Manhattan Beach: Hadley As Mayor Cliffhanger Answered In Advance?

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — If tradition has its way, it's a done deal for Mayor Pro Tem Suzanne Hadley to become mayor of Manhattan Beach during the City Council meeting tomorrow [Tuesday, Dec. 1]. And that's due to a tradition started in the 1970s to keep partisan politics out of the city's mayorship by having a rotation of council members who feed into the mayor's position.

Manhattan Beach City Council has abided by that unofficial mandate ever since and so, council member after council member has taken their time at the helm of the city as mayor.

But in recent months and weeks, there's been a bounty of public outcry about Hadley serving as mayor. She, indeed, is in line for the next mayoral rotation for the city of Manhattan Beach but many residents have questioned her ability to serve as mayor as well as made an issue of her actions and words.

In spite of that, Hadley has been getting muscle and aid from at least one council member who has advised her on how to deal with the scenario of residents questioning her ability to serve now, during the pandemic, and otherwise, even if there wasn't a pandemic.

Said Council member Steve Napolitano, who has years of political experience under his belt serving as former Los Angeles Supervisor Don Knabe's right hand man and eight years previously on Manhattan Beach City Council and then his current four-year stint and his recent re-election, "I don't agree with a lot that she's [Hadley] said and done and I've said so several times over, but she has every right to say them. Again, I had a very honest talk with her about these things before she wrote her letter [a public statement issued on Wednesday, Nov. 18] and I'm hoping her future actions will be informed by the words in that letter going forward."

Prior to Manhattan Beach Patch mentioning that the public movement questioning whether or not Hadley should serve as mayor beginning Tues., Dec. 1 could be about the need for a more experienced council member to lead the city through what remains of the pandemic, Napolitano said, "As to what happens on Dec. 1, your guess is as good as mine, but a lot of folks think they know, and nobody seems to be saying it's not going to be brought up [delaying Hadley's mayoral duty or removing her from it altogether]. I've received emails and comments from those for and against the next scheduled rotation.

"My understanding is that it takes three votes to make a mayor and three votes to unmake a mayor. Effective is in the eyes of the beholder—to date we've followed a traditional rotation. I've served alongside a lot of folks, each with their own strengths and weaknesses but all devoted to our community. All of them rotated in and out of the mayor's position and Manhattan Beach has survived us all. Regardless of who's mayor, every council member still has a vote and a voice, and it takes three votes to make anything happen."

Napolitano, who is known as a traditionalist when it comes to the city he grew up in and who has served on its city council, isn't known to make waves, instead, opting to remain true to what his experience in the city has been.

But when pressed to discuss Hadley's qualifications to serve during what has been a very trying period, he said, "I think the whole idea of extending Richard's [current Mayor Montgomery] term because of the pandemic rings rather hollow. Some of the same folks who are making that argument now, previously just said they didn't want Suzanne as mayor. Now they're saying we need to not rotate because of the pandemic and by the way, they still don't want Suzanne as mayor or they want her to take over six months from now, even though nobody knows what will be happening six months from now either. I think it's more honest to say they just don't want Suzanne to be mayor."

Napolitano also thinks the outcry to delay or cancel Hadley's term as mayor, saying, when discussing the matter, "... at the risk of making something that should be undramatic even more dramatic..." is more puff than facts.

He noted that, "Well, it depends—if we're really talking about the need for continuity and experience, then the example [of not having Hadley serve as mayor right now] is pretty spot on. If we're talking about the things Suzanne has done and said, then yeah, it's different. But those things she's said and done are her opinions. They aren't violations of the law or ethics, which I think would warrant a departure from traditions, but that's not the deal here."

Napolitano also noted that regardless of who is mayor, "Richard will still be on council. Suzanne will still be on council. For folks who don't want Suzanne to be mayor now, what's going to change in six months that will make them want her as mayor then? It still takes three votes to do anything, the mayor doesn't act alone or has a bigger vote than anyone else. We've worked together as a team on all these issues since the beginning of the pandemic and most of the votes have been 5-0.

"I have no problem with putting tradition aside when it's warranted, but I also don't think tradition should be tossed aside unless there's a really good reason either. It takes three votes to make a mayor, it takes three votes to remove a mayor and the mayor can always be removed by council when and if it chooses. I understand some folks consider some things Suzanne has done to be divisive, and I'm one of them and I've had a talk with her about it. But are we really going to fix divisiveness with more divisiveness? Or do we give her a chance and go from there? She says she's learned her lesson and I hope she has.

"The other thing about traditions is they're predictable, we know when they happen. In this case, we knew when the rotation was and all of this could have been discussed at any time since the pandemic started months ago, yet here it is being brought up on the very night of the rotation. If folks wanted to have this discussion, maybe even have Suzanne buy into it, then we could have had this discussion months ago or even last month. Instead, we've manufactured our own drama, which is exactly what the tradition of rotating the mayor's seat is meant to avoid."

In exploring the question further, Napolitano said, "Let me turn this around on you—do you know of any other city, or for that matter, any level of government that has delayed such a transition because of the pandemic? Mary Campbell is in her first term on the Hermosa City Council and rotated in as mayor there just before the pandemic hit. Should she have given up her seat as a 'newbie' on council to a more seasoned council member to steer the city through it? Well, she didn't and she did a great job for Hermosa. And after doing that great job, did they keep her as mayor 'even with a crisis like the city and U.S. has never seen in modern times'? No, they just rotated and Justin Massey will do a great job too."

To Napolitano, "A spirit of collaboration, humility, empathy and the desire to solve problems is a good start..." to being a mayor. How the public views that in terms of Hadley remains to be seen, though she definitely has her supporters.

In his "Coffee With the Mayor" public event last Wednesday, Mayor Richard Montgomery opened up, sharing his thoughts on the Hadley as mayor matter. When asked the following by a Manhattan Beach resident, "I actually just wanted to know if you were supporting staying on as mayor beyond your term? ..." Montgomery said, "Well, number one, no council member in California can tell you how they're going to vote on anything before it comes up at a public meeting. But listen to what I'm going to say carefully. Anyone that's gone through what I've gone through, the last thing he or she wants to do is do it again."