Professor Tuman Comments on Oakland City Council

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- The council president, on the other hand, has the ability to appoint members to key committee positions that guide the city’s agenda and policies in policing, housing, public works and community and economic development.

“We like to think we have a strong mayor but (most) everything has to go through City Council,” said Joseph Tuman, a San Francisco State University professor of political and legal communications and Oakland resident. “There’s a lot of political power there and the administration of city government is really more with the city administrator. In a lot of ways the council is certainly more powerful at the end of the day.”