The mayor of Akron, Ohio, resigned suddenly on Friday and blamed his quick departure on the the city’s newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal.
“I do not believe that my hometown newspaper is interested in the truth,” Mayor Don Plusquellic wrote in his resignation letter, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. “I am done fighting this madness.”
Beacon Journal Publisher Mark Cohen rebutted Plusquellic’s accusations in a written statement on Friday.
“It is disturbing to me that the mayor would leave office this way,” Cohen said, according to the Beacon Journal. “The newspaper has a history of reporting honestly and fairly. To accuse us of somehow causing his resignation is just not rational.”
According to the Beacon Journal, the paper has covered Plusquellic’s recent dispute with Akron Councilman Bob Hoch. Plusquellic allegedly ordered the Akron police chief to keep Hoch from attending the State of the City speech in March. According to a letter obtained by the Beacon Journal, Plusquellic was afraid Hoch would shoot him at the speech due to threats Hoch allegedly made during council meetings.
Hoch and other council members have called for an investigation into Plusquellic’s accusations, according to the Beacon Journal.
In his resignation letter, Plusquellic claimed that the Beacon Journal did not want to interview the mayor’s cabinet members about the dispute with Hoch, and he accused the paper of running an inappropriate column about him.
H/t Political Wire
Akron has a population of under 200,000 and the mayor has a cabinet?
@AntiSachetDeThe: Where else would he keep the liquor?
There was a mention of it in the linked article, and it appears that the cabinet is simply the members of the City Council.
Some older cities still have a so-called Strong Mayor form of government, in which the elected mayor oversees day-to-day administration of city business, drafts a budget, and handles hiring and firing of city staff. In that system the city council functions in a legislative role, and the mayor in the executive or administrative role.
Many newer cities have a Council - Manager form of government. In that system, the elected city council as a body hires a professional city manager who handles the day-to-day functions of city operations, the elected mayor serves a ceremonial role chairing meetings, representing the city at formal functions or ribbon-cuttings and casting votes along with other members of the council, and the council acts as the legislative branch approving city ordinances and resolutions.
EDIT: It appears the word Cabinet might also refer to the city’s department heads. It’s not entirely clear.
It depends on the state. In Massachusetts, a municipality incorporated as a town by definition is run by a town council that appoints day-to-day managers. Incorporation as a city means it switches to a strong mayor form of government with a board of aldermen.
No mention of which political persuasion the mayor is but not blaming the ‘liberal’ media rules out teabagger.