The District of Columbia financial control board is planning to delegate power to run virtually the entire District government to the winner of yesterday's mayoral election, sources said, a move that significantly increases the importance of the race.
The mayor-elect - either Ms Carol Schwartz (Republican) or Mr Anthony A. Williams (Democrat) - will meet control board officials tomorrow morning to discuss the details of the far-reaching new arrangement, sources said. The transfer of power is designed to permit the mayor-elect to work on the city budget, personnel matters and other critical issues during the transition period leading up to January's inauguration.
Under the plan, the new mayor and the DC Council chairman will regularly attend meetings with the presidentially-appointed control board, which in the past has met behind closed doors and conducted important debates without locally elected officials present.
In addition, the Chief Management Officer, Ms Camille C. Barnett, who currently has day-today authority over most city agencies, will report both to the mayor and the control board, giving the mayor the clout needed to shape daily decisions ranging from garbage collection to pothole repair to the delivery of health-care and job-training services.
"Alice Rivlin and the control board have made it clear that their goal is to return to normal government and that a five-member, part-time board cannot run a city," the control board's executive director, Mr John W. Hill jnr, said. "We would expect a partnership with the mayor and the council with the goal of returning home rule as quickly as possible and making a major step after the election."
Ms Rivlin, the control board chairman, and the panel's other members concluded recently that delegating power to the new mayor is a crucial element in persuading Congress to restore full authority to elected officials after the city balances its budget for two more years, sources said.
Otherwise, if the control board and chief management officer lead the way as the city's finances and services improve, congressional Republicans and others could argue that the appointed government produced strong results and should be left in place.
"You want the city to earn its way back with Capitol Hill," said Mr Thomas M. Davis III, chairman of the House Government oversight subcommittee on the District. "A new mayor comes in, he is going to have to make some tough decisions, and you can sweeten those decisions by restoring democracy and power. That is just smart politics."
Control board executives began briefing congressional officials on their plans on Monday, and control board members are planning to refine the details of the new arrangement during a closed-door meeting today.
Control board officials met Mr Williams and Ms Schwartz separately last month to begin establishing the relationship necessary to achieve a successful transition of power. Under federal law, the city is required to balance its budget for at least two more years before the control board lapses and self-government is restored fully.
Mr Davis said that Ms Rivlin's basic approach made sense. He cautioned that the control board must strike a balance between returning authority to locally-elected officials soon and not inviting congressional interference.
"I think that approach is a solid approach, but the timing and the implementation of that are absolutely critical to making it work," Mr Davis said. "We need to see what the vision is first. . . We are going to want to make sure that the changes we see coming are not going to be stymied and you don't go backward by taking the control board out of the formal loop. I don't think that is going to be happen."
The control board, which Congress created in 1995 to rescue the city from its financial crisis, also will work alongside the mayor and DC Council in developing a "consensus budget" for fiscal 2000 that can be submitted to Congress next spring.
Mayor Marion Barry would not be permitted to exercise any of the new powers delegated to the mayor-elect. Granting Mr Barry power that Congress stripped from him previously would arouse fierce opposition on Capitol Hill, where Mr Barry is held in low esteem by many legislators, sources said.