The voters of Myrtle Beach should take another look at our mayor, Mark McBride. He seems to be out of touch with reality when he starts evaluating the city's fiscal responsibility and as he tries to point a finger of blame when a problem really doesn't exist. You can listen to him as he says he is concerned about the fact that "staff" has allowed the city to find itself in debt, when we weren't a couple of years ago. I guess he was planning his Senate campaign and was not paying attention when the citizens of our town voted to allow this debt to expedite the improvement of our infrastructure. So, in fact it wasn't "staff" that "caused" this debt after all.

He complains that the city is swimming in debt and if City Council and that s-word are going to allow it, by golly, he is getting things changed to a strong-mayor form of government, so he will have the final say-so.

So now a strong mayor who has, at best, a checkered personal financial history, as I understand it, will govern our city tax money. I understand that he has a negative equity line on his home mortgage that is about 150 percent the value of his house.

I recall that one of the first things that he did in office as mayor was to max out the city's credit card [in 1998]. Council members then called him on it, and he has really never gotten over that public humiliation. I think this is one of the reasons that he stands against the council so much.

Is this the strong mayor we want running our city finances? [If he becomes] a strong mayor, all those 6-to-1 votes he is infamous for will have a whole different meaning. In most cases, and in particular this case, seven heads are better than one when it comes to running a city government.

I think the city has a great professional and more-than-competent staff. "Staff" is constantly receiving regional or national attention and commendations for the way they are conducting business and running the day-to-day operations of the city. The finance department has received award after award. How does the mayor reward [the city's employees]? He has them audited and implies something foul is going on. They are given a clean bill of health. Does he publicly apologize or commend them for their effort? No. He continues to accuse them of misconduct and incompetence.

Since 1998, the University of South Carolina has been conducting a study to evaluate how our citizens rate our city services. The undertaking is called the "South Carolina Municipal Benchmarking Project" conducted by the Institute for Public Service and Policy Research in the College of Liberal Arts. They consistently show that "staff" does an excellent job and they have done nothing but improve since the study began. What is his problem with him? All of those negative vibes!

Remember that movie "It's a Wonderful Life," in which the angel gives George a chance to view Bedford Falls as it would have been had he not intervened? Wouldn't it be interesting to see what Myrtle Beach would look like if all of the votes on issues past went instead the way that Mark voted for them? I think it would be an ugly town, indeed.

What is Mark McBride trying to say with that type of vote, anyway? Do people in town really think that he is doing what is best for them by being the odd man out? McBride Beach? I don't think so.

It has been my observation that politicians pursue political office for one of two reasons. Either they are egotistical, power-hungry souls or they are determined to do the right thing for the public. McBride was elected mayor. He wanted to change the form of government to a strong-mayor style. The council said no. He was elected mayor again. While seated in that capacity, he ran for Senate. Lost his bid and came back to to mayor's office, bashing "staff" again. Wants again to change form of government to strong-mayor style. The scary thing this time?

A couple of council members seem to be supporting this effort. Doing what is best for the community?

I know what I think. I'll leave your decision up to you, unlike a strong mayor who would do your thinking for you.