Politicians often wind up with the nickname they deserve. Think of “The Great Emancipator” Abraham Lincoln and “The Great Communicator” Ronald Reagan. Or conversely, “Tricky Dick” Richard Nixon and “Slick Willie” Bill Clinton.
So it gives us no pleasure to report that after his first year in office, Charleston Mayor William Cogswell is looking less like a noble “Prince William” and more like a secretive “Backroom Billy.”
Here are just a few of the issues Charlestonians didn’t have an opportunity to openly debate last year due to the shroud of silence that Cogswell and his highly-paid City Hall flacks have thrown over city affairs.
- The secret contract: In his first month, Cogswell hired his campaign’s marketing firm to turn the city’s social media channels into feel-good propaganda organs for the mayor’s office. What’s worse, the contract was inked for a hair less than $100,000, thus keeping the price slightly below the magic number requiring City Council approval and public disclosure. The arrangement only came to light through a City Paper Freedom of Information Act request.
- A backroom development deal: Aside from a paltry number of affordable housing units and a promise of undefined “drainage improvements,” what exactly did city taxpayers get for their $48 million investment at the old Piggly Wiggly site in West Ashley? And just as important, why was this sweet development deal cooked up behind closed doors in the mayor’s office, instead of going through the city’s procurement process?
- Change of government: When Cogswell hired a first-ever chief of staff at $250,000 a year, he essentially switched from a hands-on strong mayor form of government into a weaker one that insulated the top elected official from department heads. So now, the chief of staff directly manages about 2o people, compared to just three for the mayor. And like the marketing contract, he made this change without a public debate involving city council.
- Potential conflicts of interest: Cogswell says he’s “stepped back” from managing WECCO, the development company he ran before taking office. But what does that really mean? Does he never discuss business with his wife Lucile, who took the reins as president of the company named after him? Or does it mean something less, well, stringent? We don’t know — and neither do city taxpayers or council members.
- The Navy Base deal: WECCO also is one of three companies redeveloping the former Navy Base site — the largest public-private development project in North Charleston history. But Charleston and North Charleston sometimes have very different interests, such as the ongoing lawsuit between the two municipalities over West Ashley annexations. Has the mayor recused himself from negotiations with the city of North Charleston, which effectively holds the purse-strings on his multibillion dollar redevelopment deal? Charleston taxpayers don’t know – because he hasn’t said.
So what does all this add up to? Good question. And we’d like to ask him. But for more than a year now, Cogswell has refused repeated City Paper requests for a sit-down interview — just as he reportedly declined a recent request by The Post and Courier.
But answering tough questions and doing city business in the clear light of day is just part of the job of being mayor. Unless you want to be known as a Backroom Billy.
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