THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 16, 1995 TAG: 9504150100
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer has spared the city considerable heartache by his resignation Friday.
For Mr. Dwyer to have continued in office would surely have destroyed whatever confidence the citizens of Chesapeake have managed to retain in their government. We are indebted to him, at least, for recognizing the futility of such a course.
In his resignation letter, Mr. Dwyer persists in the claim, by now clearly understood as absurd, that he never committed ``any improper act.'' He continues to blame ``personal attacks'' and ``newspaper articles'' for his troubles, refusing to accept responsibility for them himself.
But whether Mr. Dwyer has the character to admit it or not, his actions were improper. They would have been improper even if he had not been recorded in the act of committing them.
It's not so unusual for men under the influence of testosterone to act like fools. But the city's troubles with Mr. Dwyer did not begin with his dalliance with the woman he called ``baby.''
It has been clear for some time now that Mr. Dwyer, by sheer force of his personality, has become more than one vote out of nine on City Council. Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and the lack of alternative leadership on the council has permitted Mr. Dwyer to assume an extraordinary level of influence over city affairs.
Little by little, other members of the council have ceded authority to him far beyond that ascribed to a vice mayor by the City Charter. He has come to take for granted that he speaks not just for himself, but for other, weaker members of the body. What council-watcher can forget the night he engaged in a tug o' war with the mayor over the gavel?
His present troubles do not seem to have diminished that power much. One of his loyalists could not even bring himself to support a criminal investigation of his activities. Others sanctimoniously attacked those who brought the case to light. Some simply clammed up.
On the whole, their response to the crisis has been disappointing. It is as if, like Mr. Dwyer, they do not fully appreciate the damage that Mr. Dwyer's tape-recorded words have done:
No woman will be able to approach the podium in City Council chambers without wondering whether more attention is being given to the shape of her calf than what she has to say.
No African-American citizens can be sure that they won't be stereotyped and called by racial epithets when the councilman are alone together in a back room.
No property-owner can be confident that his or her interests are given equal consideration with those of wealthy business interests and campaign contributors.
No city employee can do his job without fear of political pressure.
Unfortunately, Mr. Dwyer's departure is too late to restore all the faith that has been lost.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL by CNB