EDITORIAL: Political row in Nagoya

A petition drive starts Friday to demand the dissolution of the Nagoya municipal assembly. Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura called for the petition after the assembly rejected a permanent cut in residential taxes, which was Kawamura's big pledge in last year's mayoral election. The petition is unprecedented in major cities.

The proposed tax cut is not the only source of contention between the mayor, who won the election calling for reform, and the assembly.

Kawamura's efforts to win the understanding of the assembly are questionable. To begin with, the system is based on the premise that petitions are filed under the initiative of residents, not the heads of local governments.

Still, the controversy could provide an opportunity to rethink the way local government heads and assemblies should be amid reforms for decentralization.

If slightly more than 360,000 out of 1.8 million voters sign the petition in a month, a referendum will be held. If the majority supports the proposal to recall the assembly, it would be dissolved and a municipal election would be called.

Kawamura wants the municipal election to be held together with the gubernatorial election slated for February. He appears ready to resign, call a mayoral election and seek re-election to immediately create an environment advantageous to him.

But his demands for the assembly's dissolution to move up the election by two months has been criticized as highhanded. The election was originally scheduled for April, when assembly members' terms expire.

Kawamura wants to use the proposed permanent tax cut as leverage to advance administrative reform. But the municipal assembly modified the proposal to limit the tax cut to one year, saying it would eat into the welfare budget. If so, the mayor could have proposed a referendum on the tax cut.

About 40,000 people are said to have already volunteered to collect signatures for the petition, underscoring public distrust of the assembly.

In the 28 years before Kawamura became mayor, the municipal assembly consisted entirely of members of the ruling parties, with the exception of the Japanese Communist Party. The assembly had endorsed city executives' candidacies in mayoral elections and worked in collusion with the municipal government on administrative affairs.

During that time, Nagoya's economy grew thanks to a thriving manufacturing industry. But the balance of city bonds swelled to 1.8 trillion yen ($21.4 billion), nearly double the size of the city's general account budget.

Until Kawamura pointed out this fact, the assembly had turned a blind eye to the amakudari practice of retiring city executives landing cushy jobs with affiliated organizations.

The annual salary of a Nagoya assembly member is 15 million yen, one of the highest in Japan. They are also paid 6 million yen a year for policy research purposes. Until March, they received an allowance of 10,000 yen a day while the assembly was in session.

Assembly members argue that both they and the mayor are elected by the residents, and it is unreasonable to deny a dual representation system guaranteed by the Constitution. It is only natural that such a claim cannot win the sympathy of citizens.

Nagoya is not the only place where the local assembly and the administration have become dysfunctional. Osaka Governor Toru Hashimoto, who started a regional party, and others are making moves to change the situation. However, new problems could arise if the assemblies are dominated by supporters of local government heads.

Local government leaders and assemblies should maintain a sound but tense relationship. Assemblies are urged to properly keep an eye on the administration and enhance their policy-making abilities.

We will carefully watch the decision of Nagoya citizens to improve and advance local autonomy in that direction.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 26