basis Ghiz would use when she is asking anyone outside her limited purview as a council member to do anything. She's only the boss of her small staff, after all.  I'm no lawyer, but I would say other than asking as private citizen, Ghiz has no authority to send a 'cease and desist' letter on behalf of the City of Cincinnati.  If I was a producer of the show, I'd laugh if I got such a letter from her or any other council member.

I'll speculate on the "real" reason Leslie Ghiz is pissed about the 'Undercover Boss' episode featuring the Mayor. I would guess jealously. Could it be that someone still hasn't gotten over the rejection from the reality TV show 'Bridezillas'? You can't already be married and appear on that show. I thought that was obvious...

10 comments:

  1. On one hand, I like that Ghiz is up front and "out there," so to speak, with how she feels about stuff. On the surface, that alone is sorta nice. The problem comes in when she comes across as pretty much obsessed with criticizing the Mayor's office. It seems to go beyond politics.

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  2. When is Ghiz NOT pissed & cranky? Maybe she could get on Wife Swap & we might get a decent councilwoman for a week.

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  3. Jizz gets pissed when she's not the center of attention

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  4. I think the mayor on this show is awesome, I can't wait to watch it.

    Ghiz is a nutter

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  5. Easy: Undercover boss will demonstrate two things:
    1) City workers working hard doing great jobs
    2) The mayor accepting the challenge of city dept. Heads to step into the shoes of their employees before the next budget debate

    This show has the potential to demonstrate all of the city jobs and the valuable asset they are to us. This is in direct conflict with Ghiz's agenda, which has become more and more centered on limiting city services to Fire and Police.

    BTW, the Mayor is the "boss", by virtue of being the public face of the city and by being the sole person who can appoint and fire (with a council approval vote) the city manager. Leslie Ghiz must still be using an old version of the city charter.

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  6. Coleman: Say what you want about the merits of the mayor appearing on Undercover Boss. I won't make up my mind until I see the show. But as for the mayor's authority, you're wrong. Almost all appointments (perhaps all appointments, in fact) are made by the city manager with Council's approval, not the mayor.

    Search the blog's archives for posts on potential charter reform and moving to a strong mayor system; we've talked about this before.

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  7. What's creepier?

    Griff's obsession with Applebee's or Leslie Ghiz?

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  8. Yeah, they should have stuck with the City Charter and filmed the "Undercover Boss" episode with City Manager Milton Dohoney.

    That would have rocketed the episode's ratings past the "Who Shot JR?" episode of "Dallas."

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  9. Donald - I fail to see how I am "wrong". You stated exactly what I stated. The mayor has the authority to hire and fire the city manager (Article III, Section 2 of the charter), with council's blessing. The city manager makes all the lower appointments, with council's blessing. Therefore, if the city manager is appointing bad candidates, or making other bad decisions in managing the city, the mayor has the power to fire the city manager and replace them.

    Ergo - The mayor is the boss.

    On top of that, Section 2 also states that "The mayor is recognized as the official head and representative of the city for all purposes, except as provided otherwise in this charter".

    The mayor is in charge of Cincinnati just like Steve Jobs is in charge of Apple. Jobs doesn't go around hiring and firing all the people at the Apple Stores around the country, but if "Undercover Boss" were to film at Apple, there is nobody else they'd pick than Steve Jobs.

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  10. The mayor is the boss of the Dept of Sanitation the way that the US president is the boss of the Dept of Defense. The president appoints the Secretary of Defense with legislative approval, and the SecDef administers the functions.

    Ghiz lives in a Randian dreamworld wherein ideas are enacted by strength of will and truth.

    Perhaps her misunderstanding of the functions of city government are the reason that she never votes in favor of anything.

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