Stop Being Intimidated by Titles

One of the strangest habits Americans have developed is treating elected officials like royalty.

Mayor. Councilmember. Supervisor. Congressman. Senator. Judge.

Those titles do not all carry the same authority. And they certainly do not make the person holding them superior to the citizen standing in front of them.

California city councils do have substantial local authority. They adopt ordinances, approve budgets, make land-use decisions, establish policy and oversee city government. In many cities, an appointed city manager then handles daily administration.

That distinction matters.

A mayor generally cannot simply decide, personally, that you are going to jail. A councilmember cannot individually rewrite state law because they dislike you.

That does not mean local officials are powerless. It means their power has boundaries.

Respect the office. Know the law. Know the process. But do not confuse a title with ownership of the community.

The office exists because the public created it.

Editor's note: This is opinion and commentary from Capt., not a Gazette news report. General claims about city council pay and disclosure law were checked against California Government Code §36516 (council compensation is capped by a city's population tier for general-law cities) and the FPPC's Form 700 requirement, both of which are real. This piece does not state, and we did not independently confirm, an exact current dollar figure for any official's pay — check the city's own posted compensation schedule for that.