Once again, Diana Hamilton has used her platform at SRQ Daily to tout her perceived advantages of revising the City Charter to call for the election of a “strong” mayor. Once again, she must be called out for underestimating the intelligence of her audience.

Ms. Hamilton complains that there is presently “no one to run the show…to work things out.” The City, she asserts, needs a mayor “who answers when we call"…one who is "smart, honest and believes in the city."

To her incomprehensible complaint that “no one is running the show” now, I ask, Does she believe the city is running on automatic pilot? Furthermore, how are we to be sure that her “strong” mayor will not be in the pocket of a Boss Tweed, a Mayor Jimmy Walker or cast in the mold of the disgraced Governor Blagojevich? Do elections come with guarantees? Finally, as she impliedly suggests, are the present Commissioners and City Manager not up to her standard of “smartness and honesty?”

Ms. Hamilton has steadfastly declined my invitations to offer reasons in support of turning over city government to essentially one individual for four years at least. Instead, adding to her previous platitudes, unsupported conclusions and tiresome efforts at humor, she now wishes us to settle for a mayor “we live next door to” (all of us?); who “answers when we call” (especially if the “we” is a builder or other special interest); “a mayor we wave to on the street" (nice touch).

In sum, Ms. Hamilton offers not a single reason calculated to convince any thinking person to sign the petition she touts. She seeks support merely on her brew of disjointed clichés pitched in her customary down-home style, which is no substitute for rational thought.

Frank Brenner, responding to "The Miracle Mayor" column in the June 21 edition of SRQ Daily