Question for anyone with knowledge of US local government

[manyeyedhydra]

Hi, I have a character that is a corrupt politician working out of the city hall of an unspecified US city. The gist of the story is that a mob boss is bribing him with money and call girls in order to win a contract to build a lucrative casino. I need to give the politician a rank/title, but I'm not sure what would be the correct one.

I've gone with Deputy Mayor, but I'm not sure that position would have the authority.

Would Councillor or Councilman be better?

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

thanks

 

[Guest]

Hi, I have a character that is a corrupt politician working out of the city hall of an unspecified US city. The gist of the story is that a mob boss is bribing him with money and call girls in order to win a contract to build a lucrative casino. I need to give the politician a rank/title, but I'm not sure what would be the correct one.

I've gone with Deputy Mayor, but I'm not sure that position would have the authority.

Would Councillor or Councilman be better?

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

thanks

We have a City Manager and a Mayor.

The manager reports only to the mayor, and the manager's duties include budgets and supervising departments.

That could work in your story, perhaps?

 

[Emperor_Nero]

Hi, I have a character that is a corrupt politician working out of the city hall of an unspecified US city. The gist of the story is that a mob boss is bribing him with money and call girls in order to win a contract to build a lucrative casino. I need to give the politician a rank/title, but I'm not sure what would be the correct one.

I've gone with Deputy Mayor, but I'm not sure that position would have the authority.

Would Councillor or Councilman be better?

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

thanks

Living near Chicago, which is traditionally considered one of the most corrupt cities in the US, you'd probably actually want to go with the Mayor himself -- as that's where the power ultimately rests. Deputy mayor is an appointed position, not elected, but I suppose if you had the character of the mayor being weak and easily manipulated, the Deputy Mayor would work.

Although perhaps the larger problem is that local government has almost no say in anything to do with a casino being built or who gets the contracts. As far as I know, in every US state that has any form of legalized casino gambling, ALL of the decisions about where casinos are built, who builds them and who is allowed to possess the licence to operate it are handled by the State Gaming Board or State Gaming Commission. Chicago's Mayor Daley has been calling for a casino in the city for years, but can't do anything because the State Gaming Commission won't approve a licence to be issued in the city -- and nothing gets done without a licence.

 

[R. Richard]

Hi, I have a character that is a corrupt politician working out of the city hall of an unspecified US city. The gist of the story is that a mob boss is bribing him with money and call girls in order to win a contract to build a lucrative casino. I need to give the politician a rank/title, but I'm not sure what would be the correct one.

I've gone with Deputy Mayor, but I'm not sure that position would have the authority.

Would Councillor or Councilman be better?

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

thanks

In a council/Mayor form of government, almost all real power lies with the Mayor. However, for something like a casino, the council would have to approve. Even after the Mayor and council approved a casino, it is likely that there would need to be approval from something like a state gaming authority. If you want your story to work, the Mayor would need some interaction with the state gaming authority.

A City Manager, is typically a business manager. The City Manager has a great deal of power, but not in a case like a casino.

You might consider something like an 'Indian casino.' An Indian tribe is regulated only by Congress. However, a Mayor's strong backing could do a lot for the establishment of a casino.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Nero is right. Gaming is out of local government hands. It's controlled by the state. You might even have to go to the legislature to get that one passed. The only reason Connecticut has casinos is because they have Indian reservations up there.

 

[jomar]

Hi MEH...I like city manager for the role. Google mayor's duties and city manager's duties and see which fits best and which you like for the part.

You could probably work around the gaming commission by having the gaming commission simply says yes or no to the casino and keep tabs on it, but leaves the building and operations up to the city.

 

[Weird Harold]

Hi, I have a character that is a corrupt politician working out of the city hall of an unspecified US city. The gist of the story is that a mob boss is bribing him with money and call girls in order to win a contract to build a lucrative casino. I need to give the politician a rank/title, but I'm not sure what would be the correct one.

I've gone with Deputy Mayor, but I'm not sure that position would have the authority.

Would Councillor or Councilman be better?

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

thanks

I'd change your "casino" into a resort or nightclub -- something City Zoning Commissions have a lot of influence over without involving higher government regulations.

Your mobster can then turn it into a "speakeasy" gaming and sports book establishment with "a senior member of the zoning commission" or "a long-time city councilman" to run interference for him with the local police and politicians.

PS: You might want to move your politician up to County government so he can fix County Zoning restrictions outside of city jurisdiction. It's often easier to deal with County government than with City governments.

 

[3113]

Hi, I have a character that is a corrupt politician working out of the city hall of an unspecified US city. The gist of the story is that a mob boss is bribing him with money and call girls in order to win a contract to build a lucrative casino.

LOL! Governor.

Look, your problem is that a state or city doesn't give out contracts for anyone to build a casino. They give out contracts for people to build parks or city hall or police stations. People make bids, and the city gives them the contract and pays them for building a bridge or a school.

What you're talking about is whether someone gets to build their casino on the land they want, and build it the way they want--no environmental impact report, no traffic problems report, that sort of thing. If gambling is legal, than you've got a Las Vegas situation, and anyone giving the zoning committee guy the most call girls and money could win the right to build their casino the way they want.

If it's a situation as in California, where gambling is legal only if you're an Indian Tribe, then you're bribing the Governor.

 

[Weird Harold]

...If gambling is legal, than you've got a Las Vegas situation ...

Where non-indian gaming is legal -- Nevada, Atlantic city, river boats, etc -- the state gaming commission are very hard to convince that "a Mob Boss" should be permitted to have any connection whatsoever with a legal casino. Hell, it's gotten to the point where running numbers as a teenager is enough "mob connection" to block a license application.

Bugsy Segal and his mob connections may have built Las Vegas into the "Gaming Capital of America," but even in the heyday of Mob rule in Vegas, proveable mob connections were enough to get a casino license pulled. Now with the hotel corporations dominating casino operations, even a hint of mob connections is enough to get a license pulled.

That's why the conctruction needs to officially be some business other than a "casino" and the gaming operations need to be "underground."

 

[sr71plt]

The nature of local government in the States is that no two are alike. You can pretty much give him the title of anything that sounds plausible enough not to distract the reader.

 

[3113]

Where non-indian gaming is legal -- Nevada, Atlantic city, river boats, etc -- the state gaming commission are very hard to convince that "a Mob Boss" should be permitted to have any connection whatsoever with a legal casino. Hell, it's gotten to the point where running numbers as a teenager is enough "mob connection" to block a license application.

Bugsy Segal and his mob connections may have built Las Vegas into the "Gaming Capital of America," but even in the heyday of Mob rule in Vegas, proveable mob connections were enough to get a casino license pulled. Now with the hotel corporations dominating casino operations, even a hint of mob connections is enough to get a license pulled.

That's why the conctruction needs to officially be some business other than a "casino" and the gaming operations need to be "underground."

Agreed. I was simply saying that if gambling is legal, than the person to be bribed can be a zoning committee--no matter if the guy bribing him is a "mob boss" or Larry Flint opening a new Hustler Casino.

Likely, however, unless this is a historical piece, it's not a known mob boss. Such people buy legitimate seeming businesses, as in the Sopranos and run illegal and under-the-table gambling in other businesses. If it's illegal, then, as you say, they have to be building something other than a casino.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

Ooh. I like Governor.

Shame it doesn't fit with the ending. I want to give them a title with a nice ring to it, but they can't be too high profile. I think I'm looking for a basic bureaucrat that has enough authority to sign the right pieces of paper, but is low profile enough that they can 'disappear' without creating too much of a media storm.

I'm leaning towards the rather bland but functional 'Councillor'.

Good points on the legality of casino's. Gambling laws muddle things too much. I'll change that to 'entertainment complex.'

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

City Council President. That's the chair of the body. He or she controls all the patronage and contract plums, committee assignments, the agenda, and lots more.

 

[Oblimo]

If the scheme itself is not central to the plot or action - that is, if the bribery is the justification/McGuffin to get you to the scenes you want -- you can always just use the term "councilman," which could mean pretty much anything. Or "Alderman," that's a nice opaque term.