By Zack Anchors

Staff Writer

    Since Claude Morgan was inaugurated as Mayor of
South Portland last month, six of the seven members of the current city
council have now served as mayor at some point in their tenures (only
Councilor Kay Loring has not). Morgan, a former journalist and painter
who has represented District One on the council since 2005, is a
relatively new face on a council with some members who have served off
and on for decades. The extensive experience of the current council,
said Morgan, made his nomination as mayor all the more meaningful.

    “It’s a tremendous honor that these people would
trust me with this position,” said Morgan in an interview last Tuesday
at One-Fifty Ate. “It’s a thrill being mayor.”

    Morgan said the role of Mayor in South Portland,
though it does include defined duties, is largely what one makes of it.
Under South Portland’s system, in which the council elects one of their
own for one-year terms as mayor, the City Manager takes on the main
responsibilities for the day-to-day operations of the city, while the
mayor’s position is somewhat symbolic.

    “There’s as much work as you can make for yourself,”
said Morgan of being mayor. “Besides the titular duties—kissing babies,
speechifying—there are specific responsibilities. The organization of
agendas for the meetings is something [City Manager] Ted [Jankowski]
and I sit down each week and do.”

    One of the most publicly visible duties of the mayor
is to serve as chair of the bi-weekly council meetings, which are run
under the guidance of Robert’s Rules of Parliamentarian Procedure,
rules that Morgan said he is still getting the hang of. He said that a
crucial aspect of being an effective mayor is running the meetings
fairly and efficiently, or as he put it, “to organize the cacophony of
ideas.” 

    Morgan, who moved to the Willard Beach neighborhood
from Portland six years ago, currently works for Kennebunk-based Yake
Associates as an investigator into corporate finances.

    “I work as a private investigator—that’s what floats
me,” said Morgan. “Most of what I do is what we call
shareholder/bondholder derivative action. … Our clientele is all
out-of-state. I make sure I have no work that overlaps with my
connections to South Portland or my constituents.”

     For much of the last decade Morgan has worked
as a journalist, writing for publications ranging from the San
Francisco Chronicle to the New Scientist.

    “At one point I began carrying around sound
equipment,” said Morgan. “I pitched some stories to Maine Public Radio
and National Public Radio and they picked them up.”   
    Eventually Morgan got a job as news anchor for WMTW
news radio based in Portland. Morgan has given up his career in
journalism for now, but he said the experience has served him well in
his work as a city councilor.

    “You have to love the interaction with people,” he
said. “If you don’t have that you’re a failed journalist. ... And
frankly, a lot of city government is also about effective communication”

    Morgan’s first foray into politics began after he
noticed what he described as an imbalance on the city council and
decided to run for the District One council seat.

    “My own personal politics comes out of the
progressive side of the Democratic Party,” said Morgan. “I believe in
social progressivism, but I’m also kind of fiscally conservative. I
believe it’s your money to spend, not mine. I got into the race because
I didn’t see that kind of voice emerging–a voice that would be open to
progressivism.”

    Morgan describes the current council as being made
up of a diverse mix of political perspectives, but he says that despite
differences all the individuals work together remarkably well. In fact,
he said the councilors have become fond of meeting socially beyond the
hours they spend together on city business.

    “We’ve got quite the coffee circuit going on with
this council,” said Morgan. “We all do come from different places, but
we are a good, solid team.”

    Although he embraces progressivism as his political
foundation, Morgan said that in politics–and especially municipal
politics–it’s often important to be able to keep an open mind.

    “For example, it may turn out that social
progressivism has nothing to do with the budget process,” said Morgan.
“When people have been pushed aside, and not been reelected, it’s often
because they have put their ideals above the city’s business.”

    Morgan said he does not see himself attempting a
jump up the political hierarchy and running for any state offices,
although he admits that he only considered running for city council a
month before the election. He said he likes the directness of city
politics, and the frequent interaction with constituents.

    “Municipal politics is in-your-face. It’s the gravel
pit of the political machine. It’s unfiltered,” said Morgan. “When I
look at what you could call higher offices all I see is adding filters
in the way.”

    Like his view of the city council, Morgan sees South
Portland as a whole as made up of a mix of political ideologies and
backgrounds. He said much of the city’s political landscape is defined
by the city’s literal geography, particularly through a tendency for
the city’s west and east end’s to hold different interests.

    “I wouldn’t say we have political polarity but we do
have a geographic polarity,” said Morgan. “When it comes down to it, it
doesn’t matter if you’re a young liberal progressive and your neighbor
is a 80-year old former John Bircher–chances are you’re going to be
shoveling her driveway. ... Overall we have an active, astute and
studious constituency.”

    In his inaugural speech last month, Morgan
identified police staffing issues and the need for the city to shift to
a sustainable energy base as major priorities he would pursue during
his term as mayor. Another issue with deep roots in South Portland that
he has become enthusiastic about involves the allocation of state and
federal funding to the city.

    “From the state’s perspective, they look at us and
say, ‘they have everything,’” said Morgan. “The Fairchilds, the
Nationals–that’s huge, but that revenue is being funneled away from us.”

    Morgan credits incoming Councilor Jim Soule with
bringing the issue of inequitable state funding to the forefront of the
city’s agenda. Morgan also thinks that the new City Manager, Ted
Jankowski, will help with the matter.

    “We have a great one-two punch with Jim Soule and Ted Jankowski,” said Morgan.

    Soule, said Morgan, brings a deep background in
South Portland city politics and a devotion to matters like the need to
revamp the state’s school funding formula, while Jankowski brings to
the table the political connections and broad knowledge needed to
pursue fairer allocations of state and federal funds.

    Morgan said the council’s decision to hire
Jankowski, after a lengthy search process, has already proven to be a
wise action.

    “Ted brings a fascinating package,” said Morgan.
“He’s been around the block a number of years and is someone who is
savvy enough to work all the rungs on the ladder. He has a remarkably
calming influence. And he’s already making bold moves for our economic
and social future.”

    Among the ideas that Jankowski has brought up, said
Morgan, is the notion that South Portland should make an effort to
better forge an identity for itself–to create for itself a marketable
brand, in a sense.

    “It is very important to be able to provide a
distinct voice,” said Morgan, adding that he expects an exploratory
committee to be created at some point to explore the idea.

    Morgan said the council had its work set out for it
in sorting through the 70 applications they received for the city
manager position.

    “There were a few folks that really rose to the
top,” said Morgan. “And there were some that we could dismiss—the crazy
actress who thought her career could transition.”

    Having a strong city manager makes the council’s job
much easier, said Morgan. But he added that most councilors easily earn
the $3,000 stipend they receive.

    “Most councilors I know work around 20 hours a
week,” said Morgan. “It requires some sophisticated organizational
skills. [Councilor] Linda Boudreau is like a filing cabinet that goes
back 20 years. … Council work is, above all, a willingness to put in
the time.”