Mayor Lifts The Lid On Local Government

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Asahi: Mayor reveals staff salaries online
AKUNE, Kagoshima Prefecture -- Mayor Shinichi Takehara has shocked municipal employees by listing their annual incomes (PDF) on the city's website. Although the list does not disclose names, it shows the exact salaries and retirement allowances paid to all staff. The controversial 49-year-old mayor said residents of the city had a right to know how their taxes were being spent. Takehara on Feb. 10 dissolved the city assembly, which passed a no-confidence vote against him after he called on residents to cast votes on his website for assembly members they wanted to see sacked.

[Mulboyne]

AP: Mayor loses job after posting blog entry on assembly members' popularity

The mayor of Akune in Kagoshima Prefecture lost his job Friday after the city assembly passed a no-confidence motion against him for posting a poll on his blog in January asking about the popularity of assembly members. Mayor Shinichi Takehara, 50, who lost the vote that was also directed at his attempts to cut the number of assembly members, told reporters that he will run in a mayoral election to be held in May, saying he must continue his efforts to reform the municipal administration. His opponents plan to field Yuichi Tanaka, 56, a former official of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, as a candidate in the election. A no-confidence motion was passed in February against Takehara, who was elected in August last year, but he dissolved the assembly instead of resigning. Ten candidates opposed to the mayor were successful in the assembly election after the dissolution, securing a majority in the 16-member assembly. In Friday's vote, 11 assembly members voted for the no-confidence motion while five voted against. The mayor lost his job straight after the second no-confidence motion was passed in line with the local autonomy law.